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Audiobook Review: TIGANA by Guy Gavriel Kay, narrated by Simon Vance

A few years ago I used the blog to review and analyze what I was reading or listening to. Criticism, or rather good criticism, is very hard work. I’d still like to float some thoughts about what I’m reading but would like to save more time for writing fiction. As a compromise, I’m going to aim for lighter reviews that are more like recommendations.

First up is Guy Gavriel Kay’s beloved Tigana, produced by Penguin Audiobooks and narrated by Simon Vance.

If it’s not already a classic, Tigana soon will be. A complex story of politics and personal passion, Tigana is set in a peninsula with many similarities to Medieval Italy.

Twenty years before the book begins, two foreign sorcerers have conquered and divided the peninsula between themselves. Only a small band of rebels has a chance to restore independence. Kay masterfully layers political intrigue on top of beautiful world building on top of rich characters. The moral world is never black and white. No one faction, not even the heroic band of rebels, is given a moral high ground. In this regard, Tigana brought A Song of Ice and Fire to mind. I’d be curious to know if GRRM was inspired by Kay when he set out to create his own, historically rich world. The Name of the Wind also came to mind as a possible descendant of Tigana, this because Kay, like Rothfuss, creates a protagonist who is a master musician and then works a complex theme of music into his story. I’m certain any fan of Rotfuss or Martin would love Tigana.

The production quality of this reading is spot in. Short interludes of music—fitting for one of the book’s major themes—helps the intro and exit sequences flow. The recording is clean, the voices clear. Most importantly, Simon Vance does a wonderful job with the narration. Tigana hosts a large number of characters and Vance provides each with a unique diction and tone without sounding repetitious or ridiculous. I have only one complaint: to distinguish between the many different ethnic groups in the books, Vance gave some of the minor characters regional accents from our world. Mostly this worked well; however, some accents became thick enough to jar me out of a pseudo-medieval Italy. Characters from the alps or “highland” region spoke with a distracting Scottish brogue and the foreign invaders both sounded so Russian they brought James Bond master villains to mind. But on the whole, Vance delivered an engaging performance.

If you like your fantasy complex and your audiobooks well-polished, you can’t go wrong with this production.

Next up: Tantor Media’s production The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and narrated by Michael Page. (Yes, people, I did get the memo about Lynch kicking everyone’s butt twice. I just happened to the get memo two weeks before med school started. I been kinda busy.)