Maester Llama Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Yep. I'm not positive I have a favourite, but if I do then Sarantine is definitely in the running. Tigana has some strong points, and may be more well known, but there's some stuff in it that I don't think has aged very well at all, and some other stuff that irrespective of whether it has aged well or not is just a bit shit. Whereas I recall most of Sarantine being ace. Very, very strong books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Yeah, I was leaning towards The Sarantine Mosaic. The pseudo-Byzantine setting I find a little more intriguing atm than pseudo-Italian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I found a synopsis on Amazon. I have to say I'm not excited, but part of that is that its impossible to pinpoint from this where this takes place, and in what sort of time period. Some would call her a pirate. But she knows that she is a hero, a pious soldier in the endless religious wars that tear her world apart. She is Danica Gradek, the peerless archer who has lost her family and everything she knows. One night, with her faithful dog beside her, she sneaks onto a boat and kills eight men. It is an act that will change everything. Soon she will join Marin Djivo, the ambitious young merchant's son, on his daring overland journey to the capital of the enemy empire. They will be caught up in a dangerous game of intrigue, espionage and war as the armies of the east and west sweep down upon the great city that is the centre of their world. THE CHILDREN OF EARTH AND SKY is the first of a staggering new epic fantasy from the award-winning author of Tigana, Ysabel and Under Heaven. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) It sounds like it might be more of a secondary world epic fantasy not related to ours as obviously as his previous books. Also, "first" implies that it is the start of a new series, not just another one-off. Cal, where did you find that synopsis? Google isn't turning up anything. ETA: found it. Edited July 10, 2015 by Werthead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) Been talking to GGK this afternoon (as you do) and the synopsis is apparently very out-of-date and inaccurate. The book is also a stand-alone again, not the start of a new trilogy. There should be some actual, official news on the novel in the very near future (as in, weeks rather than months). Edited July 10, 2015 by Werthead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Hmm it sounded more like a complete insertion of another author's unrelated book synopsis rather than anything Kay wrote. But you're saying some part of it is actually true? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) Sounds like that time George had an early, for-his-publishers-only sketch of his plans turned into Amazon.com marketing blurb. I will say that unless Kay completely tossed out every single detail therein, that the setting sounds like medieval-era Byzantium (Sarantium? Or the Under Heaven setting's version of Byzantium? Or a new version of it?), with the lead characters from a Bulgaria/Thracian/Balkan analog. Lots and lots of fascinating history in this era -- the Empire of Trebizond, the Empire of Nicea, the Latin Emperors, the Crusades, the re-establishment of the Greek rule under the Palaiologos family, alliances and conflicts with the Mongols that connected up with the Bulgarian tsars, the Byzantine holdings in Thrace, etc., etc. Rich fodder for east-meets-west action with an alternate historical fantasy twist. Alternatively, it could be a full-on return to a more fantastical setting, much more loosely tied to our history than what he has done with his last half dozen novels (more like Tigana). Edited July 10, 2015 by Ran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) Sounds like that time George had an early, for-his-publishers-only sketch of his plans turned into Amazon.com marketing blurb. I will say that unless Kay completely tossed out every single detail therein, that the setting sounds like medieval-era Byzantium (Sarantium? Or the Under Heaven setting's version of Byzantium? Or a new version of it?), with the lead characters from a Bulgaria/Thracian/Balkan analog. Lots and lots of fascinating history in this era -- the Empire of Trebizond, the Empire of Nicea, the Latin Emperors, the Crusades, the re-establishment of the Greek rule under the Palaiologos family, alliances and conflicts with the Mongols that connected up with the Bulgarian tsars, the Byzantine holdings in Thrace, etc., etc. Rich fodder for east-meets-west action with an alternate historical fantasy twist. Alternatively, it could be a full-on return to a more fantastical setting, much more loosely tied to our history than what he has done with his last half dozen novels (more like Tigana). I thought Ottoman empire or similar after reading that blurb. Possibly set after Sarantium's capture? After first reading the title, I thought it might be set in a pseudo pre-Columbian Americas. Edited July 10, 2015 by Inle-rah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Not impossible. Earlier appeals to me because of the Mongols, though, which would then connect up this setting to his last two novels (at least broadly speaking; the Under Heaven setting has just one moon, so it's pretty explicitly not in the same universe as the Lions/Sarantine/Last Light books.) But yes, Ottoman, too, could work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 UH has only the one moon, but otherwise refers to the other place names of the Lions/LL/Sarantine books. So either GGK messed up, a moon disappeared somehow (I'm put in mind of Elizabeth Bear's Eternal Sky trilogy, actually, which is very GGK-esque) or the UH/RoS versions is a close parallel universe version of the Lions world. Given how vague the connections are between the books and all of them are different reflections of Fionavar anyway, I'm not sure that it really matters :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beniowa Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Hm, I always thought the single moon was intentional. There's a scene in UH where the main character and a few others are in a pleasure house, where one of the others is a poet and he says that one day he may write a poem about a world with two moons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 (edited) Indeed. Very deliberate in UH to clearly identify it as not being in the same setting as any of the previous novels. Edited July 12, 2015 by Ran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncalagonTheBlack Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Due to forum upgrade ,posts made on/after 14th got lost,so am posting this again. Guy Gavriel Kay Explores Fantasy Renaissance Europe in New Novel Children of Earth and Sky Publication date confirmed: May 2016 for both US and UK editions. We also have a blurb : The bestselling author of the groundbreaking novels Under Heaven and River of Stars, Guy Gavriel Kay is back with a new novel, Children of Earth and Sky, set in a world inspired by the conflicts and dramas of Renaissance Europe. Against this tumultuous backdrop the lives of men and women unfold on the borderlands—where empires and faiths collide. From the small coastal town of Senjan, notorious for its pirates, a young woman sets out to find vengeance for her lost family. That same spring, from the wealthy city-state of Seressa, famous for its canals and lagoon, come two very different people: a young artist traveling to the dangerous east to paint the grand khalif at his request—and possibly to do more—and a fiercely intelligent, angry woman, posing as a doctor’s wife, but sent by Seressa as a spy. The trading ship that carries them is commanded by the accomplished younger son of a merchant family, ambivalent about the life he’s been born to live. And farther east a boy trains to become a soldier in the elite infantry of the khalif—to win glory in the war everyone knows is coming. As these lives entwine, their fates—and those of many others—will hang in the balance, when the khalif sends out his massive army to take the great fortress that is the gateway to the western world… http://www.brightweavings.com/journal/2015/07/not-a-slow-news-day/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Also Hodderscape's release on it suggests that it's a "return" to his setting of earlier novels -- i.e. Lions, Sarantine Mosaic, and Last Light of the Sun. Inle-rah was closer to the mark than I was, since it does seem to be set near the Fall of Sarantium (but before it, not after), with a khalif who must be something of an equivalent to Mehmed II. Quite exciting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 So what time period and place might be the real world equivalent? Fall of Constantinople? Could that be the " great fortress" on the borders of the two worlds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Yep, would have to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Surprised this isn't related to the previous two books. I would like to see Kay tackle the Mongol invasion of eastern Europe. -- hell, let them invade all of Europe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scortius the charioteer Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Man, the people who are doing his latest cover art for his reissues and this latest one are really killing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Sounds very interesting. I think the title Children of Earth and Sky threw a few of us for a loop. Thanks for the updates everyone. I'm looking forward to this title next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Seswatha Jordan Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Was thinking about getting a few books tonight and Kay seems like as good as any to try out. What is his best work and a good place to start with him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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