Written on the Dark
Thierry Villar is a notorious tavern poet who may have written his last too-clever poem one bitterly cold night in his beloved city of Orane, for he makes one wrong move on the streets and ends up in the midst of a political battle waged by those at the highest levels of power. Shadowed by assassins and hated by the people in control of the kingdom, Thierry finds an ally in the form of another poet- a woman from a faraway land celebrated for her intellect and beauty, as well as a girl who claims to hear voices that tell her how to help their ailing country. Together, they must all find a way to save themselves and their kingdom. Whenever a new book by Guy Gavriel Kay is announced, the fantasy book community sits up and pays attention. He is renowned for his richly detailed worlds and elegant prose. Combine that with complex characters who feel like they could step off the page and introduce themselves, and you have a mix that should be a hit every time. Sadly, Written on the Dark was a miss for me. In his acknowledgments, Kay mentions that he read and was inspired by Bart van Loo's book The Burgundians, which is a detailed and entertaining account of the rise and fall of Burgundy, which had a major influence on French and English history during the middle ages. Having read that book myself, I can agree with Kay in that The Burgundians is a fascinating work, but I wonder if in this case, the inspiration was too strong. Written on the Dark tells a story of fantasy France, where fantasy Charles VI is the nominal king. The realm is menaced by the fantasy English who are ruled by fantasy Henry V. Along the way, we encounter fantasy Joan of Arc and deal with aspects of the fantasy Catholic church. Save for some fantastical elements and a few diversions from actual historical events, if the reader knows anything about French history from the first two decades of the 1400s, they will have a good idea of what's going to happen next in the story. Though Kay is inspired by history, he doesn't like his books to be called 'historical fantasy'. I would agree with that, as Orane isn't quite "Paris, with magic", but there is a point around the 60% mark where I might describe the story's genre as "fantasy history textbook" thanks to a seemingly endless description of what's going on in the kingdom. That was not a joy to read, though the long, dry explanations of fantasy history do eventually end, and the characters are allowed to speak again. All of this might have been forgivable had the main character, Thierry Villar, actually been interesting. One would assume that a poet known for insulting nobility and getting away with it would be a fascinating character. Alas that Thierry Villar is just Some Guy with a penchant for referring to himself by his full name, and who is nowhere as clever as he thinks he is. What's going on around him might be interesting, but I had a hard time caring, since I was so uninterested in the main character, and often wondered why several of the side characters were there at all, since they added to nothing except the page count. Had Thierry been a more interesting character, I wouldn't have been so bothered by the many predictable plot points. I'd been looking forward to Written on the Dark, as I've enjoyed Kay's work before, but Written on the Dark was a major disappointment. — Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy for review. Traveling in Books is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Traveling in Books that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments.
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Sunday, May 11, 2025
Book Review: Written on the Dark
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