I am not quite through with this book yet, but OMG, Simon Vance's narration of this book is absolute perfection. PERFECTION. I am thoroughly engrossed. A couple of days later: This is a lovely book. A man looks back on a period of his life, where he met some important men and (at least) one extraordinary woman. It's also a meditation on how lives can change, how a decision taken can ring changes down the rest of a life. This theme comes across again and again. I find this lovely, because I also think about this often. It's a violent time in a slightly alternative version of our early Renaissance era. There are many mercenary armies for the various city-states. Travel is perilous. Punishment for various transgressions is often maiming or death. Sarantium, that great city, is under siege, and may fall. Under these circumstances, people great and small live out their lives. Some lives have large consequences. One action can change a life, or a world. This is one book that I thought was DEFINITELY enhance by listening to it with this narrator. I often listen to books at more than 1.0 speed because reasons, but Vance's narration was so perfect I couldn't do that. I wanted to hear his reading, and be swept along with it. For some reason, I often forget how rich and warm Kay's writing is. I find his writing gentle and nuanced and rich and lovely. Well done, Mr. Kay. As usual. Note: this book is set in the same world as (though much later than) the books of The Sarantine Mosaic, which I also think is very, very good. You should read those too, though they're not really necessary to read for you to enjoy this book.

I received this book electronically via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. You can find this review and more at Novel Notions. “I knew, once, a woman diamond bright and two men I will not forget. I played a part in a story in a fierce, wild, windblown time. I do have that. I always will. I am here and it is mine, for as near to always as we are allowed.” This is only the second book I’ve read from Guy Gavriel Kay, but I feel secure in stating that I’ve never come across another author who has his way with words. There’s something about his prose that is both breathtakingly lovely and oddly jarring. In A Brightness Long Ago, Kay paints with his words, writing something that is lush and poignant and real enough to touch. This novel is somewhere between historical fiction and low fantasy, and Kay straddles that divide with great finesse. “Perhaps it is true of every life, that times from our youth remain with us, even when the people are gone, even if many, many events have played out between where we are and what we are remembering.” Danio is one of the lucky youths who, despite low birth, are chosen to attend a school with noble children. Because of this education and a compelling personality, Danio finds himself in the midst of history in the making throughout his life, whether in the form of being present during an assassination or witnessing a horse race that will live on in legend or standing on the sidelines as mighty men made war or truces. His was an oddly calming, graceful presence among larger-than-life personalities. There was this graceful poise and sense of honor to his character that I found incredibly compelling. “Life, the way events actually unfold, is not as precise or as elegantly devised as a storyteller can make it seem. There are moments that find us, like some stray dog on a country road, and they may not carry significance, only truth: that they happened, and we remember them.” While Danio was the only first person perspective character, we did have other perspective characters. A pagan healer, a wealthy second son with no head for politics, an important daughter who wants nothing more than to escape the life that is expected of her and live life to the very fullest, a mistress yearning for legitimacy. There are others, as well, but these are the lives that most often intertwine themselves with Danio and the two powerful men who seem to dominate this part of the world. All of the characters were multifaceted and interesting, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them grow and change over the course of the novel. The one thing each character seemed to have in common was a preoccupation with sex, but from what I gather that is a common theme in Kay’s work. “Shelter can be hard to find. A place can become our home for reasons we do not understand. We build memories that turn into what we are, then what we were, as we look back. We live in the light that comes to us.” The setting for this book is very heavily inspired by Italy, as is apparent by the names of people and places given. The land is made up of city-states who often find themselves at war with one another. So often, in fact, that springtime has become synonymous with war. I’ve read very little set in Italy outside of Romeo and Juliet, so I found the setting very thought-provoking. There was a horse race, briefly mentioned above, that was one of the most amazing sequences I’ve read. I could see and hear and smell absolutely everything, as if I had fallen into the pages and landed in the scene itself. I believe this race with stay with me for some time, which was unexpected. “We live, it might be said, in unstable times. Dramatic, interesting, magnificent in ways. But not stable. You would never say that.” There are two reasons that this book didn’t receive a perfect rating from me, and they’re both incredibly subjective. First, the central themes of the story were war, romance, and politics. Two out of these three themes are topics that I often find myself lost in, unable to focus on the intricate political movements and patterns of war. While these are areas I can read past, I have a difficult time enjoying a story that is made up in such large part by these components. Second, I believe that I would have enjoyed this story even more and connected with it on a deeper level if I had read Kay’s Sarantine Mosiac. I won’t explain why, but I’m positive that there are plot points that would have brought me to tears if I had already developed a bond with Sarantium. “Perhaps in the darkest times all we can do is refuse to be part of the darkness.” Once again, Kay crafted something incredibly beautiful with this story. While it might not be an immediate favorite, it definitely enticed me into trying more of Kay’s work, and soon. Tigana remains my favorite book my Kay, and among my favorite fantasy novels period, but I now believe that Tigana won’t be the only of his works that I will come to love and cherish. If you want to be transported, and see how the world can be impacted by one life, this is a beautiful novel to try.

Let me start by saying this is one of the best, most complete stand-alone fantasies I've ever read. Guy Gavriel Kay is a literary genius. How does he weave such a complete story with so few words? A Brightness Long Ago is a story about a tailor's son, who is caught in a web of political intrigue. Between the rival of two ferocious mercenaries and a plot to assassinate a brutal Lord, poor Danino can only try to keep his head on - literally and figuratively. If you like beautiful prose and political intrigue, give this a try.

2.5 stars. Perhaps this wasn’t the best possible introduction I could’ve had to Guy Gavriel Kay. It’s kind of crazy that I haven’t picked up any of his books before — despite having recently unearthed a gifted copy of Tigana — but it just had not happened until now. The biggest draw for me was of course the great cover. The prose and dialogue also were smooth reading, though often ambiguous and it seems sometimes veering into self-indulgence. Jelena and Danio were nothing more than minor players in the grand scheme of this book, but their voices were more powerful than their presence. My biggest beef? The world building (or absolute lack thereof). I think perhaps if I didn’t love reading about the numerous dramas of Renaissance Italy I would not have noticed or minded. Unfortunately I do, and nearly every city and person and detail in this book is a renamed version of the real thing. I just can’t get into a story like that! Why bother when the history is already so compelling? I expect more creativity in my fantasy, and this did not deliver.

Historical ... fantasy. One of my most favourite authors. Never disappoints.

Amazing. Writing is excellent. I really loved how all the minor characters and tangents come together to influence the plot. Has earned a spot on the favourites shelf.

Long, but lovely.