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Description edit
In his latest innovative novel, the award-winning author evokes the dazzling Tang Dynasty of 8th-century China in a story of honor and power. Inspired by the glory and power of Tang dynasty China, Guy Gavriel Kay has created a masterpiece. It begins simply. Shen Tai, son of an... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters edit
- Shen Tai: Second son of General Shen Gao, and protagonist of the story
- Shen Li-Mei: Tai's sister
- Wei Song: Kanlin warrior
- General An Li (Roshan): Add a description of this character.
- Spring Rain: A courtesan; Tai's beloved
- Meshag: the eldest son of Hurok, the Bogü khagan or leader
- Sima Zian: banished immortal; a poet
- Wen Zhou: prime minister of Kitai; also Wen Jian's cousin
- Wen Jian: emperor's favorite concunbine; known as Precious Consort; is said to be most beautiful women alive; has great influence on emperor
- Shen Liu: Tai's older brother
- Xu Bihai
- Prince Shinzu: a chosen heir
- Bytsan: Taguran officer; Shen Tai's friend
- Lin Fong
- Lu Chen
- Hurok
- Dynlal: a sardian horse
- Shuoki
- Taizu: emperor of Kitai
- Chin Hai
- Lin Chang
- Chou Yan
- Xu Liang
- Wujen Ning
- Shen Gao: Tai's father; was a great general
- Xin Lun
- Tazek Karad
- Weaver Maid
- Zhong Ma
Quotes edit
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“The world could bring you poison in a jewelled cup, or surprising gifts. Sometimes you didn't know which of them it was. (p. 28)”
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“How we remember changes how we have lived. Time runs both ways. We make stories of our lives.”
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“There was some sadness in how that could happen, Tai thought: falling out of love with something that had shaped you. Or even people who had? But if you didn't change at least a little, where were the passages of a life? Didn't learning, changing, sometimes mean letting go of what had once been seen as true?”
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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The idea we can know what must be done, and do it properly. We cannot know the future, my friend. It claims so much to imagine we can. And the world is not broken any more than it always, always is.”
Highlighted by 44 Kindle customers -
“We will pick our way through the shards of broken objects that folly leaves behind. And some of what breaks will be very beautiful.”
Highlighted by 40 Kindle customers -
How we remember changes how we have lived. Time runs both ways. We make stories of our lives.
Highlighted by 37 Kindle customers -
There was some sadness in how that could happen, Tai thought: falling out of love with something that had shaped you. Or even people who had? But if you didn’t change at least a little, where were the passages of a life? Didn’t learning, changing, sometimes mean letting go of what had once been seen as true?
Highlighted by 30 Kindle customers -
Branching paths. The turning of days and seasons and years. Life offered you love sometimes, sorrow often. If you were very fortunate, true friendship. Sometimes war came. You did what you could to shape your own peace, before you crossed over to the night and left the world behind, as all men did, to be forgotten or remembered, as time or love allowed.
Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers -
We cannot live twice, or watch as moments of the past unfurl, like a courtesan’s silk fan. The river flows, the dancers finish their dance. If the music starts again it is starting anew, not repeating itself.
Highlighted by 27 Kindle customers -
Why, and how, does one voice, one person, come to conjure vibrations in the soul, like an instrument tuned? Why a given man, and not another, or a third?
Highlighted by 26 Kindle customers -
Full moon is falling through the sky. Cranes fly through clouds. Wolves howl. I cannot find rest Because I am powerless To amend a broken world.
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The world is not something to be understood. It is vanity, illusion to even try.
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But if you couldn’t do everything, did that mean you did nothing?
Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers
Setting & Locations edit
Kitai, empire based on China
- Ta-ming Palace: royal palace
- Long Wall
- Kuala Nor: a place of many battles, haunted by ghost
- Iron Gate Pass
- Great River
- Teng Pass
- Rygyal
- Stone Drum Mountain
- Sardia
- Taguran
- Bogü
- North District
- White Phoenix
- Hangdu
- Long Lake Park
- Deer Park
- Shuquian
- Iron Gate Fort
- Golden River
- Pavilion Of Moonlight
First Sentence edit
Amid the ten thousand noises and the jade-and-gold and the whirling dust of Xinan, he had often stayed awake all night among friends, drinking spiced wine in the North District with the courtesans.
Series & Lists edit
This is book 17 of 157 in Fantasy Book Review Top 100 fantasy books of all time. (community list)
Preceded by Duncton Found, and followed by The Ring of Solomon.
This book is in Hopeless Romantic. (community list)
This book is in NPR Summer Books 2010. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Guy Gavriel Kay (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Viking Canada
Country: Canada
Publication Date: March 30 2010
ISBN: 0670068098
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Viking Canada
Country: Canada
Publication Date: March 30 2010
ISBN: 0670068098
Page Count: 592
Awards edit
- Locus Fantasy Award (Finalist, 2011, Nominee)
- Mythopoeic Fantasy Award (Finalist, 2011: Adult Literature, Finalist)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813.54
Subjects edit
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Links to Supplemental Material edit
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