The Fionavar Tapestry
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The Fionavar Tapestry is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Guy Gavriel Kay, set partly in our own contemporary world, but mostly in the fictional world of Fionavar. It is primarily the story of five University of Toronto students, who are drawn into the 'first world of the Tapestry' by the mage Loren Silvercloak. Once there, each discovers their own role and destiny in the framework of an epic conflict.
The three books are:
Themes
Kay's central concept in the novels is that Fionavar is the first of worlds, particularly in a mythological sense; the sagas and tales of other worlds originate (or culminate) in this most primary of settings. There is also, as in much mythical fantasy, a hierarchy of gods and other supernatural figures. The most central is the Weaver, at the Loom, shuttling back and forth the threads of the great Tapestry which tells the story of all worlds. As is custom, this central figure makes no direct appearance in the tales, but many of the other gods and demigods are seen, and influence events.
In his writing, Kay manages to capture what has eluded so many of his colleagues in the fantasy genre: a pervading sense of reality in his world intermingled with elements mythical and fantastical to create a complex weaving of many different tones and patterns, an almost total antithesis to the one-dimensional settings of many a fantasy book or movie. His writing is also quite merciless at times, almost (but never quite) to the point of repugnance, resulting in an emotional intenstity typically lacking from the works of lesser authors.
The Five
There are five central characters to the story, all originally university students from our world and thus strangers to Fionavar; each finds a role and a destiny in their time there. They are Kevin Laine, Paul Schafer, Dave Martyniuk, Kimberly Ford, and Jennifer Lowell.