Perhaps because I wasn’t drawn strongly to any particular character in The Lions of al-Rassan, I found myself checking off tropes from previous Guy Gavriel Kay books. Leisurely beginning introducing us to the characters, check. Cast of extraordinary people, check. Historical setting (Spain when it was Al-Andalus, just before the Reconquista) with the serial numbers filed off, check. A blue moon and a white moon, check. Reference to an unnamed one true world (Fionavar), check. Opposing forces slowly face off and go to war, ending the book in a battle, check.
The story revolves around the physican daughter of a famous physician, Jehane, a horse-raising knight, Belmonte, and the poet-assasin, Ammar ibn Khairan. They are drawn together by friendship, and then driven apart by their religions. It’s all very tragic. The three patterns of worship are culturally identifiable as analogues to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, but the beliefs presented worship the moons, the sun, the stars. I’m not a believer, but it bugged me to see religions devoted to a transcendant god diminished like that.
I hated when a loveable character got killed and miraculously saved, and hated it even more even that character didn’t do anything afterward. What’s the point? If you’re going to manipulate the reader’s emotions, do for the sake of the plot already.
Mostly, I thought the setting was interesting, but that wasn’t enough for me.
Writing Every Day 