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    Ysabel
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    Ysabel
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    Ysabel
    Ebook573 pages6 hours

    Ysabel

    By Guy Gavriel Kay

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    In this exhilarating, moving novel set in modern and ancient Provence, Guy Gavriel Kay casts brilliant light on the ways in which history – whether of a culture or a family – refuses to be buried.

    Ned Marriner, fifteen years old, has accompanied his photographer father to Provence for a six-week “shoot” of images for a glossy coffee-table book. Gradually, Ned discovers a very old story playing itself out in this modern world of iPods, cellphones, and seven-seater vans whipping along roads walked by Celtic tribes and the Roman Legions.

    On one holy, haunted night of the ancient year, when the borders between the living and the dead are down and fires are lit upon the hills, Ned, his family, and his friends, are shockingly drawn into this tale, as dangerous, mythic figures from conflicts of long ago erupt into the present, claiming and changing lives.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins UK
    Release dateApr 29, 2010
    ISBN9780007352241
    Author

    Guy Gavriel Kay

    Guy Gavriel Kay was born and raised in Canada. He lives in Toronto, although he does most of his writing in Europe. His novels include ‘The Fionavar Tapestry’ trilogy (described by ‘Interzone’ as ‘the only fantasy work… that does not suffer by comparison with ‘The Lord of the Rings’), ‘Tigana’ and ‘A Song for Arbonne’.

