Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel KayMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I adore this man's writing. Love, love, love it. His people are so real. They are imperfect and you love some and hate others. Love them or hate them, you understand why they do what they do. And Kay shows you, with the minimum of telling. They may be part of an ancient society, but I feel how much humanity I share with them.
The other thing that I deeply appreciate is Kay's treatment of his female characters. They have aspirations, desires, and ambitions of their own, despite their supposedly inferior position in this society. The relationships are largely that of equals, in emotion if not in law. He writes women as real people, not the unknowable enigmas that so many male writers like to give us. Thank you, Mr. Kay for recognizing my humanity!
Caius and his monumental mosaic spoke loud and clear to me. As true art does. Just as in the first book, this mosaic made me think of What's Bred in the Bone, where Francis Cornish used the symbolism of his own life to paint a wonderful and enigmatic painting in the Old Master style. Just as Caius does with this pinnacle of his career.
I am not a sports aficionado, but after these two books, I could be convinced to go to the Hippodrome for a chariot race or two. The drama on the sands echoes the events unfolding in the Palace beautifully.
Like all of my favourite books, I was sorry to finish this one. The ending surprised me, but was pleasing. And not too tightly tied up in a bow. I prefer less cut and dried denouements, giving my imagination more to do. GGK seems to understand this need and his epilogues avoid unnecessary detail.
For some time now, I have been building a “small" collection of books that will go to the nursing home with me when the time comes. I'm embarrassed at the way it has swollen over the last few years, but Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors have now been designated as volumes that I need to add to this list.
Book number 408 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
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