World Fantasy Award nominee 2001, Mythopoeic Fantasy Award nominee 2001.
One of the world's foremost masters of fantasy, Guy Gavriel Kay has
thrilled readers around the globe with his talent for skillfully
interweaving history and myth, colorful characterization, and a rich
sense of time and place. Now, in Lord of Emperors, the internationally acclaimed author of The Lions of Al-Rassan continues his most powerful work.
In Sailing to Sarantium, the first volume in the Sarantine Mosaic, renowned mosaicist
Crispin - beckoned by an imperial summons of the Emperor Valerius - made
his way to the fabled city of Sarantium. A man who lives only for his
craft, who cares little for ambition, less for money, and nothing for
intrigue, Crispin now wants only to confront the challenges of his art
high upon a dome that will become the emperor's magnificent sanctuary
and legacy.
But Crispin's desire for solitude will not be
fulfilled. Beneath him the city swirls with rumors of war and
conspiracy, while otherworldly fires mysteriously flicker and disappear
in the streets at night. Valerius is looking west to Crispin's homeland
of Varena to assert his power - a plan that may have dire consequences
for the family and friends Crispin left behind. But loyalty to his
homeland comes at a high price, for Crispin's fate has become entwined
with that of Valerius and his empress, as well as the youthful Queen
Gisel, his own monarch who is an exile in Sarantium herself. And now
another voyager arrives in Sarantium, a physician determined to earn his fortune amid the shifting currents of loyalty, intrigue, and violence.
Drawing from the twin springs of history and legend, Lord of Emperors is also a deeply moving exploration of art, power, and the ways in
which people from all walks of life seek to leave an impressionthat
endures long after thery're gone. It confirms Kay's place as one of the
most esteemed masters of fantasy.
