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43-494: The Fionavar Tapestry is a book series of fantasy novels by Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay , published between 1984 and 1986. The novels are set in both contemporary Toronto and the secondary world of Fionavar . Five University of Toronto senior law and medical students who are drawn into the 'first world of the Tapestry' by the mage Loren Silvercloak. Once there, each character discovers their own role and destiny in

86-729: A boat and sails away, which is a retelling of Tennyson's " The Lady of Shalott ," and the story of Elaine. The powerful oak known as the Summer Tree is similar to Yggdrasil , the World Ash Tree of Norse mythology . Norse elements also appear in Mörnir, who, with his twin ravens Thought and Memory (Odin's Huginn and Muninn ), and the epithet "of the Thunder," is inspired by a combination of Thor and Odin . The lios alfar (light elves) and svart alfar (dark elves) are influenced by

129-441: A common setting , story arc , set of characters or timeline . They are common in genre fiction , particularly crime fiction , adventure fiction , and speculative fiction , as well as in children's literature . Some works in a series can stand alone—they can be read in any order, as each book makes few, if any, reference to past events, and the characters seldom, if ever, change. Many of these series books may be published in

172-437: A definitive roman fleuve . Today, however, its seven volumes are generally considered to be a single novel. Proust's work was immensely influential, particularly on British novelists of the middle of the twentieth century who did not favour modernism . Some of those follow the example of Anthony Powell , a Proust disciple, but consciously adapting the technique to depict social change, rather than change in high society. This

215-582: A novel sequence. For example, the Barchester novels of Anthony Trollope are only loosely related, although they contain a recurring cast of characters; his political novels about the Pallisers have a tighter connection and dynamic. A strict definition might exclude both. With precedents such as Madeleine de Scudéry 's magnum opus, Artamène , the novel sequence was a product of the nineteenth century, with James Fenimore Cooper 's works appearing in

258-525: A numbered series. Examples of such series are works like The Hardy Boys , Nancy Drew , and Nick Carter . Some series do have their characters go through changes, and make references to past events. Typically such series are published in the order of their internal chronology, so that the next book published follows the previous book. How much these changes matter will vary from series to series (and reader to reader). For some, it may be minor—characters might get engaged, change jobs, etc., but it does not affect

301-476: A series are sometimes enumerated according to the internal chronology rather than in publication order, depending on the intended purpose for the list. Examples of this series include works from the Chronicles of Narnia , where the fifth book published, The Horse and His Boy , is actually set during the time of the first book, and the sixth book published, The Magician's Nephew is actually set long before

344-541: A series can be by discipline, focus, approach, type of work, or geographic location. Examples of such series include the "Antwerp Working Papers in Linguistics", "Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile", "Garland Reference Library", "Canterbury Tales Project", " Early English Text Society ", and " Cambridge Companions to Music ". Book series can be compared with editorial collection, a type of serial publication which

387-400: A specific order, but with a certain affinity in the content of books (collections on art, on religion, on science...), as well as in the format , spine and page layout , even grammage , number of pages and style of typeface . Elaine of Astolat Elaine of Astolat ( / ˈ æ s t ə ˌ l æ t , - ɑː t / ), also known as Elayne of Ascolat and other variants of the name,

430-409: A wary Lancelot leaves the castle, never to return but now aware of her feelings for him. Ten days later, Elaine dies of heartbreak. In accordance with her instructions, her body is placed in a small boat, clutching a lily in one hand, and her final letter in the other. She then floats down the river to Camelot, where she is discovered by King Arthur's court, who call her 'a little lily maiden'. Lancelot

473-639: Is a figure in Arthurian legend . She is a lady from the castle of Astolat who dies of her unrequited love for Sir Lancelot . Well-known versions of her story appear in Sir Thomas Malory 's 1485 book Le Morte d'Arthur , Alfred, Lord Tennyson 's mid-19th-century Idylls of the King , and Tennyson's poem " The Lady of Shalott ". She should not be confused with Elaine of Corbenic , the mother of Galahad by Lancelot. The possibly original version of

