Guy Gavriel Kay's fantasy career began with "The Fionavar Tapestry", a popular trilogy ... more
mixing Arthurian and Tolkienian themes. He's since developed an original vein of alternate- historical fiction; richly suspenseful stories whose period settings have different country names and added magic. The Lions of Al- Rassan reinvented medieval Spain; Sailing to Sarantium lovingly reflects the intrigue and splendour of the Byzantine Empire, and echoes W.B. Yeats's famous Byzantium poems. Magic exists: at least one old god is horribly real, and those artificial singing birds celebrated by Yeats take their life from an unexpected, creepy source. Sarantium City is intensely imagined, with dynastic upheavals, riot and rebellion, a smashing chariot race, and knives glinting in every alley. There's sharp intelligence here, too. The hero, an outlander mosaic expert summoned to decorate Sarantium's newest and greatest dome, faces his worst test at the Emperor's court--where mechanical trickery lurks, conversation is double-edged, exile awaits the loser in a debate on mosaic techniques, and there's a Sherlockian challenge to deduce how the top charioteer pulled off a magical-seeming coup. Kay has laid fine groundwork for this new series "The Sarantine Mosaic", with more to follow. --David Langford
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Advantages: Refreshing setting, emotional characters, tearful plotline Disadvantages: Quite a large book (690)
I suppose I first picked up Tigana after I had been reading the last few books of the wheel of time series by Robert Jordan. The ending books were for me such a bitter disappointment, especially from an author who had such a good start, so I determined to read something new, and lo and behold I found this man, GuyGavrielKay. Now one of the things that first attracted me to this author was the single credit that stood out a mile, he had actually worked with Christopher Tolkien on, the Silmarillion. Which I consider to be a work far superior to that of lord of the rings, and it turns out that a great deal of the succesfull editing process was down to GuyKay. With this in mind I set out to sample some of his work, and one of book's that was recommended was Tigana.
The novel is set in a land called the Peninsula of the Palm, a land ...
Advantages: Funny family chap Disadvantages: No celeb stuff
. He certainly hints that way at the start of this limited but friendly tome, quipping that ?he feels someday soon someone will knock on his front door and take it all away from him, announcing the money and success was all a big accounting error, your going to have to hand it all back son?.
For those who want to know about the best loved comic in Peter Kaye (the man Phil Jupitus will never be) then this book may not be interesting enough to spend your well earnt on. Like the man himself it?s not a remotely celebrity or a parochial journey. At times it reads like his sketches as we learn about his life leading up to his first paid stand-up through those familiar stories and routines. If it?s the time when he worked in an ESSO station handing out Tiger Tokens or his learning days at Salford University (cough!), everything is laid out in ...
Advantages: Top Service, Professional Disadvantages: None
Toni & Guy
I have visited a few of Toni & Guy salons, so I now feel that I can write this review.
In 1963 Toni & Guy first salon opened in Clapham London. From there on in, there was no stopping them, nearly every big town has one. If I am correct they also have or are expanding abroad.
If you have visited 1 or more Toni & Guy salon?s you will notice that they are all the same, from the chairs to the sinks, the walls to the floor. Each salon is identical, being the inside.
They have a uniform of Black and White. Black bottoms with a White top, they do have their own logo t-shirts in which some staff do wear.
The salons I have visited ?
Chichester in West Sussex, owned by a man called Jeff.
Basildon in Essex, owned by a man called Billy. This opened in August 1999. Billy is sponsoring Miss Essex at the moment ...
Jordon 01.09.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Toni and Guy
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