It's my favourite Kay novel as well — not the first one I read, but the first one that really blew me away and spoke to me on an emotional level.

At his best, Kay is one of my favourite authors, but he's very same-y (as per ambyr's remarks which I quoted above) and sometimes his pet tropes can become tiring.

But there are scenes from his work that are imprinted in my mind forever. I recently picked up Lions again to revisit some of them, and ended up rereading most of the book. It was like all the years fell away. It still is just that good. <3

Absolutely!