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glenatronI just finished reading Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Mosaic, which consists of two books - Sailing To Sarantium and Lord Of Emperors. It's always a pleasure to read fantasy that isn't tied too closely to copying Tolkien or the same northern European mythologies that seem to dominate most fantasy writing and these are enjoyably distinctive in tone and setting.
Sarantium is, to all intents and purposes, Byzantium- lifted smoothly from history, given a slight twist and a few name changes, and transplanted into a fantasy world that is almost exactly like the real one, but frees the author up to have a little magic, a different central religion - based around the irritatingly named Jad, the charioteer of the sun - and to bring together characters and events from different parts of that city's fascinating history to create a more compelling story. And my goodness me is this a compelling story. Centred around a Mosaicist invited from far off Rhodias ( which one might think of as a little like Roman italy after the fall of Rome itself ) to decorate the newly built dome of the grand sanctuary of Sarantium. Sailing To Sarantium centres around his journey to the city, Lord Of Emperors takes place entirely in the city itself.
There is plenty of excitement and adventure to be had here, but at the story's heart is the kind of multi-layered political intrigue that we refer to even now as Byzantine. The Sarantine court is full of subtle, brilliant people playing out dangerous games of power, statecraft and revenge.
The narrative itself is designed like a mosaic, following various characters as their stories intertwine and they pass through the critical events of the story- a common technique but brilliantly executed here and particularly appropriate to the theme of the story. It also serves to draw a more rounded picture of the people in different parts of the city and for all that this is a fantasy many of its most compelling characters, events and places are drawn closely from history. The subtle machinations of the court as they are revealed provided some very satisfyingly unexpected revelations- something that is quite hard to do with me as I tend to see through storytelling structure easily and these days I find most twists quite predictable.
I believe these books are out of print currently, but if you spot them around or in a library they are well worth reading- compelling, intriguing and very enjoyable.
Sarantium is, to all intents and purposes, Byzantium- lifted smoothly from history, given a slight twist and a few name changes, and transplanted into a fantasy world that is almost exactly like the real one, but frees the author up to have a little magic, a different central religion - based around the irritatingly named Jad, the charioteer of the sun - and to bring together characters and events from different parts of that city's fascinating history to create a more compelling story. And my goodness me is this a compelling story. Centred around a Mosaicist invited from far off Rhodias ( which one might think of as a little like Roman italy after the fall of Rome itself ) to decorate the newly built dome of the grand sanctuary of Sarantium. Sailing To Sarantium centres around his journey to the city, Lord Of Emperors takes place entirely in the city itself.
There is plenty of excitement and adventure to be had here, but at the story's heart is the kind of multi-layered political intrigue that we refer to even now as Byzantine. The Sarantine court is full of subtle, brilliant people playing out dangerous games of power, statecraft and revenge.
The narrative itself is designed like a mosaic, following various characters as their stories intertwine and they pass through the critical events of the story- a common technique but brilliantly executed here and particularly appropriate to the theme of the story. It also serves to draw a more rounded picture of the people in different parts of the city and for all that this is a fantasy many of its most compelling characters, events and places are drawn closely from history. The subtle machinations of the court as they are revealed provided some very satisfyingly unexpected revelations- something that is quite hard to do with me as I tend to see through storytelling structure easily and these days I find most twists quite predictable.
I believe these books are out of print currently, but if you spot them around or in a library they are well worth reading- compelling, intriguing and very enjoyable.