Starred review from March 28, 2022
World Fantasy Award winner Kay sets another outstanding fantasy in the Renaissance-like universe previously visited in Children of Earth and Sky and A Brightness Long Ago, offering a mosaic of captivating story lines within a mesmerizing narrative frame. The sections are linked by the omniscient narrator’s observation that “there are many different ways for a home to be lost, and for the world to become defined by that loss” and musings on the inherent subjectivity of storytelling. The first tale, for example, seemingly begins where it does because of this storyteller’s random observation of “a ship in the night, sailing without lights.” Aboard this vessel is Nadia bint Dhiyan, who, with no home to return to, is bent on carrying out an assassination—though her plan does not unfold as she intends. Other threads, which feature a captive diplomat and the head of a ruling council overseeing a spy network needed to maintain his city-state’s trade, similarly explore family, memory, and belonging. Kay constructs a rich world that easily draws readers in. Historical fantasy fans will be wowed. Agent: John Silbersack, Bent Agency.
May 1, 2022
International best-selling author Kay (A Brightness Long Ago, 2019) returns to his richly drawn fantasy world resembling fifteenth-century Europe, serving readers a suspenseful story of war, love, trauma, religion, sabotage, death, and friendship. Rafel and Nadia work together first as seafaring merchants and corsairs, then as something else entirely when fateful choices send them careening down a path of violence, money, and power. Rafel and Nadia's story tangles with many flawed characters, and each adds value. The characters also serve the impressive purpose of reminding the reader that even if characters are just passing through this story, they have their own complicated stories to tell of tragedy, happiness, humor, and love. Depending on what the characters or settings need, Kay will jump between first and third person, past and present tense, and into the minds of different characters' thoughts, feelings, and choices--all in the same chapter. This is an immersive reading experience; readers will taste the dust in their mouths, see the high seas from the deck of a merchant ship, feel the bustle of the city market. What results is necessary sustenance for the starving reader. A masterpiece from a master of the craft.
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