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    Reviews for Ysabel

    3.5/5

    668 ratings63 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I am still hoping that Rozan will go back to her Bill Smith/Lydia Chin books but this New York set book about building inspection/investigation has a good mystery and a nicely romantic subthread, with some fairly intricate political plotting and a very pleasingly twisty plot, with a couple of great reveals and a satisfying albeit catastrophic conclusion although with an element of tragedy that gives it a poignant edge.
    • 4/5
      The first G. G. Kay book I have read. I picked it because of the Celtic connection. Ysabel is something of an ancient love story, playing out in modern times in a supernatural fashion and into which a teenage boy gets involved. The writing was good, and in some places felt almost sublime to the point where I would read it over and over again, trying to find how Kay put his words together to create the scene. However, the story pacing was slow, and didn't seem to change much throughout the book, so it's not a something I would read for action or excitement, even if there might be such moments. It is the singular moments that I recall most about the book, rather than the overall story. Everything felt well crafted, but I wasn't glued to the pages.
    • 3/5
      Ah.Not so good.The weakest of all his books.Well enough written but dull.Girl goes back in time as her ancestor
    • 3/5
      Entertaining but forgettable.
    • 4/5
      My first book by GGK, and it certainly will not be my last! I very much like his style, and this book moved seamlessly between 15-year-old Ned's perspective and another deeper voice. Any sort of myth stoey can draw me in. Provence is beautiful and filled with legend as well as history, so the Celtic backgound suited the setting perfectly. I enjoyed this book, and I can't wait to read read another by Kay.
    • 5/5
      Fifteen-year-old Canadian boy Ned Marriner is visiting Aix-en-Provence with his famous photographer father, who is there taking photos for a book about the region. While his father is shooting the Cathedral of Saint-Sauveur, Ned wanders inside and meets an American exchange student, geeky-but-pretty Kate Wenger. As the two walk around the cathedral, they come across a scarred, knife-wielding man who tells them to leave because they have found their way “…into the corner of a very old story.” The moment Ned sees the man, however, he begins to feel strange, with extraordinary insights coming to him in flashes. When he encounters the scarred man again in a café in town and realizes the man is following them and they are then attacked by strange dogs when leaving the café, Ned knows he’s trapped in that old story no matter how much he might want out of it. As events unfurl, Ned’s entire family—his mother, a physician with Doctors Without Borders; his estranged and rather strange aunt and her husband; his father; and his father’s staff of assistants—are drawn into the story that Ned and Kate stumbled into.Set mostly in the present day, “Ysabel” weaves elements of Celtic, Greek and Roman mythology and history together into a fascinating and lyrical story of love, rivalry, and change. With well-imagined and fully-realized characters, a fast-paced plot, good historical detail, and a vividly realized sense of place, this is a fantasy that will be equally enjoyable for those who do not normally read fantasy as for those who do.
    • 3/5
      Two chance-met modern teenagers involve themselves in a struggle that has continued for millennia. The beginning is too larded with “with-it” details (in the first few pages, Ned contemplates his iPod, Coldplay, and skate-boarding) that will quickly seem more dated than hip. The story kicks in soon after, though, when Ned and Kate encounter a dangerous looking stranger in the catacombs of Provence. Sheer curiosity gets them sucked into a battle between the Celts and the Romans, a battle that eventually takes the form of a treasure hunt and requires all of Ned’s family and friends as well as his own skills. Ned’s family and their friends feel very natural together, and the dialog was easily as interesting as the magic.
    • 4/5
      WONDERFUL. So different from his other books! This is from a young man's perspective, in the "real world." Kind of like Kay's version of McKinley's "Dragonshaven," with the very different narrator.
    • 4/5
      A very enjoyable book by one of my favorite fantasy authors. Fans of the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy will find some old friends. For some reason, the main plot seems derivative of something, but I can't figure out what.
    • 4/5
      A 15 years old teenager entangling the magical myths of Provance. A rather interesting coming-of-age type of novel sometimes not with the most convincing characters and best storyline but overall a good read. But really, as someone else noticed, Coldplay as a rockband???
    • 3/5
      Written with Guy Gavriel Kay's usual realism, sense of place, and subtle aura of the supernatural, this book is set in modern-day Provence rather than the fictionalized historical settings that he more usually chooses. Kay's usual epic high-fantasy scope fits surprisingly well with characters who carry cell phones and iPods, perhaps in part because his descriptions give Aix-en-Provence a sort of magical glow. His characters are well-developed individuals. Unfortunately, after a promising introduction the main female character is basically put on the sidelines to wait for the male character to solve all the problems. Apart from this, though, the book is charming, clever, and original.
    • 4/5
      Since there are no 3/4 stars, I've had to round this up to 4. I liked the book very much, and I found reading it very easy. I like the PoV character, Ned, and found his development from adolescent smartass to postadolescent smart youth involving.Apparently this book winds up a series of books about its semi-immortal characters, doomed to replay and replay their ancient passionate triangle through millennia of time. The accidental instrusion of Ned, his aunt, his uncle-by-marriage, and the lovely assistant his father brought with his professional menagerie of assistants and fixers, makes the stakes for the book quite high: Who wants to call a young woman's parents to announce, "Hey, you know your daughter? Well, she's now a goddess and by the way she's not going to be seen on the mortal plane again for, oh, maybe 300 years, 'kay, bye!"Provence exerts a strong pull on me, and this book's exploration of the ancient world of Provence as it impacts characters in today's world is meat and drink to me. I am fully convinced of the reality of the past, and that its shadows are felt...not just thought about, but felt...in the present. I experience this oddly overlaid reality myself, in most places that I go, so I am already predisposed to like a book about the subject.Provence and Tuscany and Umbria are places I've been to and felt in the way author Kay describes in this book. Machu Picchu is another. It seems likely to me that Kay has experienced this odd, through-a-scrim sensation of looking at physical reality himself, or he'd be less good at conveying its weird dislocations. This alone makes me likely to seek out the other books in this series (sob!), but next Kay on deck for me is Tigana per that fiend-in-soignee-human-form Caroline.What doesn't entirely work about the book, to me, is its pick-'em-up-and-drop-'em way with some minor though important characters, like the Brit expat blowhard who could have been a fun addition to the cast but was instead cast off as a deus ex machina at two crucial points. Well, nothing made by man is perfect, so I forgive the failings in acknowledgment of the far more frequent pleasures reading Ysabel offers.Recommended! Ignore that silly "YA" label, enjoy it for itself!
    • 4/5
      I understand why some people are disappointed in this book; if you get into Ysabel thinking you're getting a regular Guy Gavriel Kay, than this might be a bit of a let down. The writing style is different. Every now and then it shows flashes of regular GGK, but overall it's more superficial and less dramatic. On the other hand, if you make a habit of checking out reviews before you read a book, then you know this, and are not surprised. Such was the case with me, and I really enjoyed this book. I knew there was a link to Fionavar, and I was very happy to see Kim and Dave again. I would have liked it better if Kim had had a bit more power. After all, I think she says Earth has need of a dreamer too when she returns here. I would have liked to see a bit more evidence of that. Still, nice story, nice characters, swift pacing. Not as compelling as a normal GGK, but a good read nonetheless.
    • 4/5
