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A Brightness Long Ago
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
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Publisher's summary
In a chamber overlooking the nighttime waterways of a maritime city, a man looks back on his youth and the people who shaped his life. Danio Cerra's intelligence won him entry to a renowned school even though he was only the son of a tailor. He took service at the court of a ruling count - and soon learned why that man was known as the Beast.
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In the first novel of Melanie Rawn's Dragon Star trilogy, there is a devastating new challenge to the power of both the High Prince Rohan and Andry, Lord of the Sunrunners at Goddess Keep, as a mysterious and seemingly unstoppable invasion force swarms across their lands. For Andry it signals the start of a nightmare made real, the horrifying fulfillment of his long-ago visions of his homeland in flames, and he will draw upon even the forbidden sorcerer's magic in an attempt to destroy this enemy which is bent on the extermination of all Sunrunners.
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Boring
- By Donald s. on 09-26-24
By: Melanie Rawn
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Battle of Kings
- By: M. K. Hume
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In the town of Segontium a wild storm washes a fugitive ashore. He brutally rapes the granddaughter of the ruler of the Deceangli tribe, leaving her to bear his son, Myrddion Merlinus (Merlin). Spurned as a demon seed, the child is raised by his grandmother and, as soon as he turns nine, he is apprenticed to a skilled alchemist who hones the boy’s remarkable gift of prophecy. Meanwhile, the High King of the Britons, Vortigern, is rebuilding the ancient fortress at Dinas Emrys.
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Underrated book author and narrator!
- By Zachary on 04-15-22
By: M. K. Hume
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The Wild Child
- By: Mary Jo Putney
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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More pagan than lady, Meriel spends her days running barefoot through her English estate, cultivating her flowers and her mystical connection to nature. She is mute and, according to most people, mad. But handsome Dominic Renbourne, who has been sent by his twin to court her, senses in Meriel a kindred spirit. He manages to inspire her trust, and against his better judgement, her passion.
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Where is China Bride, the 2nd book?
- By KaitlynRAH on 10-24-18
By: Mary Jo Putney
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Ines of My Soul
- A Novel
- By: Isabel Allende
- Narrated by: Isabel Allende, Alma Cuervo
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Though she was born into poverty, Inés Suárez, a seamstress in 16th-century Spain, embodies the same restless hope and opportunism that fuels her nation’s conquest of the Americas. Learning that her shiftless husband has vanished, Inés uses his disappearance to embark on her own adventure. It is a journey will lead her to Pedro de Valdivia - a conquistador who becomes the first royal governor of Chile - and to a love that not only changes her life but the course of history.
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Disappointed
- By Elva Pulido on 04-01-21
By: Isabel Allende
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A Shadow of All Night Falling
- Dread Empire, Book 1
- By: Glen Cook
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Across the mountains called the Dragon's Teeth, beyond the chill reach of the Werewind and the fires of the world's beginning, above the walls of the castle Fangdred, stands Windtower. From this lonely keep the Star Rider calls forth the war that even wizards dread, fought for a woman's hundred-lifetime love. A woman called Nepanthe, princess to the Stormkings…
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Nothimg like Black Company-good in a different way
- By Zap Rowsdower on 10-02-21
By: Glen Cook
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The Empress
- A Novel
- By: Laura Martínez-Belli, Simon Bruni - translator
- Narrated by: Yareli Arizmendi
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s 1863. Napoleon III has installed a foreign monarch in Mexico to squash the current regime. Maximilian von Habsburg of Austria accepts the emperor’s crown. But it is his wife, the brilliant and ambitious Princess Charlotte, who throws herself passionately into the role. Known to the people as Empress Carlota, she rules deftly from behind the scenes while her husband contents himself with philandering and decorating the palace. But Carlota bears a guilty secret.
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The Empress of Mexico
- By Fran on 02-07-21
By: Laura Martínez-Belli, and others
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Anticipation
- A Novel
- By: Melodie Winawer
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy, Samantha Desz, Jonathan Davis, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of the “engrossing historical epic” (Booklist) The Scribe of Siena comes a thrilling tale set in the crumbling city of Mystras, Greece, in which a scientist’s vacation with her young son quickly turns into a fight for their lives after they cross paths with a man out of time.
