Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

Read for: CBC 4

15-year-old Ned is in Provence, missing the last two months of school, while his father, a super famous photographer shoots photos for a new book.  The first morning he is wandering around an old cathedral, while his dad shoots outside.  While in the church he meets Kate, a young exchange student from New York.  As she is showing him around the church they catch a man climbing out of a tunnel he shouldn’t be in.  Over the next few days, Ned runs into the mysterious man several more times.  But it is on the evening of Beltaine when Ned and Kate are in a place they shouldn’t be, when the story truly begins.  Ned calls his father’s assistant, Melanie, for help and when she arrives she is swept into an ancient story that has been replaying itself over and over for 2500 years.  Ned and Kate and a few others must enter the world of the mysterious man to rescue Melanie before she’s lost forever.

I had a hard time getting into the book.  At times I really liked it and would be totally absorbed but as soon as I put it down that all went away.  I never had that feeling of the book calling me, needing to be read.  Because of that I had a hard time finishing it.  It also seemed to move really slowly.  I actually didn’t really like this book that much.  The only reason I ended up finishing it and not abandoning it is because I wanted to review it for the Canadian Book Challenge.  I honestly can’t say why I didn’t like this book.  The writing was good, the story was interesting, the characters were likable and well developed – there’s isn’t any one specific thing I can pinpoint that made me dislike this novel.  I think perhaps it was mostly a timing thing.  Maybe if I’d had more time to devote to reading it I would have been more caught up in the story and enjoyed it more?  Who knows.

The one thing I can pick out that I really liked was the dialogue.  The characters were comfortable with each other and had a witty dialogue going on that had me laughing out loud several times.  Although I didn’t love this book, I will definitely be giving Guy Gavriel Kay another chance.  I’ve heard plenty about him and it’s all been good.