      I'm not really a lover of fantasy but I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. I've always meant to read something by Guy Gavriel Kay since he is from my hometown, Winnipeg, but his being a fantasy writer gave me second thoughts. Then, when my work book club was looking for something to read I noticed that the Library Book Club Kit for this book was available. I proposed to the club that we give it a try. We'll be discussing it in about a week but I think that it will be quite well-received.Ned and his father, a famous photographer, are spending a few months in Provence while his father photographs for a new book. Ned has been taken out of school in Montreal to go with his father while his mother, a doctor with Medecins Sans Frontiers, is in Darfur. Along with Ned and his father are Melanie, the hyper-organized personal assistant and two other helpers, Greg and Steve. On the first shoot, of the cathedral in Aix-en-Provence, Ned goes into the cathedral while his father is shooting the exterior. He meets Kate, an exchange student from New York City, who is very knowledgeable about history. Together they encounter a strange man coming out of the tomb under the baptistry. And that's just the start of strange things. Two men, one Roman, one Celt, have been coming back to this area for 2500 years to vie for the love of a woman. This time of year, Beltain or May Day eve, brings the spirit world very close to the temporal world. Ned is somehow able to sense things connected with the time these men first met. He and Kate stumble onto a gathering at the start of Beltain and they draw Melanie into it. In an effort to save Melanie, Ned, his father, Steve, Greg, Ned's mother, aunt and uncle come together. They encounter druids, shape-changers, wolves, wild boars and other dangers. I'll never think about Provence the same again.
    • 4/5
      The story of Ysabel centers on Ned, a teen from Montreal. With his celebrated photographer father and his team, he took a sojourn in Aix-en-Provence. There he met a NYC girl Kate and then a mystery man in leather jack while exploring the Cathedral Saint-Sauveur. The man turned out to be ancient, returned to continue a millenniums old love triangle invoking many blood sheaths throughout local history. This is a enjoyable page-turner. No serious themes discussed within you. Characters are well developed and colourful distinguishable. Ned's adventure is thrilling, lightly romanced, and let me say quite dusky but not grim. In the end he saved Melanie, his father's assistant, possessed by Ysabel the Red. And the "Roman" and the "Celt" ended their fierce feud in kinda peaceful although tragic way, as we could expect from the plot. Kay weaves the history of Provence and Ned's family story into this main plot. Surely he alters some historical events here to serve the story. But you could not suspect that of which is made by him. They fit the narratives like oliver oil filling spaghetti. I read the book much as a travel blog (might visit those sites if I have a chance to Aix.)
    • 5/5
      Lovely weaving of myth and history. Guy Gavriel Kay is a master storyteller.
    • 5/5
      An excellent YA book set in France around Glanum. There must be something magical and very inspiring about the place- Margaret Atwood's first short story in the new Moral Disorder collection is also inspired by the place.
    • 5/5
      I read and loved the Fionavar books when they came out. Part of that was a matter of timing - I read them just as I was really becoming a dedicated fantasy reader and I would have been in my mid to late teens at the time. These were the first "out of our world" type books I'd read that had adult protagonists - before that I'd been reading books about teenagers having adventures - and to meet these university students (or they may even had been graduates, I don't 100% remember now) was like entering a new world. I loved it. And as good (but depressing) as I found Tigana, I missed that element in Kay's second work. Historical fiction/fantasy isn't as much my thing and I think that's a significant factor in my I didn't read Kay's other books.In Ysabel it seemed that I might get the best of both worlds - that unreality in our reality theme I like combined with Kay's more matured writing talents.For the first half of the book, I wasn't exactly sure. The book moved well, the charcters were excellently drawn and I was very interested - but I admit I wasn't captivated. I wondered if I had been expecting too much; if the combination of probably inaccurate memories of books I'd really liked joined with Kay's current reputation built on the books I hadn't read had made me demand far too much from one book. Then, about half way through, some new, but familiar characters turned up, their presence made some of the previously mysterious illusions make sense and the book really took off. And in the end, I loved it. It loses out on a perfect score because of that marginally weaker first half, but I recommend Ysabel whole-heartedly. And for all that I said the presence of those other characters (I didn't guess who they were going to be, so don't want to spoil it for anyone else who might otherwise be surprised) marked the turn in the book, I still believe the book would be just as satisfying for anyone who hasn't read Kay before. Their arrival in the turning point, but I doesn't matter if the reader has met them previously or not.So, the book itself.Nick, the protagonist, seems to me to be very well drawn. I admit I don't have any personal experience with 15 year old boys in 2007, but he felt real to me. He runs, listens to his ipod (verisimilitude or pop culture reference that will date?), emails his friends back at school and embarks on a tentative friendship with an American girl his own age on an exchange in Provence. But all is not as simple as it seems and an encounter with a strange man in a cathedral sets Nick and Kate on a strange journey, caught up in a centuries old love triangle. He's forced to discover, first that he isn't as grown up as he imagined and then to do that growing up as he must deal with adult issues and new mental abilities waking inside him.The minor characters are also well drawn, especially Melanie with her green hair, organised mind and post-it notes. Of all the people filling the book, it is probably Kate who is the most broadly drawn, an odd situation considering that she, along with Nick, is part of the story from the beginning. Yet somehow, she never truly became part of the central, or at least it seemed that way to me. I'm still not sure if this was intentional or accidental.The first half of the book is full of mysteries and unanswered questions; something I found a little frustrating and that reduced my enjoyment of that part of the book. There were so many hints of what was going on without telling me anything and that drives me nuts! However, my faith and persistence was rewarded, because once the answers started coming, around the halfway point, all the pieces that had been so carefully set up began to fall into place and everything began to pick up pace beautifully.This is a tale about how history impinges on the present, not only the ancient history that is the central plot of the book, but family history as well. As the book progresses we discover that Nick's mother, a doctor working in the Sudan with Doctors Without Borders is running from her own past issues, focussing on her estrangement with her sister that has lasted the better part of twenty years. This is addressed and developed as Nick's aunt arrives to help with the mystical aspects of the tale and while a healing is begun, I was pleased that the two women still had work to do and it wasn't possible to dismiss two decades of acrimony overnight, no matter what the pressing world issues they might be facing.All in all, I really enjoyed this book. While it is absolutely a stand alone novel, it would also be possible to see Nick and Company return in a future novel and I would be delighted to do so. A lovely book, it has also inspired me to put A Song for Arbonne on my TBR pile and The Summer Tree on my to-be-reread pile.
    • 2/5
      Ysabel is named after a significant character that appears about one third of the way into this story that merges modern, hormonally charged teens swamped with gadgets and cellphones and a mystery that started in ancient southern France. The story itself isn't too bad but it's peppered with pop culture references that may make this ultra "cool" (an overused word in the book) for hip mid/late teen readers but which detract from what storytelling there is. Similarly, the romance of the two kids and the rather overly innuendo-filled closing of the novel induce eye rolling rather than an appreciation for what is otherwise a fun story.
    • 4/5
      One of my favourite authors, so of course I had to read this. At first I was thrown off by the switch from his historical fantasy style - which I still prefer - to a more modern fantasy, but I liked the characters and enjoyed the story. Something I especially like about Kay is the power of his endings, even when they prove somewhat predictable. Whether this one is predictable - well, you'll have to read for yourself. If you're new to Kay, I recommend starting with "Tigana", or the two volume Sarantine Mosaic if you're willing to tackle that. His only work I haven't liked so far, perhaps ironically, is his original Fionavar Tapestry.
    • 4/5
      I've seen negative reviews of this book (but I hadn't seen them when I bought it), but I hadn't read anything by Kay yet, so I wasn't disappointed. Maybe it's because I didn't have anything to compare it to, but in any case I liked it. Well, maybe I should specify that I wasn't too thrilled with the characters, but the setting and the plot were both great.
    • 5/5
      Oh, this was mighty interesting. Ned is with his father, a famous photographer, in France. One day, while his father is shooting a church in Aix-en-Provence, Ned not only runs into a girl, but into a man who puts him into the middle of a story that's been repeating for 2600 years. The story centers around, you guessed it, Ysabel, loved by two men fated never to die because of their love for her. The tragedies that have occurred because of that love are nothing short of horrific, and now Ned and Kate (the girl he met in Aix) are being pulled into the story.I love Kay's work especially when he works with mythic themes like this. I had a hard time putting it down.
    • 4/5
      Reread in February 2010.

