Hello Rafonauts!

The book club discussion of this excellent book is now open. Share your thoughts and reactions under the subthreads below, or start your own subthread.

We're doing this a slightly different way from previous book clubs. For those who are still reading the book, there are some section/chapter-oriented subthreads below so you can discuss your thoughts as you go along. For those who have finished the book there are more general questions. You are, of course, more than welcome to post your thoughts in any of the subthreads.

There's only one rule: please do not post spoilers in the subject line of your replies.

That's it! Hope you enjoy the book and the discussion.




Here's a little bit about the book from Wikipedia: The Lions of Al-Rassan is a work of historical fantasy by Guy Gavriel Kay. It is set in a peninsula of the same world in which The Sarantine Mosaic and The Last Light of the Sun are set, and is based upon Moorish Spain. The novel concentrates on the relationships between the three peoples: the Kindath (based on the Jews), the Asharites (based on the Muslims), and the Jaddites (based on the Christians). (The actual religions of the Kindath, Asharites, and Jaddites, as described in the novel, bear no relation to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.)

The three protagonists in the novel are from each of these three races and religions: Jehane bet Ishak, a Kindath physician in Fezana; Rodrigo Belmonte, a Jaddite captain of a company of cavalry (based on El Cid); and Ammar ibn Khairan, an Asharite poet, mercenary, and advisor to King Almalik of Cartada (loosely based on ibn Ammar).