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516-520: Is common in the Romance-speaking world , especially in France. Although the two are similar in many ways, book series and editorial collection differ because books in a series generally have a common subject, character, or universe; in other words, a set of volumes that are related to each other by certain thematic elements. While books in a collection do not necessarily have a common subject, or

559-507: Is shown to be Cavall, a dog from King Arthur's stories. Lancelot's encounter with Leyse of the lios alfar, her love for him, and subsequent departure by boat for the lios alfar's home in the West is a retelling of the tale of Lancelot and Elaine of Astolat . When Leyse of the Swan Mark, a member of the lios alfar, gives up her life as a result of her hopeless love for Lancelot, she lies down in

602-660: Is summoned and hears the contents of the letter, which explains what happened. Ashamed, he pays for her rich burial. Elaine has captured the minds of many painters, becoming one of the most recognizable tertiary characters from the Arthurian legends. Those who have depicted her story in their art include Dante Gabriel Rossetti , Emilie Autumn , Edward Reginald Frampton , Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale , Elizabeth Siddal , Howard Pyle , John Atkinson Grimshaw , John William Waterhouse ( The Lady of Shalott ; The Lady of Shalott Looking at Lancelot ; I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, Said

645-984: The Routledge's Railway Library ( George Routledge , 1848–99), the Oxford World's Classics ( Oxford University Press , from 1901), the Everyman's Library ( J. M. Dent , from 1906), the Penguin Classics ( Penguin Books , from 1945) and the Penguin English Library (from 1963). Reprint series were also published in the United States, including the Modern Library ( Boni & Liveright , from 1917), in Germany, including

688-624: The Twrch Trwyth . Cader Sedat, the island where the renegade mage Metran works his dark magic in The Wandering Fire , is the analogue of Caer Sidi from the poem Preiddeu Annwfn , a poem that is, in the trilogy, ascribed to Taliesin , one of the names used by Flidais. The Wild Hunt was a folk myth prevalent in former times across Germany, the Sub-Roman Britain and also Scandinavia. The entrapment of Rakoth Maugrim

731-552: The Universal-Bibliothek ( Reclam , from 1867), and in most other countries of the world. A novel sequence is a set or series of novels which share common themes, characters, or settings, but where each novel has its own title and free-standing storyline, and can thus be read independently or out of sequence. A novel sequence contains story arcs or themes that cross over several books, rather than simply sharing one or more characters. Fictional series typically share

774-426: The franchises of the film industry. Notable nonfiction book series for the general public have included: In scholarly and academic publishing , scientific and non-fiction books that are released serially (in successive parts) once a year, or less often, are also called a series . (Publications that are released more often than once a year are known as periodicals .) The connection among books belonging to such

817-402: The 1820s, and Anthony Trollope 's Barchester books in the 1850s. In French literature , Honoré de Balzac 's ambitious La Comédie humaine , a set of nearly 100 novels, novellas and short stories with some recurring characters, started to come together during the 1830s. Émile Zola 's Rougon-Macquart cycle is a family saga , a format that later became a popular fictional form, going beyond

860-463: The Arthurian stories. Kay's central concept in the novels is that Fionavar is the first of worlds, particularly in a mythological sense; the sagas and tales of other worlds originate (or culminate) in this most primary of settings. Because of this, what happens in Fionavar ripples into other worlds—thus, the victory or defeat of Rakoth Maugrim has immediate importance for Fionavar and implications for

903-551: The German Tauchnitz publishing firm launched the Collection of British and American Authors , a reprint series of inexpensive paperbound editions of both public domain and copyrighted fiction and nonfiction works. This book series was unique for paying living authors of the works published even though copyright protection did not exist between nations in the 19th century. Later British reprint series were to include

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946-510: The Rings volumes or the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Some authors make it difficult to list their books in a numerical order when they do not release each work in its 'proper' order by the story's internal chronology. They might 'jump' back in time to early adventures of the characters, writing works that must be placed before or between previously published works. Thus, the books in

