Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay, Book Review

My review of Written on the Dark appeared previously as an Editors’ Choice in the May 2025 Historical Novels Review. I am a fan of Kay’s historical fantasy. This latest release did not disappoint!

Alternate Medieval France

Written on the Dark, set in an alternate medieval France, fits into Kay’s broad, century-spanning world of historical fantasy, stretching from Sarantium (Byzantium) to Ferrieres (France), with a sun god Jad religion and two moons.

It Starts with Murder

A quick-witted poet (and lawyer), Thierry Villar, who is more at home in taverns than among aristocracy, is backed into solving a royal murder—and then into assisting his country against foes foreign and internal. In the process, he interacts with a remarkable mix of people, among them the queen who protects her mad husband, a young girl whose religious zeal might save that king, a renowned woman poet, and an ambiguously gendered person who sees into the “half-world.” These are troubled times of political conspiracies and a long-drawn-out war, none of which Thierry wishes to be involved with—or at least that’s what he assumes.

A Poet’s Vision Guides Written on the Dark

This intelligent, beautiful novel moves between finely detailed scenes and philosophically sweeping passages. Kay’s graceful language is illustrated in the first chapter where he sets out a key theme: “Not everyone alive in that winter night, and the following day when chaos erupted, would live to see the flowers return, or the warmth of summer, or enjoy the fruits of the harvest that followed. But that is always so. Men and women live with a heart-deep uncertainty every morning when they wake. It is why they go to war, why they write poems, fall in and out of love, plan thefts on dark nights, or try to forestall them. Why they pray. Or refuse to pray. It is the uncertainty that shapes and defines our lives.”

A highly recommended, masterful contribution to Kay’s celebrated fictional world.

Further Reading

Readers may enjoy my review of Guy Gavriel Kay’s other recent novel, A Brightness Long Ago. He set the novel in his alternate Renaissance Italy.

For a discussion of historical fantasy and the works of Kay and others, you may also enjoy reading the article “History Rhymes: The Function and Importance of Historical Fantasy” by Kristen McQuinn.