Review by Gary K Wolfe for Locus Magazine. At the risk of oversimplification – well, no, to be honest, with the intent of oversimplification – the fantastic genres have a long and complex relationship with historical fiction, but they often tend to use it to provide templates for their own preoccupations. Horror seems to love the Middle Ages, with its demons and tortures and general misery; fantasy seems attracted to the Renaissance’s labyrinthine court intrigues and great clothes; and SF likes the Enlightenment because of – well, enlightenment. What sometimes gets lost behind the set design, though, is the awareness that our common notions of time, nature, and causation weren’t necessarily shared by the folks who actually had to live in these worlds…
Review by Bill Capossere for Fantasy Literature. I confess that I always dread just a little bit reviewing a new Guy Gavriel Kay novel. Not because I’m concerned it won’t be any good; Kay writing a bad book would have to be on anyone’s list of Impending Signs of the Apocalypse. But because what makes his books not just good but stand-out good is so damn ineffable…
Review by Niall Alexander for Tor.com. We all know how the story of the chosen one goes. We all know of fellowships formed around unlikely heroes who come from nothing but become something like legends when they declare against the darkness. We all know that the fate of the land, or the larger world, or perhaps the entire galaxy, hangs in the balance in this tradition of fiction. A Brightness Long Ago isn’t about any of that. Instead, it’s interested in what we don’t know—in the little things that happen to the little people, in particular…
Review by Douglas Barbour of Eclectic Ruckus. If, like me, you are a fan of Kay’s historical novels set in another world so like & unlike our own, & especially if you enjoyed the earlier Sarantine Mosaic & his most recent Children of Earth and Sky, then you will find A Brightness Long Ago another profoundly moving entertainment…
Review by Adam Weller and Calvin Park of Fantasy Book Review. Guy Gavriel Kay’s A Brightness Long Ago is a masterpiece; perhaps the finest work of one of the world’s greatest living storytellers. Set in the fictional nation of Batiara (serving as a near-proxy for 15th century Italy), Kay effortlessly drifts through a complex narrative while developing a wide cast of fully-realized characters. The reader experiences some of the same events through several different viewpoints, gaining multiple insights that helps to enrich the story’s depth…
Review by Andrew Mather of The Quill to Live. Originally I wasn’t going to review this book because it is by Guy Gavriel Kay, and here at The Quill to Live we basically have a blanket recommendation for anything he has ever written. His ability to churn out a powerful novel that is equal parts historical fiction, fantasy, and love note to history is well known. However, it is very likely that A Brightness Long Ago will be our book of the year – thus it seemed important that we actually review it…