I'm glad that Kay's brave but doomed noble woman from the previous novel found a way to thrive (well, her fictional successor anyway). Traveling back to Sarantium post-fall was melancholy and terrifying. ( )

Not a review, but a series of impressions as a reader. No synopsis, here!

It feels like this book spans more space and has a wider scale than many of his other books. In some ways that creates a bit more distance from the characters but also increases the gravity of their moments.

By the end of the book so many things have happened at such a scale that it's almost breathtaking. That distance made the start of the book have slightly less momentum; meeting all these disparate characters and trying to understand how they relate, there's less of a 'what happens next' quality. But soon after these introductions, things really kick in and that momentum is now fully present. As though all the setup beforehand helps it engage into a higher gear.

Knowing how much of Kay's books rely on history, it definitely left me wanting to research more about it. Also, since it connects through history but not characters to some of his other books, it's made me want to go back through his Sarantium duo-logy, just to start!

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A slow burn story set in a Renaissance-Italy equivalent in the same world as The Lions of Al-Rassan and The Sarentine Mosaic. The story actually references The Sarentine Mosaic at points. Broad in scope, the action travels from the equivalent of Venice to post-Asharite conquest Sarentium, crossing the equivalent of the Balkans, and covers the guerilla fighting of a Skanderbeg-equivalent. Part of the story features the painting of a portrait of the Sultan by a Western painter - which actually happened in our world when Gentile Bellini was sent by Venice to paint Sultan Mehmet II.

It was interesting to see the real-world parallels, but the writing was somewhat introspective being often focussing on the characters' internal thoughts rather than their external actions.

Recommended.

Three and a half stars rounded up to four.

I enjoyed Children of Earth and Sky while at the same time wondering exactly what the point of the story was. Guy Gavriel Kay is a quality writer, so the near-600 pages felt quick and easy. Settings that echo the geography and history seem to be popular in the fantasy genre, though I admit I haven't read an overabundance of fantasy. Children of Earth and Sky is much the same; the Osmanli empire originates in the scorching deserts of the east, conquering cities like Sarantium (a clear Constantinople stand-in) and the city-states are reminiscent of Mediterranean city-states. I actually liked that aspect the most, as I found it fun to find the pieces from real history.

The things I liked were plentiful. I really enjoyed the main characters, particularly Danica, Marin, Drago and Leonora. They, along with Danica's long lost brother Damaz and the painter Pero Villani. I only wished we got more of their perspectives because they were all interesting. I particularly liked how Leonora and Danica became instant friends despite being such polar opposites: Danica is a tall teenage warrior, who simply wants to kill infidels in retaliation for kidnapping her brother a decade before, and Leonora is a young woman abandoned by her family, her child torn away from her and hired as a spy for a city-state.

I did find myself questioning what the point of the whole novel was. There's no great battle, no real plot or even a real resolution. Rather Children of Earth and Sky seems to be a slice of life, the politics of empires and city-states, following a short period in the lives of characters integral to a few different threads spread throughout the continent.

I also question the usefulness of the sheer number of perspectives included, at times giving the plot a quasi-Rashomon feel. Were they filler? A way to establish the disparity between the city-states? I would have greatly preferred more of the main characters than a few paragraphs of a random character's point of view of their own death.

Overall, I enjoyed the book a lot. It was interesting and compelling, and it definitely made me interested in reading more of Kay's books. ( )

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