      Since I first read Ysabel, I discovered all the rest of Guy Gavriel Kay's work and found that, really, Ysabel wasn't anything like the best he could do. I wouldn't say, now, that I loved Ysabel -- I loved the Fionavar trilogy, I loved Tigana, but I only liked Ysabel. The details I mentioned liking in my first review hold true, except that now I wish there was more of everything. The Darkest Road fits an amazing amount of things in 450 pages, enough to make me cry every time -- Ysabel doesn't quite get there. It could, given time, though of course, there doesn't seem enough material here for a trilogy, not with just one story going on.

      Read in July 2008.

      I loved Ysabel. It's a semi-sequel to the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy, though it only involves two of the characters from that, and those much older than they were. The little glimpses you get of how their lives have gone are believable, and interesting, and just about right, I think, for a book that isn't really about either of them. The main character is really Ned, Kim's nephew.

      The core story is a little like the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot thread in Fionavar, except that it isn't as clear why the story is repeating itself. The Celtic influences are very, very interesting -- to me at least. The resolution of the main plot is neat and well-done, in my opinion, although I think I could've stood to hear a lot more detail about Phelan, Cadell and Ysabel, and more about how Ned's abilities develop. The characters themselves don't quite have the depth that Guy Gavriel Kay brought to Fionavar, but at the same time, I think that's to be expected.

