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Song for Arbonne is, like many of Guy Gavriel Kay's works, a pseudo-historical fantasy set in a fictional yet wholly recognizable time and place in our own world, in this case, 13th century France, specifically, the southern provinces (Aquitaine, Provence, Burgundy, etc.). Here the eponymous fictional kingdom of "Arbonne" acts as the stand-in.

Like most of Guy Gavriel Kay's works, the writing, language, and rhythm of the prose is hypnotic. If you're used to the usual sparse and barely functional prose of most fantasy writing, Kay can be a bit of a jarring experience. Jumping from throw-away dime pulp fiction style to something entirely literary can take some getting used to.

Be warned, Kay does not stay in one viewpoint in his novels. If you're one of those who dislikes jumping from viewpoint to viewpoint, you may find Kay's approach frustrating. However, given the scope of the plot and the depth of character insight in his books, staying with one character the entire way would mar the overall effort of Kay's writing.

In Song for Arbonne, our main character is Blaise de Garsenc, son of an overbearing priest from the pseudo-Germanic country of Gorhaut to the north. Blaise is thrust into a world of courtly intrigue, betrayal, and assassination, ultimately forced to make a choice between himself, the well-being of his homeland, and the friendships he forms with Arbonne's nobility, particular the Duke of Talair, a former troubador.

In the interest of full disclosure, I think that Kay's novel Under Heaven is one of the finest pieces of fiction I've ever read, and his novel Tigana is not far behind. So I'm obviously a fan, and with that said, the rating here is somewhat me being generous to Kay for past enjoyments. Truthfully, Song for Arbonne is probably a 3.5 star novel, not a 4 star.

While the writing is sublime, and the three main characters are compelling (Blaise, the Duke de Talair and the Queen of Arbonne), Kay's supporting characters in this novel (and there are many, many, many of them) never quite rise to the level of care or realism that he reaches with his other novels.

Particularly egregious is the young female troubadour Lisseut, who is given multiple chapters of viewpoint in the novel that ultimately end up being aimless. She's a spectator to the real action, has no real arc to her character, and kept finding myself disappointed that nothing happened from her viewpoint.

Likewise, the villain characters (Blaise's father, his brother, and the king of Gorhaut) are so over-the-top vile and irredeemable that I didn't want to spend any time with them at all. In a sense they exist as a counterpoint to Blaise, to show how much better/humane Blaise is than others of his time and culture, but as characters they're flat, one-dimensional cardboard cutouts of "moustache twirling eeeeviil".

Too, more than any other of his books I've read so far (out of the five), the character introspections in this text simply don't resonate. The Duke of Talair's dilemma is supposed to be this soul-wrenching, timeless treatise on love, but really his entire backstory is based on the premise that he's a serial adulterer. He's an interesting character, but not entirely sympathetic--which, come to think of it, is probably my biggest problem with the book as a whole.

While the world and characters presented are interesting, they're just not relatable. I simply didn't connect with any of the characters. Thus, their choices were all ultimately coin tosses; yes, they could choose one thing or another, and the choices made would have an impact on others around them, but I simply wasn't tied to any outcome for the characters individually. They could have all died, or all lived in bliss and frivolity, and ultimately their chosen ends would be met with a quiet, "Eh. Okay."

With Tigana and Under Heaven I couldn't put the book down, was driven to finish them as quickly as I could. With Song for Arbonne, I found myself going days, even a week at a time without really feeling the need to dive in.

That said, compared to most fantasy literature, Song for Arbonne is a clear step above the usual morass of mediocrity, but it certainly doesn't reach the heights of Kay's best works, nor even those of other entries to the genre. At the end it's something you remember somewhat pleasantly, but with no real recollection of the details. Enjoyable, but ultimately forgettable.

"A Song for Arbonne" proves that a slow pace is not necessarily a bad thing. It's a story about how the resolution of one international conflict leads to another one, about culture differences being used to justify war, about loyalty and treason. It's about two noblemen who hate each other because they both loved a woman who died a long time ago. According to certain fantasy-reading experts at [...] Guy Gavriel Kay hasn't ever written a bad book. His weakest stories are his earliest ones in The Fionavar Tapastry, and even those are pretty good. Every book he's written since has hit the ball out of the park. I've read, and can recommend: Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, and A Song for Arbonne.

If you care at all for fantasy, even just Harry Potter and Frodo and Gandalf, you should read Guy Gavriel Kay. This is such a masterful work it stands with his greatest: Fionavar, Sailing to Sarantium, the River of Stars.

As always, the plot trajectory is a bit, well, fantastical, and the characterisations are deep and rich. And he makes it all work with an embrace of ambiguity that reminds this reader of George Eliot or Thomas Hardy.

Just when you think you have a character pegged, he turns them slightly and shows a side you had not suspected, and you find it believable and even insightful.

A mercenary finds himself in the middle of trouble in Arbonne, where troubadours extol forbidden love, and women exercise more choice than was the case in the medieval days the tale is modelled after. Arbonne is vulnerable because of twenty years of feuding between a noble husband and his wife's lover, who has unexpectedly become a nobleman himself.

To the North, the harsh land of Gorhaut is preparing to exploit this weakness. But the dominating, manipulative priest of the God Corannos, the power behind the throne, has a way of making enemies. I will save you the spoilers - it is fun to watch things unfold, and Kay is as inventive as ever.

His work is as interesting as great historical fiction like the Three Musketeers or Tale of Two Cities, but with a feel for the enchantment that has always been part of human life. Give it a look, if you haven't.

Another terrific yarn by Guy Gavriel Kay! If you are a fan of his writing/ style/ quality, this is yet another great read. Set in a misty past and loosely based on the trouvere court traditions of south western France, this story - with its multiple plot lines - is lush, almost operatic in the telling and the convolutions of a complicated political and religious period. Of interest is the recently available overlay on PBS of the three part series from BBC 'Divine Women',

For many casual readers of history, the concept of powerful women in society is often thought of as a recent event. It ain't true. Historically there is a rich but mostly glossed over body of work by women who not only changed history but often created societies which thrived. Mostly ignored or denigrated by historians (most likely men) Song for Arbonne is a sensitive creation of what a woman's society could have looked like - from the inside. While this is fiction, it seems to be really well researched by Kay and then very aptly recreated as a fiction.

The last three chapters are some of the best thread tying I've ever experienced. Perhaps the only caveat is for readers of Kay to not read this book immediately after exploring any of his other work. All his works stand alone and for me, should be explored as a unique event rather than 'just another' book by Kay. This is a good read ...