Children of Earth and Sky

From the bestselling author of the groundbreaking novels Under Heaven and River of Stars

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Children of Earth and Sky

By: Guy Gavriel Kay

Narrated by: Simon Vance

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About this listen

Guy Gavriel Kay, bestselling author of the groundbreaking novels Under Heaven and River of Stars, once again visits a world that evokes one that existed in our own past, this time the tumultuous period of Renaissance Europe-a world on the verge of war, where ordinary lives play out in the grand scheme of kingdoms colliding.

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 beautiful oman, posing as a doctor's wife in her role of a spy.

The trading ship that carries them is commanded by the clever younger son of a merchant family -with ambivalence 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...

(P) 2016 Recorded Books©2016 Guy Gavriel Kay

Classics

Fantasy

Fiction

Espionage

Royalty

Critic Reviews

Guy Gavriel Kay has a wonderful talent. He tells stories in an invented world that is so rich in historical echoes that I found myself smiling with pleasure as I heard the echoes, while engrossed in the story. Warmly recommended. (Edward Rutherfurd, author of Sarum)

Kay triumphs at creating complex political landscapes and then populating them with characters who make the stakes important and the struggles real. Another magnificent history-that-never-was from a master.

The greatest living author of epic fantasy (Brandon Sanderson)

[Kay] wields plots and all-too-human characters brilliantly, in a world where nothing is as valuable as information. This big, powerful fantasy offers an intricately detailed setting, marvelously believable characters, and an international stew of cultural and religious conflict writ larger than large.

Its power derives less from its tweaking of history than from its complex, nuanced characters whose stories come to intertwine in revealing ways . . . Kay has a remarkable gift for lending surprising depth to even walk-on figures.

As with all of Kay's novels, the lush historical tapestry serves principally as background for compelling, sympathetic characters whose stories gradually weave together in ingenious ways.

Kay is in masterful control of his material, and the prose is elegant. This is writing of the highest order. Very highly recommended.

An intriguing, complicated blend of pitch-perfect characters doing the best they can, in a well-realised parallel history, and occasionally changing the world. I couldn't put it down, and in that spirit, I highly recommend that you pick it up.

I finished this one earlier today. The year is young, but Kay's latest could well be the best speculative fiction read of 2016!

Children of Earth and Sky is Guy Gavriel Kay doing what he does best, and better than anyone else working in fantasy today: telling the story of empires and wars through the lens of characters so vivid and convincing that they feel real, and absorbing you into their lives.

Everything about this book, from the characters to the world created - including the subtle elements of fantasy that imbue it - makesCHILDREN OF EARTH AND SKY a wonder and a joy to read.

one of the few truly philosophical fantasists writing today. Like his other novels set in a history just a few degrees off from our own, Children of Earth and Sky is a superbly entertaining, profoundly moral, & politically astute, novel.

Richly rewarding

Most relevant

I just didn’t feel as connected to the characters compared to Lion’s of Al’Rassan. I still enjoyed the story though, and as always with GGK, exceptionally well written.