I concur. I think Kay is the most remarkable fantasy writer producing today, and I don’t understand why his work isn’t more widely read. One thing that’s really nice is that he tends to finish a story: Sailing to Sarantium is the first volume of what’s really a single, two-volume book, and there is a trilogy, but all the other books are stand-alone: one big meaty epic story, with a beginning, middle, and end.
He’s got the same low-fantasy thing going as Martin: very little magic, and nothing that wouldn’t have seemed plausible to a peasant in actual historical times. He’s got the same moral ambiguity, in that very rarely is there a character that’s out and out evil: people just have vastly different perspectives and values and priorities. However, I think he does a much better job than Martin of avoiding the gratuitous: there’s plenty of sex and violence, but it never makes me feel sordid for reading it the way Martin kind of can.
The writing is more lyrical than some people care for, though I really like it.
