River of Stars, Guy Gavriel Kay
River of Stars, Guy Gavriel Kay
List: $17.50 | Sale: $12.25
Club: $8.75

River of Stars

Author: Guy Gavriel Kay

Narrator: Simon Vance

Unabridged: 20 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 04/02/2013


Synopsis

“River of Stars is a major accomplishment, the work of a master novelist in full command of his subject.”—Michael Dirda, in The Washington Post

“Game of Thrones in China.”—Salon.com

Ren Daiyan was still just a boy when he took the lives of seven men while guarding an imperial magistrate. That moment on a lonely road changed his life in entirely unexpected ways, sending him into the forests of Kitai among the outlaws. From there he emerges years later—and his life changes again, dramatically, as he circles toward the court and emperor, while war approaches Kitai from the north.
 
Lin Shan is the daughter of a scholar, his beloved only child. Educated by him in ways young women never are, gifted as a songwriter and calligrapher, she finds herself living a life suspended between two worlds. Her intelligence captivates an emperor—and alienates women at the court. But when her father’s life is endangered by the savage politics of the day, Shan must act in ways no woman ever has.
 
In an empire divided by bitter factions circling an exquisitely cultured emperor who loves his gardens and his art far more than the burdens of governing, dramatic events on the northern steppe alter the balance of power in the world, leading to events no one could have foretold, under the river of stars.

About The Author

Guy Gavriel Kay is the international bestselling author of many novels and a book of poetry. He has been awarded the International Goliardos Prize for his work in literature of the fantastic and won the World Fantasy Award for Ysabel in 2008. In 2014, Kay was named to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor. His work has been translated into more than 25 languages.Simon Vance is a stage, TV, and film actor who has narrated more than 200 audiobooks for which he has won multiple AudioFile Earphone Awards and Audie nominations. He has also been selected as an AudioFile Golden Voice. Formerly a BBC Radio newsreader in London, he now resides in Northern California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lena

Epic atmospherically novel about the fall of the dynasty and rise of the legend based on the real Chinese history. Author did a great job creating the world that is familiar and recognisable but still magical. Interesting plot and well-written characters in the exotic background.......more

Goodreads review by Kelly

What is it to fall out of love? It is has been a long time since I’ve done it and so I don’t remember. From what I recall, it was something unconscious for a long time. Something in your turn of phrase, in the explanations that you seek out and find, the articles you share and how often you choose t......more

Goodreads review by Choko

*** 4.44 *** I just finished, and honestly, this book has left me completely depressed! Almost more than the second Malazan, and this is saying something, because that one had me crying for days... The complete helplessness of regular people and their lack of control over their own lives, is absolut......more

I feel cheated. I hate these wishy-washy anti-climactic Kay endings, and the wishy-washy over-virtuous flat characters, but that was not the only thing that disappointed me here. I must say that although I loved most of the first three quarters, I hated the ending. The book is supposedly based on the......more

Goodreads review by Mayim

“Our lives aren’t only ours.” There are plenty of fantasy books that take us along the “from zero to hero” path. “River of Stars” is similar but the ingenious variation comes with the fact that the personal development of the hero is accompanied by a grand scale devolution of his country. If you expe......more


Quotes

Praise for River of Stars

Game of Thrones in China.”—Salon.com

“From whatever angle you approach it, River of Stars is a major accomplishment, the work of a master novelist in full command of his subject. It deserves the largest possible audience.”—The Washington Post

Kay has the uncanny ability to depict the grand sweep of historical events through the eyes of those living through them...What’s even more amazing is how through his careful rendering of character and environments we are drawn into this history...River of Stars is an exceptional piece of work.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“With River of Stars, Kay transports readers to a dazzling court and the ravages of war, with language almost impossibly multilayered in its nuance and tone, offering a series of insights that exquisitely build on each other...one of Kay's richest creations to date.”—The Huffington Post

River of Stars is the sort of novel one disappears into, emerging shaken, if not outright changed. A novel of destiny, and the role of individuals within the march of history, it is touched with magic and graced with a keen humanity.”—Globe and Mail

More Praise for the Novels of Guy Gavriel Kay
 
“[Read] anything by Guy Gavriel Kay...His strengths are strong characters and fantastic set pieces.”—The New Yorker 
 
“History and fantasy rarely come together as gracefully or readably as they do in the novels of Guy Gavriel Kay.”—The Washington Post Book World

“Kay shows why he’s the heir to Tolkien’s tradition.”—Booklist
 
“Kay is a genius. I've read him all my life and am always inspired by his work.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson 
 
“A storyteller on the grandest scale.”—Time Magazine, Canada