Wrenching. I was raised up and thrown down so many times in this book. Ggk is a horrible man! These mosaics and people don't even exist why am i feeling so desperately and strongly for them?!?!? Amazing. A book that made me stay up til 5am reading

This is the weakest of Kay's novels that I've read, but I still enjoyed it. Sailing to Sarentium was better.

Thus concludes my six book run of GGK novels. I really like GGK's books. I think he is a superb writer. His books focus primarily on people and how the vagaries of life can lead you to places you never would have seen yourself being hours, days, weeks, months, or years earlier. His books do not tend to contain a lot of action (i.e. battle scenes, military conquests, fight scenes, etc) but he can make a court dialogue scene read like an action scene. Also, in the Sarantine Duology, the chariot racing scenes are very compelling.

Having read this many GGK books in a row, I will say there is one complaint I have with his writing. GGK has a bad habit of having women throw themselves at his main characters. Sometimes even extremely powerful, women of rank throwing themselves at essentially a commoner. It's a bit cringey at times but not enough for me to want to quit reading. It just seems a bit overwrought and unnecessary. I am not opposed to sex in books, but at least have it be believable and serve a purpose.

I will always suggest GGK to people who have never read/heard about him. Particularly those who like character-driven books, political intrigue, and exploring themes of human existence such as; loss, grief, displacement, and finding love, happiness, and joy in spite of all those things.

I think I preferred Sailing to Sarantium, but since I apparently forgot to add it to Goodreads, my memory is a bit foggy (I think I read it after 2013, but I'm not entirely sure). The prose is gorgeous as always, there are some poignant parts about what things in a life are truly meaningful, but some of the female characters bled together a bit. The three blondes were all similarly described and the two dancers as well.

5/5 for the first half (loved the Rustem chapters, especially the medieval medicine aspect!), however I think the plot ran out of steam about 2/3 of the way through. Crispin had nothing to do for most of the book, and even the Bassania stuff fizzled out without any major battles on screen.
However the prose and character work was amazing so I still enjoyed the book overall

With zero doubt in my mind my favourite book of all time.

Nobody writes like GGK. So, so good. Occasionally too in love with his own depth and introspection and cleverness, but still wonderful.

More comfort re-reading during the pandemic apocalypse. Lord of Emperors doesn't quite match up to Sailing to Sarantium, but it's a very close second and brings the story to a mostly satisfying conclusion.

All of the relationships between the characters are believable except the very last one. Of all the women in the novel, why would Crispin end up with her? But any other pairing would be just as unbelievable, because Crispin didn't develop real relationships with any of the female characters -- except perhaps one, but her ending was never going to be with Crispin.

4.5