I Read Books: Sailing To Sarantium
This is part one The Sarantine Mosaic, one of Guy Gavriel Kay’s most roman-à-clef fantasies, using historical situations and characters as analogues in his secondary world. Valerius II[2], Emperor of Byzantium, is rebuilding the Great Sanctuary[3] of Jad[4]. He requests a mosaicist from Bataria[5] and Crispin answers the call. But he finds himself also a messenger for Queen Gisel of the Antae[6]. After having various adventures on the way, on arrival he immediately finds himself caught up in well known aspects of Byzantine life, including chariot racing, plotting and theology.
His design for the roof depicts not only the god but also the city of Sarantium, the sea, the land, his own dead wife and daughters, a forest god, all of human life and the world. The book tries to do the same thing, with many minor character having their moment to act and have triumphs or disasters, to influence events in a tiny way, their lives sketched in before we move on to the great events.
Read This: For a superior historically inspired fantasy that takes Byzantine plots and uses them in a genuinely clever way; it has something to say about grief and coming to terms with change though that doesn’t really take off until the second (and final) book of the duology
Don’t Read This: If a lightly magic-flavoured alternate Byzantium sounds grim and boring to you.
[1] Byzantium
[2] Justinian I
[3] Hagia Sophia
[4] God, here specifically a sun-god. There are several interpretations and heresies that become important.
[5] Italy
[6] Ostrogoths
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