The Last Light Of The Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay
01/08/2005 . Source: Pauline Morgan 
pub: Pocket Books/Simon and Schuster. 497 page paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-7434-8423-1. check out website: www.simonsays.co.uk
Alternate histories take an event in the past and speculate what may have happened if the outcome had been different. Perhaps Rome had never fallen and the Empire continued to the present day, as in Silverberg's 'Roma Eterna' or the confederate armies had not been defeated at the battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War as in Ward Moore's 'Bring The Jubilee'. Another way of looking at history is to transpose our time-line to another world and follow it as long as in convenient, changing names but keeping the essential major events parallel.
Kay introduced us to his fantasy alternative in 'Sailing To Sarantium' and followed it up in 'Lord Of Emperors'. This is a world that has the same geography as ours but has two moons (one of them blue). The history of the planet has followed a similar path with the Rhodian Empire being the equivalent of our Roman one. Sarantium is synonymous with Byzantium with all its splendour. These two books were magnificently conceived and written, portraying a divided empire heading towards its demise as seen through the eyes of a mosaicist.
'The Last Light Of The Sun' is set about four hundred years later in what we would have regarded as the Dark Ages. The setting is effectively Britain of that period, but here called Anglcyn. To the west lies Cyngael. To the north and east lie the lands of the Erlings, many of whom are blood-thirsty raiders. The country of Erlond to the west also gets a mention. The action begins in Cyngael when Ivarr Ragnarson leads a raid on the farmstead of Brynn ap Hywell, a 'clan chief' who killed his grandfather twenty five years previously. The first to die is Dai ab Owyn, son of the prince ruling a neighbouring territory. The attackers are driven off but not before one, Thorkel Einarson, is captured but who saves Brynn's wife from Ivarr's sneaky treachery. Thorkel had been on the raid with Ivarr's grandfather that gained him the sword that Ivarr wanted to retrieve from Brynn. This sword is the focus of all the events in the novel and is directly and indirectly responsible for the fates of the principle characters.
The worship of Jad, the sun god, is the religion that has spread insidiously from its origins in the Middle East. Paganism is still strong amongst the Erlings and although the Anglcyn and Cyngael have largely accepted the new religion paganism is not far beneath the surface, especially as the spirit wood stretches unbroken across both kingdoms. People do not willingly enter it, but both Brynnfel and Esferth, the capital of Aeldred, king of the Anglcyn lie in its shadow. The sword that causes the problem was stolen from a Jad sanctuary on the mainland during the raid that gained Siggur Volganson his reputation. Ivarr is a bit of a stereotypical villain. He is deformed, scheming, manipulative and thoroughly unprincipled. When the direct attack of Brynnfel fails, he hires the Jormsvik mercenaries (including Thorkel's son Bern) to attack Aeldred's lands, telling them it will be easy as Aeldred will not be at home and Esferth can be easily looted. He knows they will fail, but his plan is to force them to sail further west and attack Brynnfel, as the Erlings would not be able to honourably return home after a resounding defeat. Fortunately, not everything goes his way.
Kay is a brilliant story-teller but this is not up to his usual standard. It could have done with some careful editing. Facts about the characters and their backgrounds are repeated too often, usually close together suggesting that he has not been given the time to check through the narrative and cut out the extraneous information. In places, incidental characters are introduced because in real life they would be there. Surely it is not necessary to give an account of how a chance encounter affected the rest of their lives? Kay has missed the opportunity to invoke the magic and the differences of his world to make this more than just another Dark Ages fantasy novel.
Pauline Morgan |
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