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Historical novel with a twist
- By Jbbee on 07-05-22
By: Melodie Winawer
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Servant of the Crown
- Heir to the Crown, Book 1
- By: Paul J Bennett
- Narrated by: Greg Patmore
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Tragedy tears Gerald's world apart, and only his unwavering loyalty to the Baron of Bodden saves him. After serving as a soldier for years, a single act of self-sacrifice thrusts his future into the world of politics. Cut off from all he knows, he becomes no more than a pawn to those in command. Banished with little more than the clothes on his back, he seeks a new purpose, for what is a warrior who has nothing left to fight for?
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Well written and interesting
- By Kevin Potter on 05-24-19
By: Paul J Bennett
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The Bard's Blade
- The Sorcerer's Song, Book 1
- By: Brian D. Anderson
- Narrated by: Andrew Kingston, Tamsin Kennard
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Mariyah enjoys a simple life in Vylari, a land magically sealed off from the outside world, where fear and hatred are all but unknown. There, she's a renowned wine maker, and her betrothed, Lem, is a musician of rare talent. Their destiny has never been in question. Whatever life brings, they will face it together. Then, a stranger crosses the wards into Vylari for the first time in centuries, bringing a dark prophecy that forces Lem and Mariyah down separate paths. How far will they have to go to stop a rising darkness and save their home?
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Something new
- By Blaise Ancona on 02-20-20
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The Rose of York
- Love and War
- By: Sandra Worth
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in Malory's England during the Wars of the Roses, this acclaimed winner of a remarkable nine awards tells the true story of two star-crossed lovers - Richard of Gloucester and Lady Anne Neville - before they become King and Queen of England. A stirring tale of romance and intrigue.
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Marvelous.
- By Cinders on 11-07-13
By: Sandra Worth
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El Cid: Castilian Knight
- Reconquista Chronicles, Book 1
- By: Griff Hosker
- Narrated by: Frazer Blaxland
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This first instalment in the Chronicles tells of Rodrigo’s rise to prominence when he became the champion of Prince Sancho of Castile. This is but the beginning of a tale which still stirs the blood a millennium after it began. The legend that was El Cid began more than 1,000 years ago, and time has meant that reality and fiction are intertwined like the threads of a spider’s web.
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Fun War Story
- By Jonathon on 02-13-21
By: Griff Hosker
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On a dark night along a lonely stretch of coast a small ship sends two people ashore. Their purpose is assassination. They have been hired by two of the most dangerous men alive to alter the balance of power in the world. If they succeed, the consequences will affect the destinies of empires, and lives both great and small.
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Excellent from beginning to end
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The Summer Tree
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Two-time Aurora Award-winning author Guy Gavriel Kay has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award three times. In the first book of his Fionavar Tapestry series, five college students meet a wizard who takes them to the heart of the first of all worlds - a place called Fionavar. The students soon discover that they have been pre-ordained as part of the pattern called the Fionavar Tapestry - and if they don't fulfill their destinies, the world will suffer devastating consequences.
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My favorite trilogy.
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A Song for Arbonne
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The lands of Arbonne and Gorhaut are on the verge of an all-consuming conflict. When a devious high priest of Gorhaut seizes the opportunity to wage a holy war against residents of Arbonne, an epic clash between the two cultures ensues.
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Beautiful, moving, full of suspence and adventure
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One of my favorite by my favorite historical fantasy author
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Excellent from beginning to end
- By L. Williams on 07-06-22
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The Summer Tree
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My favorite trilogy.
- By NZDreamin on 02-10-21
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A Song for Arbonne
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Beautiful, moving, full of suspence and adventure
- By Efrat Kotzer Hassid on 07-22-20
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Ysabel
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Ysabel is a contemporary fantasy that centers on the Saint-Sauveur Cathedral of Aix-en-Provence, where a 15-year-old boy accompanies his father on a photo shoot. Befriending a whip-smart American girl and confronting a knife-wielding maniac, the boy finds that the ancient site shimmers with mysteries of fantastical design.
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Beautiful YA
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Eight of the nine Palm provinces of the Peninsula have been overcome by warrior sorcerers Brandin and Alberico. But the sorcerers don't know that a small band of survivors is plotting their removal. With tensions mounting, the sorcerers become increasingly at odds as each decides where his own path - and that of the land - should truly lie.
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A little self-indulgent
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Kay is a great writer, but there's a pattern...
