In this video I talk about main plot points in Tigana that will spoil the book for any who haven't read it.

Tigana is a fantasy novel by Guy Gavriel Kay. The story begins in a region known as the Palm, a area much like Italy with nine different factions all at odds with each other face two new threats foreign tyrants invade. Brandin of Ygrath goes to war against Tigana and ultimately loses his son in the battle. As revenge he obliterates the name and country of Tigana away until it's nothing more than a fading memory for the survivors. The second tyrant is Alberico of Barbadior. The leader of a great army for the Empire of Barbadior. Both tyrants invade the Palm but are held in check by each other.

This sets the stage for our heroes to begin their plot to upend the balance in the Palm and rid the land of both tyrants. The story opens with the traditional plight of an oppressed people against harsh and cruel foreign invaders but Kay plays a interesting game with the audience. The story of Brandin is told from the point of view of a Tigana refugee. The woman, Dianora, who join's Brandin's harem to kill him, only to fall in love with him. From this POV we begin to see a more humane picture of Brandin and slowly see him less as an unseen evil and more of a complicated character. This is cleverly contrasted with moral quandries that the hero, Alessan, pulls himself into by enslaving the wizrd Erlein di Senzio, and planning to start a war inside of Senzio which will result in the death of thousands of innocents.

Kay does this play to pull the audience in and play with them knowing he can change it all with the end of the book. I don't see many writers manipulating the audience like this and doing it so well. He takes a cruel character like Brandin and humanizes him and at the last moment, at the end of the book it all comes crashing down. I felt conflicted at the end. I was torn. I didn't want to like Brandin, and felt a little betrayed because of the better picture I came to see through Dianora's eyes. But I couldn't help it as I was lead through the story by a skilled author.

Music by Simon Swerwer,
Cuggin's Cove,
Emergence,
Inith and Od Travel North