Sailing To Sarantium

Guy Gavriel Kay

Sailing To Sarantium
Lord Of Emperors

Guy Gavriel Kay is one of my favourite authors, so when Sailing To Sarantium first came up, I jumped on it with glee. However, by the time I finished it I was a little disappointed as it didn't seem to be as poignantly beautiful as his previous efforts. Having finished the sequel, Lord Of Emperors, I apologize for being doubtful, and am glad to say that it fulfilled my expectations of Kay's work.

These two books should be read as a single piece of work, not in two parts separated by the space of a year. The first book sets up the history and backdrop of the story and positions the characters carefully for the dramatic events of the second. Sarantium is the capital of the Sarantine Empire, and those in the know say that this story is loosely based on the historical Byzantium and the Emperor Justinian. Kay alters the names, and the events and makes it a story of war, of histories, and of people's places in those histories. A beautiful and brutal world. A story of loss, and renewal. A tapestry of complex lives.

In most of his books, the beauty of art is one of the characters in the story. In The Song of Arbonne and Tigana, it was music. In The Lions of Al-Rassan, it was poetry. It is no different in this story. Here, he weaves the artistry of a mosaic and uses it to build his story. I could say that the story is one of a mosaicist coming to terms with his loss, or a girl marked for death and somehow miraculously surviving, or the ambitions of an Emperor. It is all this and more, for Kay positions these and myriad other characters carefully into his story, forming a mosaic of poignant beauty.

Some of Kay's fans feel that Tigana was his best work and thought that the rest that came after were not quite as good. Those who love Tigana should love this too.