      The descriptions in the book are lovely. There's not too much of them, but there's enough to bring a real flavour of the setting. It couldn't be set anywhere but Provence, I think, the way it's written.

      So... I wouldn't have complained had it been longer, and a bit more detailed when it comes to characters and background, but I did enjoy it and still want more of Guy Gavriel Kay's work, despite being warned that I probably wouldn't find it up to the standard of the Tapestry trilogy.
    • 3/5
      I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, as a simple retelling of the plot would possibly have discouraged me from reading it. But I have enjoyed Kay’s books in the past, and enjoyed this one also, although it’s perhaps difficult to really capture a sense of what it’s about while avoiding spoilers ... Essentially, 15-year old Ned is with his famous photographer father in Provence, France, and stumbles upon a mysterious stranger with a knife while exploring a historic cathedral. The stranger tells Ned and Kate, the exchange student he encounters in the cathedral, that they have “stumbled into the corner of a very old story”, and should back away now, and the story sort of evolves from here ... Part of what I liked, I think, were Ned’s musings on time and history and narrative, and their resonances through the ages ...
    • 4/5
      This book is a story of magic, love, desire, violence and the history of a long forgotten people. It is also about family and what makes a family. Ned, an ordinary 15 year old Canadian kid, is drawn into an old story full of magic and mystery. Melanie, his father's assistant, is also drawn into the story. Ned must find her before two other men, a Greek-Roman and Celt or she will be lost forever. He searches for her with the help and support of his family and friends and learns about his own family history along the way.The plot is interwoven with the Celtic, Greek, and Roman history of Provence, France. In the Acknowledgements the author writes about how he actually visited the cities, historical sites and excavations mentioned in the book. He did extensive research into the Celtic, Greek and Roman people who lived in the area.
    • 4/5
      This review is somewhat spoileriffic. You have been warned.I liked it well enough. I got so into it that I read nearly 300 pages yesterday only didn't finish it last night because I quite literally fell asleep on top of it.I wasn't overwhelmed by it. Much like Last Light of the Sun (and I have yet to give that a second chance - I plan to), it didn't touch me emotionally. All his other books have made me cry, repeatedly. The last two didn't.My two main thoughts throughout were:1. This is a young adult book. Anyone else felt that?2. This is a bit like (and I don't mean this anywhere near as scathingly as it sounds, I just can't find a better way of expressing what I mean) Guy Gavriel Kay meets Dan Brown. There was a lot more "action", it was an adventure story really. Probably the highlight for me was catching up with Kimberley and Dave. I may have to try to read this as sort of part 4 of the Fionavar Tapestry - I suspect some bits might make me cry then. My mind keeps trying to wrap itself around the last 25 years of their lives - how you move on from something like Fionavar and go back to being a lawyer or dealing with coughs and runny noses.Bottom line: good read, didn't blow my socks off.Thinking about it, this may be the first GGK book where I feel there's a space for fan fiction. The gap between Kim & Dave at the end of the Fionavar Tapestry and them in Ysabel is an interesting one. Normally I feel that Kay says everything that needs to be said about his characters. Not this time.
    • 2/5
      I still like Guy Gavriel Kay's flowery writing, but this particular story didn't ever click with me. I've always had that problem with Fantasy in a modern setting. For some reason every logical inconsistency and irksome details bothers me, in a way they don't when a story is set long ago or far away. On top of that I didn't connect with any of the characters in this one. They were a bit too flat and their interactions with one another seemed artificial too often.
    • 4/5
      I rarely read fantasy, and indeed it was the fantastic cover art that made me pick up the book in the first place. 15 year old Ned accompanies his father, a world renouned photographer, on a working trip to Provence, where he quickly bedcomes involved in a 2500 year old story involving druids and ancient pagan rituals. The story was fascinating, and the characters well painted. I was left with some unanswered questions, or perhaps things I just didn't understand, and that is what places my rating at four stars instead of five.
    • 3/5
      Good fantasy about a teenage Canadian boy in Provence with his famous photographer father. Hero encounters 2 men from 2500 years ago, one Roman, one Celt. Not as good as other Kay books, but still evokes beautiful imagery, with the past and present merging.
    • 3/5
      I had some problems with the story, partly to do with the reader not putting enough emotion into the reading, but also because the pathos seemed forced and the whole main plot unbelievable. I enjoyed the historical underpinning of Celtic, Roman themes but it wasn't enough to save the novel as a whole.