Sailing to Sarantium

The new emperor in Sarantium has a lot to atone for, so he???s building a grand chapel to his god and calling the most famous artisans in the surrounding regions to come work for him. Crispin, a mosaicist from a neighboring country, is one of these. Unhappy since his wife and children died, Crispin doesn???t think he has much to live for anymore, and he doesn???t want to go to Sarantium. But when his young queen, who sits her throne precariously, asks Crispin to carry a secret proposal to the already-married emperor of Sarantium, Crispin is duty-bound. Now he is ???sailing to Sarantium,??? which means that he???s leaving everything behind to start a promising new life. Along the way, he befriends an alchemist with strange powers, a young woman who???s about to be sacrificed to a god, and a foul-mouthed army officer who loves to watch the chariot races. When Crispin gets to Sarantium, he finds that decorating the biggest dome in the world isn???t the hardest part of his job ??? it???s navigating Sarantium court politics.

Sailing to Sarantium, the first book in Guy Gavriel Kay???s duology THE SARANTINE MOSAIC, is a historical fantasy loosely based on the Byzantine Empire. It???s a well-written slow-moving character-driven novel that???s full of the violence, sex, political intrigue, passion, and beauty we expect from Kay. If you???re a fan, you???re bound to enjoy this story. I particularly admired the focus on the art of mosaic ??? both the technique and the way Crispin and his fellow artisans love beauty and are attuned to the play of light, shadow, and color in their environment. I also loved the alchemist???s craft of creating birds of leather and metal and instilling them with personalities (there???s more to it, and it???s cool, but it???d be spoilery to explain further). This was not only a beautiful idea, but it added a nice touch of humor. I also loved the chariot races.

There are several likeable characters in Sailing to Sarantium but they spend more time thinking than doing and they???re really hard to believe in. Like most (maybe all) of Kay???s lead males, Crispin is brilliant, strong, brave, blunt and uncompromising (even when he knows he might be killed for it). The women are even more unbelievable. We???re told that they???re powerful, clever and dangerous, but mostly they go around looking beautiful and haughty, teasing men and speaking in arch tones, and using sex as a weapon. Almost every woman we meet in Sailing to Sarantium, other than Crispin???s mother, tries to seduce Crispin as soon as she meets him, though I???m not sure why.

The political intrigue is a bit over the top, too. As soon as Crispin arrives in Sarantium, he???s somehow unwittingly in the middle of all the maneuvering, with all the important people wanting to talk to him privately, seduce him, or murder him. We are repeatedly told how clever, subtle, and nuanced all these people are, but I???m not convinced. It???s not clear why they are scheming. Most of the interesting intrigue seems to have happened in the past and we never feel the immediate significance of it all, which just makes it feel overdramatized.

Overall, Sailing to Sarantium is a pleasant story if you???re willing to believe in the characters and the significance of the plot. This was hard for me, but I like Crispin and some of the other characters (e.g., the army officer, the famous chef and his apprentice, and the charioteer) and I???m interested in the mosaic and the birds, so I???m going to move on to the second SARANTINE MOSAIC novel, Lord of Emperors, and hope for a bigger pay-off.

I???m listening to Berny Clark narrate Audible Frontier???s recent production of THE SARANTINE MOSAIC. He has an agreeable voice and his dialogue is truly excellent, but some of his narration is slow and lacks inflection. I actually didn???t mind this because I thought it served to tone down the drama, but readers who???ve enjoyed other audio productions of Guy Gavriel Kay???s work, which have had more dynamic readers, may feel differently. I suggest listening to a sample.

http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/sailing-to-sarantium/

4.0 out of 5 stars

This first installment of the Sarantine Mosaic is wondrous, wonderful, and features some of the most beautiful passages that I've read yet from Guy Gavriel Kay.

The spirituality of the world and the exquisite mosaics that Kay describes are sights to behold. I'm fully invested in Crispin, his mosaic masterwork, the political web he's fallen into, and the underlying mystical “half-world” that is nipping at his heels. The pacing of the overall story is uneven, but this is a great first half of a larger mosaic. 

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

A slow start but I wound up really enjoying this. This series and author were recommended to me as an Eastern alternative to dominant Western-focused fantasy. This series is something along the lines of GoT or The First Law in plotting and quality but it does not retread the same Swords and Sorcery/Medieval Court story beats that are ubiquitous in the fantasy genre.

The Sarantine Mosaic is a historical fantasy set in a world that closely resembles the Byzantine Empire at the beginning of the Justinian dynasty. We follow a mosaicist named Crispin, who is summoned to Sarantium by the emperor to create a mosaic for the new sanctuary. The story unfolds against a backdrop of imperial politics, religious conflicts, and the vibrant life of the city. Contrary to the book's title the first half of the story concerns itself with Crispin's overland journey from Rhodia to Saratium, with not a boat in sight.

One of the real joys of this story is just how well G.G.K interweaves real history; it is dependent on how well you know your Roman/Byzantine history, but there is a constant barrage of small easter eggs and minor details that sell the world as authentic. Bath culture, chariot partisans, factional conflicts, landmarks, court culture, almost every detail even down to the exclusive scent of perfume that the empress wears are tied to the real historical record. I think I could safely assign this as course reading for a history class and it wouldn't stray too far from what the history books say concerning Justinian's reign. Hopefully, everyone who reads this knows enough to realize that the sanctuary Crispin is working on is actually the Hagia Sophia because that was such a cool reveal. Massive points for putting history in historical fantasy.

Considering the novel from a writing perspective it also gets full marks from me, this book is gorgeous to read. GGK is lyrical and poetic, and his prose is a delight to unpack; his style is one with tons of emotional depth and accuracy. As I noted previously this story has a slow start, one of the problems I had at the outset of the story was what I felt to be unnecessary shifts in perspective that were delaying the start of Crispin's story. I will acknowledge that it pays off in the end, but there were moments at the start where I had to put the book down since I was getting a little bored. That issue gets cleared up almost as soon as Crispin sets out for Sarantium, and honestly having a little grounding in the mythos and rules of this world serves to elevate the thrill to found in his journey.

This is a perfect premise for this author and it is such an appropriately titled series. The main conflict in this story is a political one that is complex and interconnected, a puzzle, a.... mosaic. It's more involved than that obviously, the prose is a key part in helping all of the different themes and beats layer over each other providing depth that wouldn't otherwise be there.

If you're a sword and sorcery STAN then this might be a boring read for you because it's not high octane and the magic is nebulous. This is a slower and more methodical read than I think many fantasy fans will be used to. That doesn't make it bad by any stretch, but be aware that this story is outside of the norm, this book has more in common with War and Peace than it does LOTR.