Guy Gavriel Kay: The Sarantine Mosaic
The Sarantine Mosaic is one of Kay's historical fantasies. The book is based on history, to some extent. The world of Sarantine Mosaic is based on the Byzantine Empire, with many historical details matching. The results reminds one of ancient Rome with a twist. There are some supernatural elements, but mostly the level of fantasy is low.
The two books tell a story of a mosaic-maker Crispin, summoned from provinces to decorate a new, glorious church with mosaics. In the first book, Sailing to Sarantium, Crispin arrives to Sarantium and is immersed in political intrigues and religious tensions. The court of the Emperor is full of scheming enemies, it seems, and Crispin finds himself part of their plans.
In the second book, Lord of the Emperors, Kay brings in new characters, while continuing Crispin's story. The actions get louder and the tension gets really high. Kay is a master story-teller and spends the first 200 pages or so describing the events of a single day. He goes backward and forward, showing the point of view of all his characters. It's a really wonderful piece of writing and makes the book very hard to put down: you just need to know what happens to this or that character.
The Sarantine Mosaic is definitely one of my favourite fantasy books ever. Any fan of historical fiction should check it out, because despite the invented world, it's really rather low fantasy, the world seems rather real. The book is also full of political scheming and court intrigue for those who cherish that kind of thing. It's really rather excellent book. [ Sailing to Sarantium at Amazon.co.uk ]
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