Both unusually skilled and knowledgeable in the ways of politics and war, they are always planning well ahead of anything Jehane could have anticipated, always perfectly in step with one another.

Constantly with them, the reader sees through her eyes their first fateful meeting and the close friendship that follows. This has less to do with her personal importance than with the unique perspective she has to Ammar and Rodrigo and their relationship. The story is told from a number of view points but Jehane’s dominates. All cultured, educated and well-travelled, they form a devoted if troubled trio, able to look beyond their differing faiths but always conscious that, eventually, their faiths and old allegiances will force them apart, onto opposing sides of the inevitable war. In such a bloody war, both victory and defeat are absolute.Īt the center of this conflict are our three main characters: Jehane, a female Kindath physican from Al-Rassan, Ammar, an Asharite poet, solider and diplomat, and Rodrigo, a Jaddite military commander.

As the Jaddites wage a holy war on a weakened Al-Rassan, bent on destroying those of other faiths, the Asharites are forced to look south across the water for support from the desert warriors who share their faith but not their culture of tolerance.

The novel deals with the conflict between these religious groups. In Kay’s fantastical interpretation, the Asharites, rulers of the rich, highly cultured, religiously tolerant Al-Rassan represent the Muslims the Jaddites from the north, slightly rough and skeptical of refined arts, the Christians and the Kindath, dressed always in white and blue, scholarly and scientific, ghettoized even in Al-Rassan, clearly the Jewish minority. Just as A Song for Arbonne examined a fictionalized medieval Languedoc, The Lions of Al-Rassan looks to medieval Spain, when the peninsula was divided between Christian kingdoms in the north and Moorish regions in the south. Admittedly, if anyone had seen me while I was reading the last hundred or so pages, crying my way through them, they might have questioned if it was really love but, for me, it is only the really good stories, the ones that pull me in so completely, the ones with characters and conflicts that engage me intellectually and emotionally, that can make me cry and, in doing so, only make me love the book more.įor me, a huge part of Kay’s appeal is the historical roots of his fantasy novels. I loved it even more than I loved A Song for Arbonne. I loved The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay.

The Lion's Lady by Julie Garwood