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Sarantine Mosaic #2 Lord Of Emperors
 
 
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Sarantine Mosaic #2 Lord Of Emperors (Paperback)

by Guy Kay (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)

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Product Description

From Amazon.com

For whatever reason, Guy Gavriel Kay just insists on getting better and better. Sailing to Sarantium outshone the already excellent Lions of Al-Rassan, and now Lord of Emperors--the stunning second half of the Sarantine Mosaic--somehow surpasses even its predecessors.

Emperors picks up the story of the overwhelmed but still tenacious Crispin, now Imperial Mosaicist to Valerius II and thoroughly steeped in the machinations of Sarantium--not to mention being personally entangled in the lives of the emperor, the empress, and now his own queen, the exiled Gisel. Lord of Emperors also sends a new protagonist sailing into Sarantium, an unassuming country doctor who--like Caius--has found himself thrust into a position of great potential and peril, a victim of both circumstance and his own competence and moxie. The two struggle to stay afloat in Sarantium's swirling intrigues, as Valerius prepares for war in Crispin's homeland and unexplained, ghostly fires flicker around the city.

A touching, literate, and doggedly intelligent book, Lord of Emperors continues to prove Kay's mastery of historical fantasy (Sarantium being a well-researched analog to sixth-century Byzantium under Justinian and Theodora), as he gracefully spins a rich, convincing weave of legend and history. While other fantasy titles might have us imagine our lives as great heroes, Kay leaves a far more lasting impression by celebrating the heroics and passions of ordinary people who possess extraordinary character and spirit. --Paul Hughes

From Booklist

The second volume of the Sarantine Mosaic continues the adventure of the provincial mosaic-maker Crispin in the imperial capital Sarantium, a fantasy-fiction version of Byzantine Constantinople. At center stage is Crispin's involvement with Rustem of Bassania and his family, who, after saving the Bassanian emperor's life, have been sent to Sarantium as spies. (This is a reward?) When Rustem enters the city, his bodyguard is killed, and he becomes part of the circle that includes Crispin, Crispin's rescued slave-girl mistress, the exiled queen of Antae, and a fine and authentically limned lot of soldiers, chariot racers, ordinary people, and members of the imperial household. Half the fun of the book is seeing how Kay turns the Byzantine reign of Justinian and Theodora to the uses of his own story, and a good part of the rest is exploring the early history of the same fantasy universe he used in The Lions of Al-Rassan (1995). Kay is fulfilling the promise of Sailing to Sarantium (1999) magnificently. Roland Green
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Customer Reviews

51 Reviews
5 star:
 (31)
4 star:
 (10)
3 star:
 (8)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (51 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful conclusion to a great story, Sep 14 2008
By Jack Blatant (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
In another Kay fantasy, The Lions of al-Rassan, a character sombrely observes, "Even the sun goes down, my lady." All things come to an end, and this is true for emperors as it is for mosaicists. At times, this book ventures into the poetic, and the reader is drawn into what is, when push comes to shove, a love story. There are parts that I find a little dodgy - I find it hard to imagine the red-headed mosaicist cutting a swathe through all of Sarantine society and capturing so many hearts along the way, and Kay's meditations on how people receive great events runs a little awkward - but the good more than outweighs the bad. A deeply fascinating fantasy read.
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5.0 out of 5 stars just beautiful, Mar 4 2002
By A Customer
This manages to surpass even its wonderful predecessor, Sailing to Sarantium. I spent the last 200-odd pages in suspense [and tears], and keep recalling scenes at random since I finished this. I am truly thankful I picked up Sailing to Sarantium this month, because if I'd had to wait for Lord of Emperors to be published......it wouldn't have been pretty. I was completely caught up and swept along to the point of committing a sin I have avoided for years....reading under the covers! Even though it meant being exhausted the next day [and in trouble with my mother] I really couldn't have done anything else, I was so immersed.
I cried for Valerius and Alixana, for Scortius and Thenais, for Styliane, and even Lecanus. Even for the demise of Crispin's mosiac! I loved his last mosaic of the court as well!
A few minor quibbles: I was a little thrown by the last couple of pages - it seemed a bit random that she sought Crispin out and that they should just start planning their life ahead. I would have liked a little more lead-up and evidence of an attachment! I would also have liked to have had Lecanus' bird explained - was it one of Zoticus'? If so, how did Lecanus get it and why did it have a different voice? If not, who made it? I would have also liked to know how Shirin and Scortius ended up, as it was left as a bit of a loose end.
Anyway, this was simply brilliant, intricate and enthralling, and if you haven't read Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors then you should, and if you have read Sailing to Sarantium, there is no need to recommend it as you will be desperate to read it [or should be, as surely as the world is round]!
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3.0 out of 5 stars Three and a Half Stars, Actually, Nov 15 2001
By A Customer
There's a lot of good stuff here; besides the research that the easily pleased book reviewers have been lauding, there are good characterizations. There are even hints of the numinous in the soul-birds and the fires, etc. I especially liked the charioteers, the artists. Crispin and Rustem, Shaksi, the minor military man all came to life. The political figures, alas, mostly posed while the author lectured us about who they were, how much power they had, and how nuanced they thought, how nuanced they spoke, and how nuanced they acted. (Did I mention how nuanced everything is in Saratium? It got so that each new 'nuanced' was like a jab with a needle). Styliane, in particular, never seemed to move, just stood about and was talked on and on about until she suddenly, and with no motivation, takes Crispin into her bed during a long slew of chapters in which everyone gets laid.

