If I have a reservation about this gorgeous novel, it’s only that I listened to-rather than read-it. If you’re looking for an action-packed, whirlwind plot, you should probably look elsewhere though there is action and a solid, interesting plot, these aren’t the central focus of the book. There are a couple of supernatural elements, but as with George RR Martin at his strongest, they take a backseat to the character relationships. This may not be actual Medieval China, but whatever it is feels somehow even more real. I’ve never read dialogue passages with more insightful observations about each character’s motivation and outlook. The prose is so textured, so nuanced, so artfully incisive, with a confident understanding of each character, that I had to keep asking myself why I’d not previously even heard of this master storyteller. This is the first of Kay’s books I’ve encountered, and it blew me away. If it’s as good as this one, I’ll be re-listening to them both just as soon as I’ve made my second journey through The Sarantine Mosaic.

Now I can’t wait to begin the second novel in Kay’s T’ang Dynasty books. In fact, such characters have appeared in all of Kay’s books. Then I moved to the stand-alone novels, Tigana and Ysabel, both focusing on strong female characters. The series begins with The Lions of Al Rassad and picks up geographically (but centuries later) with the moving Sarantine Mosaic novels, Sailing to Byzantium and Lord of Emperors-both of which are so beautiful that they almost broke my heart. (That’s the most purely fantasy group of novels that I’ve read so far, complete with time travel and fully-imagined cultures in an unidentifiable distant past.) The next group has in common a focus on competing cultures with different religions and schisms within those religions, as well as intricate and murderous court intrigue and revenge. I began with the Fionavar Tapestry (trilogy), which I’ve relistened to recently with even more pleasure. This is, I think, my 8th or 9th book by Guy Gavriel Kay.

Reading Kay’s books is equivalent to taking an advanced course in European pre-medieval through Renaissance European history with sidetracks through the Middle East and lands that have never been. Their themes of religion, cultural clashes, war, personal and civic tragedy, magic are a veritable Aladdin’s carpet ride through the appeal and strengths of beautifully written historical fantasy. Here you’ll find a list of Kay’s books that I’ve most enjoyed. One of my favorite by my favorite historical fantasy author

Under heaven kay