Sarantium Mosaic - review

[watervole]

Sailing to Sarantium
 
I had this book sitting on my shelves for nearly a decade before I got around to reading it.  As soon as I finished it, I ordered the sequel and will be buying other books by this writer as well.

An alternative history of the Byzantine Empire, with light fantasy elements, with the central character being a mosaicist.  Crispin's position as a skilled craftsman brings him into contact with people from all walks of life, and thus he becomes the central character with a circle of friends/clients from the Emperor to chariot racers.  

Kay's skill is to show us how major historical events impact at all levels.  One person may fear assassination, but another may not care who is in charge as long as the crop can be harvested.

Lord of Emperors

Even though I have some misgivings about the ending, I still rate this book ten out of ten.

It's the characters.  Kay gives us a wide range of  characters, some of whom have ordered assassinations, started wars, hurt someone who was injured, betrayed husbands or lovers, etc.  Yet, for all of them, there is an underlying humanity.  We understand why they did what the did, even when we don't approve of it, and cannot hate them (with just one exception, whom even Crispin hates).

I love the relationship between the Emperor and the Empress.  They have a deep love and total trust in one another.  It's so rare to find closely married couples in fiction.

I love the description of the chariot race - Kay brings it to life on the page.

The politics and the food all come to life.

I've visited Hagia Sophia.  In my mind's eye, it now has Crispin's mosaic on the dome.

 

The only thing that I fail to find totally convincing is the number of women who fall for Crispin, though at least (because he is still mourning for his late wife), he doesn't sleep with them all.

 

The woman he ends up with caught me by surprise. I can partly see why (understanding of each other's loss), but I'm not totally convinced.  However, this is a book I will definitely want to read again, so I shall see how it strikes me the second time around.