I wish Kay had a good editor. He's capable of doing brilliant work, now that he seems to have the life experience to not just ape Dorothy Dunnett, but he seems to have settled for ponderous plotting, pronuncimienti on life, and lazy prose habits (not just 'nuanced' but on every page he resorts to using 'this' as a noun, while almost never defining it, leaving the reader to mutter, "This what? This what? What's this 'this'--is it the same 'this' in the previous paragraph?")

I will keep trying in paperback--there were some wonderful scenes over all--but so far, not quite a keeper for rereadings.

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW
First all let me say that I am biased and prejudiced here in this review, in that Mr. Kay is one of my top 5 most favorite authors of all time. Read more
Published on Nov 6 2001 by William C. Smith

4.0 out of 5 stars Good But Not His Best
Guy Gavriel Kay must surely be the victim of his own success. Read on its own, The Sarantine Mosaic is both compelling and well written. Read more
Published on Aug 26 2001 by knightangel

5.0 out of 5 stars Richly crafted
I read "Lord of Emperors" in two days. I thoroughly enjoyed "Sailing to Sarantium" and gave it five stars without hesitation; I think its sequel surpassed it... Read more
Published on Jun 21 2001 by shel99

4.0 out of 5 stars Intirgue intrigue
The sequel of Sailing to Sarantium is a book worth to be read. It shows to the reader how intrigue was ruling in the halls of the Byzantine Emperor. Read more
Published on May 28 2001 by renegate

5.0 out of 5 stars Without Question Kay's Finest Work To Date
I was not enthused by "Sailing To Sarantuim," despite its consummate writing feeling that the plot was weak and somewhat unfocused during the central portion of the... Read more
Published on Mar 11 2001 by Elyon

2.0 out of 5 stars Not one of Kay's better efforts
I am a diehard Fioavar fan, but this one was just a lottle stodgy, a little overblown, for me. I was bothered, too, by the pseudo French Arbonne stuff, and now the quasi-Byzantium... Read more
Published on Feb 26 2001 by m_greenberg10

5.0 out of 5 stars I dream of Sarantium!
Yet again, Kay draws me inexorably into his worlds. I found both "Sailing to Sarantium" and "Lord of Emporers" rich, full of fascinating characters and... Read more
Published on Jan 17 2001 by Janipurr

3.0 out of 5 stars Grading on a curve
Guy Kay started his career in the 1970s by helping Christopher Tolkien assemble some of J.R.R. Tolkien's unfinished manuscripts into The Silmarillion. Read more
Published on Jan 2 2001 by newyork2dallas

4.0 out of 5 stars Then ending makes up for it.
Kay begins off quite well, but soon writes about 100 pages of "romance", which almost turned me off. The ending of book 2, however, swept me away. Read more
Published on Jan 1 2001 by Yossi Mills

5.0 out of 5 stars This not a novel; it is a work of art
This book (and the other in the duology, Sailing to Sarantium) is, in my opinion, Kay's best work. I have just finished reading this for the second time, and I think the second... Read more
Published on Dec 24 2000 by raelann

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