Guy Gavriel Kay often writes his main characters in such an operatic way that it seems as if the other characters exist just to be a Greek chorus of gasping, sighing and weeping supporting castmembers about how horrible and unfair it is that the universe punishes such beautiful people so much. "Tigana" is one of the books that is not quite as bad as "The Fionavar Tapestry" was in this regard, but there were definitely some characters that had as much substance as a packet of bleached sugar. It's been quite a while since I read this book, but I remember liking Catriana the most out of the cast.