Book Review: Lord of Emperors

My rating - duology review: 5 brilliant stars!!

Buddy read with the Kay Squad from FBR


My favourite Kay books so far. This duology is, simply put, a masterpiece!!

A wonderful homage to art, to women, to beauty and to love!

Kay's writing is elegant, almost poetic at times and rich beyond measure at others, matching the greatness and opulence of Sarantium. He will take you on a journey through which you will just have to pay attention to the road, having no clue whatsoever as to the destination. But it is all worth it!


Full Painting of The Sarantine Mosaic used in French Canadian editions

In itself, the story is simple. Crispin, a brilliant mosaicist, still grieving for the family he lost to the plague, who lives only for his arcane craft and cares little for ambition, less for money, and for intrigue not at all, must answer an imperial summons to Sarantium, to work on the greatest art work ever imagined.


geofftaylor-artist.com

In this world still half-wild and tangled with magic, no journey is simple. Bearing with him a Queen’s seductive promise, Crispin sets out for the fabled city from which none return unaltered, guarded only by his wits and a bird soul talisman from an alchemist’s treasury.

The first half of the first book describes his journey, during which Crispin risks his life, gets into trouble, and wins the devotion of a clever former slave girl, the loyalty of a hired hand of few words and sound deeds, and the friendship and respect of a rough and foul-mouthed commander.
The second part of the book deals with Crispin’s introduction to the Sarantium court and introduces us to the ruthless game for power, in which our unsuspecting mosaicist has already unwittingly become an important player.

And this is what the second book portrays: the political intrigue in Sarantium, a city of power, the seat of the Emperor of the East, a city and world based on Byzantium in the 5th or 6th centuries.

With masterful skill Kay builds for us here a wondrous mosaic of chariot racers, soldiers, politicians, dancers, actors, prostitutes, doctors and artisans. with Crispin, our main protagonist, smack down in the middle of it all. He is now working on the dome of the biggest house of worship ever created; the crowning jewel of the rain of Emperor Valentine II, his legacy to the world. And despite how many times he tries to make it clear that he is only an "artisan", the red-headed mosaicist becomes instrumental in the fate of Valerius' empire.

The Emperor himself, along his exquisitely beautiful wife Aliana are dancing on a knife's edge in a court full of dangerous albeit subtle intrigue where the tiniest nuance may mean the difference between life and death. Two bold visionaries with plans that may hold dire consequences for entire kingdoms, their fate becomes tightly entwined with that of Crispin and by extension, with that of Queen Gisel, Crispin's own monarch exiled in Sarantium herself.


Keith Birdsong Lord of Emperors: Book Two of the Sarantine Mosaic Paperback Novel Cover Painting Original Art

Art and beauty are foremost present in these books.
From the description of the masterful mosaics to that of the fabled Sarantium, from the view of a forest in sunlight to the sight of a mythic zubir standing in a clearing at dawn, above a little bird lying on its side on the grass, Kay gives us art and beauty.

Then we have the women. Clever and strong women! Women that take a man’s breath away with their beauty then make him fear for his life the next minute with just their wits for a weapon. Kay honours women not only by setting them in high places in the great power game, but also by giving them courage, strength and resilience, even if they are mere slave girls. He even honours them through memory, a lost love, a lost wife, a lost girl, whose memory will never leave the man to whom they once belonged.

And finally the love!
Love not as sex but as feeling. Crispin’s still burning love for his lost wife. The love of a man for a few captured souls for whose freedom he is ready to lay down his life. The love of emperor Valerius for his beloved Alixana, which is so deceptively simple described that one cannot help but feel its intensity:

The Emperor reads no mystic certainties of any kind in the late-night flames, sitting at the woman’s feet, one hand touching her instep and the jewelled slipper. He says, “Never leave me.”
“Wherever would I go?” she murmurs after a moment, trying to keep the tone light and just failing.
He looks up. “Never leave me,” he says again, the grey eyes on hers this time.
He can do this to her, take breath from chest and throat. A constriction of great need. After all these years.
“Not in life,” she replies.

And last, but not least, the love of art. Love brought to us by a simple craftsman, willing to risk being maimed or blinded to follow his dream, to create the greatest artwork ever imagined, a masterpiece to be remembered for ages to come.

How far would you go to follow your dream? How far will Crispin go? You're gonna have to read this to find out but I guarantee ... it's worth it!! With his exquisite prose and elegant style, Kay will make you realize the beauty of living, the fleetingness and fragility of life! He will show you how every little moment is precious, a gift to be treasured and enjoyed!

I highly recommend this to all those who love beauty, strength and life! Smooth sailing on the winds of fate!!


Cover of Sailing to Sarantium (Croatian hardback)

Check out this book and more of Guy Gavriel Kay at brightweavings.com