Canadian fantasist Guy Gavriel Kay got his start in the world of literary fantasy under perhaps the most auspicious circumstances imaginable—he was personally picked by Christopher Tolkien to travel to Oxford in 1974 and help to edit J. R. R. Tolkien’s unpublished works, including The Silmarillion.
Within a decade, Kay had begun publishing his own books, often regarded as historical fantasy (though Kay himself preferred not to categorize them as such) taking place in fictional settings that resemble real periods in Earth’s history. In the coming years, these stories would carve out Kay’s own place as a titan of the fantasy writing field, winning him the Aurora Award in 1991, the World Fantasy Award in 2008, and being translated into more than 30 languages.
In 2014, Kay was appointed to the Order of Canada—the country’s highest civilian honor—“for his contributions to the field of speculative fiction as an internationally celebrated author.”
Whether you’re an old fan or someone coming to Kay’s fiction for the first time, these books will help introduce you to the author that Brandon Sanderson called “a genius […] I’ve read him all my life and am always inspired by his work.”
Written on the Dark
Kay's latest novel, due out in May of 2025, promises to be yet another hit, transporting readers to a world evoking the turmoil of medieval France. The story introduces Thierry Villar, a tavern-poet and classic Kay protagonist who finds himself caught up in a deadly game of ambitious monarchs, invading armies, and vicious assassins.
Hailed as “both sweeping and intimate,” Kay’s stories are “peerless in plucking elements from history and using them to weave a wholly fantastic tale that feels like a translation of some freshly unearthed scroll from a time we have yet to discover” (Miami Herald), and Written on the Dark promises to continue that fine tradition.
The Summer Tree
Guy Gavriel Kay’s career as a novelist began in 1984 with the release of The Summer Tree, the first book in his highly acclaimed Fionavar Tapestry series. In this portal fantasy, five people from Earth are transported to Fionavar, the “first of all worlds,” where they must carve out new destinies for themselves. It was followed by two additional books in the classic series, which cemented Kay as a significant voice in fantasy literature.
“Immense scale, literary richness and dazzling heroes” (Toronto Star) define this textbook work of high fantasy. Once you’ve finished The Summer Tree, you can look forward to the rest of the Fionavar Tapestry series in The Wandering Fire and The Darkest Road.
Tigana
“Kay shows why he’s the heir to Tolkien’s tradition” (Booklist) in this Aurora Award-winning classic that Anne McCaffrey hailed as “one of the best fantasy novels I have read.” In a land cursed by a despotic sorcerer, rebels fight to reclaim a place whose very name has been stricken from their minds in this novel, which has become one of Kay’s most beloved.
Nominated for the World Fantasy Award, Tigana takes place in a setting reminiscent of Renaissance Italy against a backdrop of internecine struggles between conspiratorial factions and powerful sorcerers and serves as a perfect entry point for readers who want to explore Kay’s unforgettable worlds.
The Lions of Al-Rassan
Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, Guy Gavriel Kay’s sixth novel spins the tale of the men and women who inhabit a dangerous world, a splintered empire of decadent city-states where holy war may be just a breath away.
“A beautifully wrought, elegantly written adventure” (San Francisco Chronicle), The Lions of al-Rassan introduces readers to some of Kay’s most memorable characters, from poet, diplomat, and soldier Ammar ibn Khairan to the celebrated and feared military leader Rodrigo Belmonte and Jehane bet Ishak, the court physician who finds her fate interwoven with both.
Children of Earth and Sky
Set in the same world of The Lions of al-Rassan and also Kay’s Sarantine Mosaic series—but at a different time and place—Children of Earth and Sky has been praised as featuring some of his best worldbuilding, leading Reactormag.com to call him “contemporary fiction’s finest fantasist.”
The setting is “lush, well-researched, and well-painted” (Kirkus Reviews), taking place in a fantasy analog of the 15th- and 16th-century Mediterranean in a story that “weaves together the lives of several fascinating individuals” (Fantasy Literature) to tell a story that was further expanded in both a prequel (A Brightness Long Ago) and sequel (All the Seas of the World).
Ysabel
Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Guy Gavriel Kay’s first urban fantasy is “beyond honed. It reads like a perfectly cut jewel” (Science Fiction Weekly). Set in modern Provence, this tale of a young man who inadvertently finds himself caught up in an ancient story of love, loss, sacrifice, and magic.
Under Heaven
A departure for Guy Gavriel Kay, Under Heaven and its sequel River of Stars are set not in a fantastical version of Europe or the Mediterranean but instead a gorgeous epic set in an analogue of Tang China during the An Shi Rebellion.
The result is a beautiful book that “combines the best of historical and fantasy novels to create a great read where you don’t know what could happen next” (Salon) as Kay depicts the “unimaginable consequences of a single generous gift” (Washington Post).