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Sailing to Sarantium
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Crispin is a mosaicist, a layer of bright tiles. Still grieving for the family he lost to the plaque, he lives only for his arcane craft. But an imperial summons from Valerius the Trakesian to Sarantium, the most magnificent place in the world, is difficult to resist. In a world half-wild and tangled with magic, a journey to Sarantium means a walk into destiny. Bearing with him a deadly secret and a Queen's seductive promise, guarded only by his own wits and a talisman from an alchemist's treasury, Crispin sets out for the fabled city. Along the way he will encounter a great beast.
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Can't give a fair rating
- By Alyssa B. Goss on 10-16-15
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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The Lions of Al-Rassan
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The ruling Asharites of Al-Rassan have come from the desert sands, but over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, their stern piety has eroded. The Asharite empire has splintered into decadent city-states led by warring petty kings. King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, aided always by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan - poet, diplomat, soldier - until a summer afternoon of savage brutality changes their relationship forever.
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Lots of drama
- By KH on 10-12-12
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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Written on the Dark
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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From the internationally bestselling author of Tigana, All the Seas of the World, and A Brightness Long Ago comes a sweeping new novel of love and war that brilliantly evokes the drama and turbulence of medieval France.
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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The Anatomist’s Apprentice
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The death of Lord Edward Crick has unleashed a torrent of gossip through the seedy taverns and elegant ballrooms of Oxfordshire. Few mourn the dissolute young man - except his sister, the beautiful Lady Lydia Farrell. When her husband comes under suspicion of murder, she seeks expert help from Dr. Thomas Silkstone, a young anatomist from Philadelphia. Thomas arrived in England to study under its foremost surgeon, where his unconventional methods only add to his outsider status. Against his better judgment, he agrees to examine Lord Edward’s corpse.
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Gruesome but Deftly Plotted
- By Sires on 03-07-12
By: Tessa Harris
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El Cid: Castilian Knight
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This first instalment in the Chronicles tells of Rodrigo’s rise to prominence when he became the champion of Prince Sancho of Castile. This is but the beginning of a tale which still stirs the blood a millennium after it began. The legend that was El Cid began more than 1,000 years ago, and time has meant that reality and fiction are intertwined like the threads of a spider’s web.
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Fun War Story
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A Shadow in Summer
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The powerful city-state of Saraykeht is a bastion of peace and culture, a major center of commerce and trade. Its economy depends on the power of the captive spirit Seedless, an and at bound to the poet-sorcerer Heshai for life. Enter the Galts, an empire committed to laying waste to all lands with their ferocious army. Saraykeht has always been too strong for the Galts to attack, but now they see an opportunity.
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REALLY Hard to Rate!
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By: Daniel Abraham
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Cashelmara
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When Edward de Salis travels to America after the death of his first wife, he is astonished to find himself falling in love with Marguerite, a young woman many years his junior. Full of hope for the future, he returns to his Irish estate, Cashelmara, but in 19th-century Ireland - a country racked by poverty and famine - his family eventually becomes trapped in a sinister spiral of violence that Edward could never have foreseen.
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Wonderful Story
- By Ann Marie Taylor on 07-04-20
By: Susan Howatch
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The Cloister and the Hearth
- A Tale of the Middle Ages
- By: Charles Reade
- Narrated by: Antony Ferguson
- Length: 30 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Written in 1861 but taking place in the fifteenth century, this picturesque historical novel by Charles Reade follows the story of a young scribe and illuminator named Gerard Eliason. In order to escape persecution, Gerard sets out on a journey from Holland to Rome, leaving behind the woman he loves, Margaret. Along the road Gerard meets a colorful cast of characters—including various historical figures—and explores the conflict between a person’s obligation to family versus the church.
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Latin is not a dead language
- By Mary Jolane Thomas on 01-09-23
By: Charles Reade
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The Gates of Athens
- By: Conn Iggulden
- Narrated by: George Blagden
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Evoking two of the most famous battles of the Ancient World - the Battle of Marathon and the Last Stand at Thermopylae - The Gates of Athens is a bravura piece of storytelling by a well acclaimed master of the historical adventure novel.
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One of Iggulden’s best ever!
- By Bud R on 01-15-21
By: Conn Iggulden
What listeners say about A Brightness Long Ago
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Daniel Dwyer
- 12-11-19
Good
Guy Gavriel Kay and Simon Vance are beautiful. But this book isn’t up to the level of under heaven or tigana.
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- Joyce Eriksen
- 02-08-20
Very fine
This latest of my favorite living author has been a fine read. The characters take a lot from earlier parts of the story. They are not as strong as many have been but the tale carries them as Kays characters have often taken the weight of a story line. Nothing approaches the keenness of my favorites, Tigana and Under Heaven, surely the best of the best.