989-518: The Scandinavian Álfar . The Cauldron of Khath Meigol and its powers of resurrection are inspired by Welsh mythology 's tale of the Cauldron of Annwn . A number of the deities may have Celtic or Welsh roots: Paul is known as Pwyll after his sacrifice, while Macha and Nemain are directly taken from Irish mythology . The wild boar that attacks Kevin, marking him as Liadon, closely resembles

1032-713: The Unraveller is similar to one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature , The Journey to the West . In the prologue of The Summer Tree , Rakoth Maugrim is bound by five wardstones and imprisoned under Mount Rangat. Book series Reprint series of public domain fiction (and sometimes nonfiction) books appeared as early as the 18th century, with the series The Poets of Great Britain Complete from Chaucer to Churchill (founded by British publisher John Bell in 1777). In 1841

1075-423: The conventional three-volume novel . A roman-fleuve (French, literally "river-novel") is an extended sequence of novels of which the whole acts as a commentary for a society or an epoch, and which continually deals with a central character, community or a saga within a family. The river metaphor implies a steady, broad dynamic lending itself to a perspective. Each volume makes up a complete novel by itself, but

1118-468: The entire cycle exhibits unifying characteristics. The metaphor of the roman-fleuve was coined by Romain Rolland to describe his 10-volume cycle Jean-Christophe . In the preface to the seventh volume, Dans la maison (1908/1909) he wrote: "When you see a man, do you ask yourself whether he is a novel or a poem? ... Jean-Christophe has always seemed to me to flow like a river; I have said as much from

1161-546: The fictional Earth within the trilogy. The story puts an emphasis on the importance of free will , as demonstrated in Jennifer's decisions to keep Darien and later to send Lancelot away, Finn's choice to follow his destiny with Owein and the Wild Hunt, Paul and Kevin's acceptance of the role of sacrifice (though in different ways), Diarmuid's decision to take the final battle with Uathach on himself enabling Arthur to survive

1204-427: The first book. This was done intentionally by C. S. Lewis , a scholar of medieval literature. Medieval literature did not always tell a story chronologically. There is no useful, formal demarcation between novel sequences and multi-part novels. Novels that are related may or may not fall into a clear sequence. It is also debatable whether a trilogy is long enough and whether its parts are discrete enough to qualify as

1247-406: The first pages." The term has subsequently been applied to other French novel sequences, particularly of the years between the world wars, notably: The 19th-century predecessors may be distinguished as being rather "family sagas", as their stories are from the perspective of a single family, rather than society as a whole. Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu has come to be regarded as

1290-429: The framework of an ancient conflict. Ysabel , while not part of The Fionavar Tapestry proper, features two of the same characters and often refers to the events of the trilogy. The story borrows elements of medieval literature, particularly King Arthur , who is known to the characters in the books as "The Warrior". Other notable inclusions are Lancelot and Guinevere . Parts of the story focuses on reenactment of

1333-660: The last battle, and the importance of Darien's ultimate choice of allegiance at the end. When the Baelrath (the "Warstone"), a ring given to Kim by Ysanne which is crafted to call various powers into the battle against the Dark, demands that Kim summon and bind the secret power in the Dwarves' sacred lake of Calor Diman, she refuses due to her characterized moral reasons. Another theme is that of forgiveness . For example, Arthur has long since forgiven Guinevere and Lancelot; throughout

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1376-464: The lord of Astolat ( William Caxton 's misread of Malory's original Ascolat ), organises a tournament attended by King Arthur and his knights. Sir Lancelot was not originally planning to attend, he is persuaded otherwise and visits Bernard and his two sons before the tournament. While Lancelot is in her family's household, Elaine becomes enamoured of him and begs him to wear her token at the coming tournament. Explaining that Queen Guinevere would be at

1419-550: The mages; as well as Kim's summoning power, the fee is often paid by whatever or whoever was summoned. Stonehenge is featured in the second book. The ancient caves of Dun Maura are inspired by the Oracle at Delphi as well as prehistoric caves such as Lascaux . The association of blood with magic (Kevin/Liadon, the avarlith ) are inspired by ancient mythologies. The Dalrei are shown to share many aspects of Native American lifestyle, beliefs and ritual, including being nomadic , and

