Tag: Sarantine Mosaic

Review: Lord of Emperors

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lordofemperorsTitle: Lord of Emperors (2000)
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Pages: 580
Series: The Sarantine Mosaic #2 (Series Tracker)

Coming off the great Sailing to Sarantium, I was let down by part two of this duology. This book expands on several story threads and introduces new characters that I struggled to invest in. I would have been perfectly satisfied with a book solely focused on Crispin and the construction of his grand mosaic. Kay pushes the story well beyond the reaches of Crispin’s plight and, in doing so, created a story that feels uneven, unwieldy, and mostly uninteresting to me. It is still beautifully written and ambitious, so I certainly do not regret finishing it, but it falls towards the bottom of what I’ve read from GGK so far.

★★★ out of 5

Review: Sailing to Sarantium

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A1xQ-hkfksLTitle: Sailing to Sarantium (1998)
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Pages: 448
Series: The Sarantine Mosaic #1 (Series Tracker)

This first installment of the Sarantine Mosaic is wondrous, wonderful, and features some of the most beautiful passages that I’ve read yet from Guy Gavriel Kay.

The spirituality of the world and the exquisite mosaics that Kay describes are sights to behold. I’m fully invested in Crispin, his mosaic masterwork, the political web he’s fallen into, and the underlying mystical “half-world” that is nipping at his heels. The pacing of the overall story is uneven, but this is a great first half of a larger mosaic.

★★★★ out of 5