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- MAC
- 01-15-23
A bit boring
The first two-thirds of the story are quite entertaining, but after the demise of (in my opinion) its best character, it goes steadily downhill. Battle scenes and commanders talking about strategizing and power, etc. I had to keep rewinding it because my mind would drift. I finally gave up with about two hours left.
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- Blue
- 07-13-19
Dissappointingly mediocre
Entertaining, but hardly up to level of Kay's typically epic storytelling.
There were a few moments of brilliance, interesting characters and perspective, but overall leaves me feeling more dissappointed than anything else.
Perhaps that's the curse of having authored so many amazing novels?
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17 people found this helpful
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- Tosha M Crow
- 06-22-19
As good as I hoped it would be.
It's just as good as Kay's other works, though one of his characters here might be my favorite. I love that he continues to write about strong women in a meaningful way.
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14 people found this helpful
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- William
- 03-24-20
Small Choices
The setting is renaissance Italy, but the place names are changed enough to make it a fantasy with some attachment to real history. The main city names are easy enough to guess, Florence, Venice, and Constantinople (present day Istanbul). The book is woven together by the stories from the standpoint of the main characters, but the central character is Guidanio Cerra, nicknamed Danio. The book begins with Danio reminiscing in his old age going back to his youth. Danio is the son of a tailor, but his intellectual abilities are recognized by a clergyman and he is given a scholarship to an elite school. He intends to return to his home village and open a bookshop, but his teacher encourages him to enter public service for a time to pay society back for the privilege of education he has received. Unfortunately, the ruler of the city state to whose service he was assigned was nicknamed as “the Beast.” A series of young girls or sometimes young boys is taken to his room each night for his pleasure, and many of them leave as corpses. In the opening of the book, Danio sees a girl being taken to the room of the Beast and recognizes her as Adria, the daughter of a duke of one of the region’s wealthiest families, and he quickly realizes that she is there not by accident, but by choice. His silence makes him a participant in the Beast’s murder and his helping the wounded Adria escape further involves him. However, his part is not known by others. His story continues to be intertwined with Adria’s, along with a pagan healer named Jelena, Adria’s uncle named Folco (who arranged the plot to kill the Beast), and mercenary leader Teobaldo (sworn enemies of each other), and several others of significance. Events are told and then retold from the standpoint of another character in parallel chapters. As you can imagine, Danio falls in love with Adria, though he knows that they could never marry, though they meet again by chance (or is it fate?) several more times throughout the book. The story is built on chance encounters but with an emphasis on the small choices that we make that set up those chance encounters. Any story is actually many stories, depending on who the teller is. Fortunately, we don’t have just Danio’s story and each of them put together build a much deeper and richer book.
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- Amaz0n
- 07-19-20
Brilliant
Brilliant. As always. Thought provoking. Enlightening. Poetry and philosophy between the prose. Not for everyone, but nothing is. Stirs me and jars loose my own thoughts and poetry. Sailing to Sarantium reread might be in order. Guy Gavriel Kay is a perennial favorite, Simon Vance is a new one.
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- Nancy Huerter
- 11-26-19
Just didn’t hold my attention
There was nothing in particular that I can point to—the writing wasn’t bad, several characters were interesting, but it was never hard to put it down. Don’t think I will read it again. Narration was fine.
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- Arwe Thereyet
- 02-24-24
Fantastic
This was my introduction to Guy Gavriel Kay. I loved it and have read everything else he has written.
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- G. Berton Latamore
- 11-17-19
A fine novel, well worth reading
This is a fine, enjoyable book and an exploration of the human condition. It is one of Guy Gabriel Kay's best and displays his talents in character development, sense of place, and realistic plotting fully. Simon Vance brings exactly the right tone to his portrayal of the main character and narrator. The book is set just before and during the fall of Byzantium and start of the Italian Renaissance. To get the most out of it, you should first read Kay's "Sailing to Sirantium" trilogy, set at the height of that great city and the construction of the Haggia Sophia. In a sense this is the conclusion of that series, although most of the references are subtle and this book can be read separately and should be seen on its own merits. Those who know the history and something of Italy may get amusement at identifying the cities, which he has renamed but otherwise left the same. Fiorenza, of course, is obvious, but clues are there for the identities of others as well. The main characters, of course, are fictional. Overall, this is among the finest of Kay's works, and I have read all but one, and well worth reading.
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6 people found this helpful