Michael Dirda
Guy Gavriel Kay's Under Heaven isn't quite historical fiction, nor is it quite fantasy. It's set in a slightly reimagined Tang dynasty China, sometimes seems reminiscent of films like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and depicts the unimaginable consequences of a single generous gift. Most important of all, it is the novel you'll want for your summer vacation…Kay has chosen a spare, slightly courtly style, but nonetheless moves his plot along at a rapid clip. At the same time, he continually thickens his novel with appealing minor characters, thus adding to the story's overall richness as well as suggesting that much else is going on just outside our narrative field of vision.
—The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
Historical fantasist Kay (Ysabel) delivers an exquisitely detailed vision of Kitan, a land much like Tang Dynasty China. Shen Tai's father died leading troops in battle, so he spends his mourning year burying the bones of soldiers on both sides, laying their ghosts to rest. He attracts the attention of Cheng-wan, a princess of his people sent to wed one of the enemy. As her gifts make Shen Tai wealthy, an assassin kills his best friend. Shen Tai hires a bodyguard, Wei Song, to keep him alive while he figures out what to do with his riches and who wants him dead. Kay writes deftly of women who are sexually suborned by their societies, neither minimizing their constraints nor denying their agency, and the complex intrigues of poets, prostitutes, ministers, and soldiers evolve into a fascinating, sometimes bloody, and entirely believable tale. (May)
From the Publisher
Praise for Under Heaven
“Guy Gavriel Kay’s Under Heaven isn’t quite historical fiction, nor is it quite fantasy. It’s set in a slightly reimagined Tang dynasty China, sometimes seems reminiscent of films like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and depicts the unimaginable consequences of a single generous gift. Most important of all, it is the novel you’ll want for your summer vacation.” —The Washington Post
“Guy Gavriel Kay is peerless in plucking elements from history and using them to weave a wholly fantastical tale that feels like a translation of some freshly unearthed scroll from a time we have yet to discover.”—The Miami Herald
“A magnificent epic, flawlessly crafted, that draws the reader in like a whirlwind and doesn’t let go.”—The Huffington Post
“Completely transporting...combines the best of historical and fantasy novels to create a great read where you don't know what could happen next.”—Laura Miller, Salon Book Reviewer
“Guy Gavriel Kay, hunting in the twilight zone between fact and dream, has written a shimmering novel, a fantasia on T’ang China, the epitome of Chinese civilization...a beautiful, compulsive read.”—Locus
More Praise for the Novels of Guy Gavriel Kay
“[Read] anything by Guy Gavriel Kay...His strengths are strong characters and fantastic set pieces.”—The New Yorker
“History and fantasy rarely come together as gracefully or readably as they do in the novels of Guy Gavriel Kay.”—The Washington Post Book World
“Kay shows why he’s the heir to Tolkien’s tradition.”—Booklist
“Kay is a genius. I've read him all my life and am always inspired by his work.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson
“A storyteller on the grandest scale.”—Time Magazine, Canada
Salon.com
"Completely transporting." --(SALON.com's Laura Miller, on NPR's Weekend Edition)
The Huffington Post
"A magnificent epic, flawlessly crafted, that draws the reader in like a whirlwind and doesn't let go."
Miami Herald
"Kay is peerless in plucking elements from history and using them to weave a wholly fantastical tale that feels like a translation of some freshly unearthed scroll from a time we have yet to discover…Lovers of historical fiction should also give Under Heaven a try."
Locus
"A shimmering novel...a beautiful, compulsive read."
Library Journal
To honor the death of his father, an Imperial general, Shen Tai spends two years burying the dead at a battle site on the empire's border. When he receives a gift of 250 coveted Sardian horses from former enemies, he travels homeward to seek an audience with the emperor, knowing that the gift has not only conferred great power upon him but terrible danger as well. Just as he re-created an alternate Renaissance Italy in Tigana, the author of "The Fionavar Tapestry" series evokes the subtle politics and careful social intercourse of eighth-century Tang dynasty China. VERDICT Meticulously researched yet seamlessly envisioned, the characters and culture present a timeless tale of filial piety and personal integrity. Highly recommended for all collections and particularly for fans of the author's distinctive approach to fantasy.
