Unknown fantasy book title

February 28, 2007 9:55 AM

I'd appreciate some help trying to remember a fantasy book I read when I was younger, but I can't remember the name of it.

Don't remember if it was a single book or a series, the only details I recall are: 1. The bad guys rode horses/monsters with six legs 2. There was a culminating end battle where a prince, formerly capricious and care-free, sacrificed himself on the main bad guy's sword to kill him 3. And somehow King Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere were involved, and their part in the story ended with a resolution of the love triangle involved between them. Sorry about the vagueness of this question, but it's all I remember, and it's been bugging me for a while, as I've been walking down memory lane lately and reading old books, thanks for any help. :)

posted by tjbarrett to media & arts (9 comments total)

I'm 99% sure that's Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry trilogy, though I'm not positive about the six-legged horses.
posted by Stacey at 10:10 AM on February 28, 2007

Is it possilbe you are getting a couple stories intertwined here? The movie Excaliber ends with King Arther killing the bad guy in much the way you describe. There is a reconciliation of sorts as well between Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere.
posted by mach at 10:26 AM on February 28, 2007

Seconding the Fionavar Tapestry (highly recommended regardless, along with pretty much everything else GGK has written -- I'm personally very fond of "A Song for Arbonne").
posted by kanuck at 10:37 AM on February 28, 2007

It's defintely the Fionavar Tapestry. No question. Your point #2 is about Diarmuid.
posted by Justinian at 10:52 AM on February 28, 2007

Yep. GGK is a badass. Those were his first books, which while entertaining, pale in comparision with his later writings (which are pure gold in my opinion), especially Tigana. He also has a very nice website.

Disclaimer: I'm a bit of a GGK nut.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 11:14 AM on February 28, 2007

There's another bit of self sacrifice in the Fionavar Tapestry that actually shocked me so much the first time I read it that I had to put the book down for a few days (I think it was in the middle of The Wandering Fire). Had me in tears, and I was a cynical teenager at the time.

I don't recall the six legged beasts though.
posted by JaredSeth at 11:44 AM on February 28, 2007

There are six-legged beasts in the books, called slaugs.
posted by cardboard at 3:31 PM on February 28, 2007

nthing The Fionavar Tapestry. And since you loved it, I cannot urge you enough to seek out the rest of Kay's works. Those books alone would have been a stunning achievement for any novelist. Kay has grown by leaps and bounds since then.

i_am_a_Jedi writes ". Those were his first books, which while entertaining, pale in comparision with his later writings (which are pure gold in my opinion), especially Tigana."

I've almost finished re-reading Tigana for the third or fourth time. This time, though, the scene in Tigana, when Baerd screams "Tigana!" had me in tears.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 4:21 PM on February 28, 2007

Thanks very much. :)
posted by tjbarrett at 5:24 PM on February 28, 2007