1462-511: The main storyline. Examples of this type include Tony Hillerman 's Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn books. In other series, the changes are major and the books must be read in order to be fully enjoyed. Examples of this type include the Harry Potter series. There are some book series that are not really proper series, but more of a single work so large that it must be published over two or more books. Examples of this type include The Lord of

1505-400: The preconstructed novel sequence is often attributed to E. E. Doc Smith , with his Lensman books. Such sequences, from contemporary authors, tend to be more clearly defined than earlier examples. Authors are now more likely to announce an overall series title, or write in round numbers such as 12 volumes. These characteristics are not those of the classical model forms, and become more like

1548-406: The series, one of Paul's goal is to learn to forgive himself for his girlfriend Rachel's death; Galadan, in the end, is forgiven his evil past and offered a second chance; Darien at the end understands his mother's treatment of him and forgives her. One prominent theme is power and the price one pays for it. Often in the book, the price for power lies with someone else, as witnessed by the sources to

1591-487: The significant role of shamans . Fionavar has many similarities to J. R. R. Tolkien 's Middle-earth , and may have been directly influenced by it (Kay worked with Christopher Tolkien to edit The Silmarillion and prepare it for publication). The map of Fionavar shares many similarities to that of Tolkien's world. The stories incorporate, directly or indirectly, several other myths, the most direct being King Arthur, with Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere/Jennifer, who in

1634-518: The story appeared in the early 13th-century French prose romance Mort Artu , in which the Lady of Escalot ( Demoiselle d'Escalot ) dies of unrequited love for Lancelot and drifts down a river to Camelot in a boat. In the 14th-century English poem Stanzaic Morte Arthur , she is known as the Maid of Ascolot . Thomas Malory 's 15th-century compilation of Arthurian tales, Le Morte d'Arthur , includes

1677-574: The story works out their love triangle and atones for their sins. Kay uses a fragment of the Arthurian cycle, the May Babies , to explain Arthur's punishment of repeated rebirth/death in battle against evil, as shown in "[T]he Weaver had marked him down for a long unwinding doom. A cycle of war and expiation under many names, and in many worlds, that redress be made for the children and for love" (WF, p.40). The grey dog who fights Galadan to protect Paul

1720-454: The story. Another version is told in the 13th-century Italian short story La Damigella di Scalot (No. LXXXII in the collection Il Novellino: Le ciento novelle antike ). Two of Tennyson 's famous and influential poems, both titled " The Lady of Shalott " (1832 and 1842), were later inspired by the Italian variant. In Malory's telling, Elaine's episode begins when her father Bernard,

1763-426: The tournament, he consents to wear the token but says that he will have to fight in disguise so as not to be recognized. He asks Bernard if he can leave his recognizable shield with him and borrow another. Bernard agrees and lends him the plain-white shield of Sir Torre, Elaine's brother. Lancelot goes on to win the jousting tournament, still in disguise, fighting against King Arthur's party and beating forty of them in

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1806-580: The tournament. He does, however, receive an injury to his side from Sir Bors ' lance, and is carried off the field by Elaine's other brother, Sir Lavaine, to the hermit Sir Baudwin's cave (Baudwin being a former knight of the Round Table himself). Elaine then urges her father to let her bring the wounded Lancelot to her chambers, where she nurses him. When Lancelot is well, he makes ready to leave, and offers to pay Elaine for her services; insulted, Elaine brings him his shield, which she had been guarding, and

1849-685: Was a step beyond the realist novels of Arnold Bennett (the Clayhanger books) or John Galsworthy . The twenty-novel Aubrey-Maturin series by the English author Patrick O'Brian has been called perhaps the best-loved roman fleuve of the twentieth century: "[an] epic of two heroic yet believably realistic men that would in some ways define a generation". Although sequences of genre fiction are sometimes not considered to be romans-fleuves , novel sequences are particularly common in science fiction and epic fantasy genres. The introduction of

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