Praise for The Last Light of the Sun “A tale of raids and blood feuds, told with a blunt relish worthy of any Icelandic saga-teller … Kay writes beautifully, as though he were composing a prose poem, creating memorable characters and telling a story that will stay with you long after you’ve finished the book.” —Chronicle Herald (Halifax) “A master craftsman … Kay has staked out a marvelous territory somewhere between the historical realism of Dorothy Dunnett and the contemporary urban fantasy of Charles de Lint … An enchanted realm … in which the paranormal is just another dimension … [and] magical … intertwining storylines … add texture and richness.” —National Post “Brings depth and texture to the ancient tales of the Norse lands … Consummate storytelling.” —Library Journal “One of Kay’s finest achievements, an expert mélange of the Eddas and The Mabinogion The characters are well developed and the story is as taut as a garrote.” —The Globe and Mail “Richly drawn … stunning … Epic in scale and finely wrought, [Kay’s] latest offering hurtles across a landscape of hard-scrabble villages, warrior fortresses, and spirit-filled forests … Kay is an unerring architect, a nimble sculptor in crafting the harsh, coastal world of the ancient north Opened gleefully, enjoyed with the satisfaction of hopes fulfilled, The Last Light of the Sun is a delight to be shared.” —Calgary Herald “The Last Light of the Sun is more than a book: it’s a one-way ticket to another world so skillfully drawn, it’s wrenching to leave it behind.” —January Magazine “Kay has written some of the most intelligent and respected fantasy of the last twenty years … Together with George R R Martin, he is one of the best two writers working in the epic fantasy field.” —SFX Magazine “[Kay] has fashioned a tale as dark, terrifying, powerful, and full of passion as any epic … A complex, satisfying story.” —Edmonton Journal “Chance, love, despair, yearning—Kay strikes in 600 fantastic pages all the many paths a person can hazard in this woeful thing called life, in these few failing, precious moments before the last light of the sun.” —Georgia Straight “What sets Kay apart from most other fantasy authors is his unwillingness to settle for convention or formula.” —Times Colonist (Victoria) “[Kay] has established himself as the primary voice of a genre—historical fantasy—which he created and pretty much occupies all on his own.” —Vancouver Sun “A moving saga of cultures at the brink of change.” —Quill & Quire “A distinguished story that, for those so inclined, poses intriguing historical riddles.” —Booklist Reviews “Kay takes the familiar elements of epic fantasy … and probes beneath the surface for what the old songs hide … [ The Last Light of the Sun] steadfastly confront[s] us with the significant acts of insignificant people, the ironies of history, and both heroism and the fantastic stripped of accumulated myths and legends Where we seek patterns, there is only surprise.” —Locus “Literate, complex, unpredictable, and fascinating.” —Canadian Jewish News “Another vivid, complex fantasy from Kay’s pen There is the usual sense that there’s more, so much more, in the background of the story than the reader has been told—the sense of glimpsing a few shining threads in a larger tapestry A book to savour.” —SF Site PENGUIN CANADA THE LAST LIGHT OF THE SUN is the author of ten novels and a volume of poetry He won the 2008 World Fantasy Award for Ysabel, has been awarded the International Goliardos Prize, and is a two-time winner of the Aurora Award His works have been translated into more than twenty languages and have appeared on bestseller lists around the world GUY GAVRIEL KAY Visit his Canadian website www.brightweavings.com at www.guygavrielkay.ca and his international website at ALSO BY GUY GAVRIEL KAY The Fionavar Tapestry: The Summer Tree The Wandering Fire The Darkest Road Tigana A Song for Arbonne The Lions of Al-Rassan The Sarantine Mosaic: Sailing to Sarantium Lord of Emperors Beyond This Dark House (poetry) Ysabel Under Heaven THE LAST LIGHT OF THE SUN GUY GAVRIEL KAY PENGUIN CANADA Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Canada Inc.) Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S A Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England First published in a Viking Canada hardcover by Penguin Group (Canada), a division of Pearson Canada Inc., 2004 Published in Penguin Canada paperback by Penguin Group (Canada), a division of Pearson Canada Inc., 2005 Published in this edition, 2010 10 (OPM) Copyright © Guy Gavriel Kay, 2004 Author representation: Westwood Creative Artists 94 Harbord Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1G6 All rights reserved Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book Publisher’s note: This book is a work of fiction Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental Manufactured in the U.S.A LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION Kay, Guy Gavriel The last light of the sun / Guy Gavriel Kay ISBN 978-0-14-317451-6 I Title PS8571.A935L38 2010 C813'.54 C2010-900613-5 Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser Visit the Penguin Group (Canada) website at www.penguin.ca Special and corporate bulk purchase rates available; please see www.penguin.ca/corporatesales or call 1-800-810-3104, ext 2477 or 2474 for George Jonas I have a tale for you: winter pours The wind is high, cold; its course is short The bracken is very red; The cry of the barnacle goose Cold has taken Season of ice; a stag bells; summer has gone the sun is low; the sea is strong running its shape has been hidden has become usual the wings of birds this is my tale —FROM THE LIBER HYMNORUM MANUSCRIPT ... IN PUBLICATION Kay, Guy Gavriel The last light of the sun / Guy Gavriel Kay ISBN 978-0-14-317451-6 I Title PS8571.A935L38 2010 C813'.54 C2010-900613-5 Except in the United States of America, this... www.guygavrielkay.ca and his international website at ALSO BY GUY GAVRIEL KAY The Fionavar Tapestry: The Summer Tree The Wandering Fire The Darkest Road Tigana A Song for Arbonne The Lions of. .. Al-Rassan The Sarantine Mosaic: Sailing to Sarantium Lord of Emperors Beyond This Dark House (poetry) Ysabel Under Heaven THE LAST LIGHT OF THE SUN GUY GAVRIEL KAY PENGUIN CANADA Published by the Penguin