Tigana

A very good work of fantasy playing with deeper concepts than “magical secret orphan prince” tropes. The long time I spent reading it is unrelated to its quality (but more related to my brain's bandwidth capacity these last 6 months). The characters are compelling, the Aragorn-type is way more human than Tolkien’s Aragorn and the bad guys are well rounded and have interesting motivations. On the other hand I don’t remember if the book passes the Bechdel Test and the women roles could have been bigger.

This book was amazing. It's rare that you see such a well-developed epic tale in a single volume (ie, not part of a trilogy or larger series). The plot and setting are great, but it's the characters that really make the story shine. They are intricate and feel utterly real.
Kay is an amazing author and has crafted an epic masterpiece in Tigana. Despite being one of the first few books I've read in 2013, I'm confident that it will be among the top 5 books I read all year. I will certainly have to pick up his latest work, River of Stars, some time soon.

For a full review, see my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2013/04/book-review-tigana-by-guy-gavriel-kay.html