Very soon into this work I began to feel a sense of amateurishness that I never felt with the Lions of Al Rassan or A Song For Arbonne.  The language was nowhere nearly as polished, the characters flatter, the plot more contrived and imitative.  So I looked at the copyrights.  Sure enough, this  was the first of Kay's published writings.  My, has he come a long way!!  I  didn't even finish the summer tree.  As soon as I found out it would be  just another of those "Dark Lord" books--where the good guys  battle a persona of ultimate evil--I just yawned and chucked it aside.  The  writing is really kind of corny sometimes, I didn't care much about any of  the characters--except perhaps Peter--and the idea is, well, how shall we  say, a tad old?  This book is basically a poorer rendition of LOTR mixed  with Narnia.  Kay matured magnificently in the books that came after,  peaking, I think, in The Lions of Al-Rassan.  Given the great stuff he's  written since the Fionavar Tapestry, I think we can forgive him his  youthful flailing.
Very soon into this work I began to feel a sense of amateurishness that I never felt with the Lions of Al Rassan or A Song For Arbonne. The language was nowhere nearly as polished, the characters flatter, the plot more contrived and imitative. So I looked at the copyrights. Sure enough, this  was the first of Kay's published writings. My, has he come a long way!! I  didn't even finish the summer tree. As soon as I found out it would be  just another of those "Dark Lord" books--where the good guys  battle a persona of ultimate evil--I just yawned and chucked it aside. The  writing is really kind of corny sometimes, I didn't care much about any of  the characters--except perhaps Peter--and the idea is, well, how shall we  say, a tad old? This book is basically a poorer rendition of LOTR mixed  with Narnia. Kay matured magnificently in the books that came after,  peaking, I think, in The Lions of Al-Rassan. Given the great stuff he's  written since the Fionavar Tapestry, I think we can forgive him his  youthful flailing.