Under Heaven

De: Guy Gavriel Kay

Narrado por: Simon Vance

The award-winning historical fantasies of Guy Gavriel Kay have earned him international best seller status and placed his books atop his fans' must-have lists.

Under Heaven takes listeners to Tang dynasty China, where the son of an honored general has received an unheard of gift: 250 Sardian horses. But this is a prize men would, and will, kill for.

"History and fantasy rarely come together as gracefully as they do in the novels of Guy Gavriel Kay." (Washington Post Book World)

©2010 Guy Gavriel Kay (P)2010 Penguin Audio

For Lovers of Both Fantasy and Poetry

Every novel by Guy Gavriel Kay is GOLD. This is especially true of this novel if you ate both a fan of fantasy AND poetry. Fantastic.

A tale of ghosts and beautiful creatures!

I believe that Mr. Kay is one of the most talented writers of our time. He has a way of writing feelings into the story. I really am not the type to cry about anything, but when I think about Rain Song and the life she lived and how close it came for her to have a life together with Tye...that is the talent of Mr. kay. The description of what life was during this mirror image of long ago China, was incredibly realistic. Please read or listen to this book. You will not be disappointed!

Great story teller and narration

If like me you love story telling then these two can carry you to another world with the best of them.

So gripping!

Intensely exciting and very well written. Well defined characters. Couldn't stop listening. Awesome narrator. Highly recommended.

Enchanting tale - that could have been told over many nights around the caravan

This is a book you can sink into and enjoy. It weaves together history, adventure, war, romance and philosophy

Beauty of language, engaging tale, bardlike performance

Lyrically written this was a joy to read and to listen. It introduced both a new culture and history to me. I've spent many a happy hour since reading up on the Tang Dynasty (Wikipedia is totally confusing, maybe Grok will be better,) on the Four Beauties of China, the An Lushan Rebellion, and the recent biography by Ha Jin called "The Banished Immortal, A Life of Life Bai." This has become a much loved novel I've returned to repeatedly, and I'm not much of a rereader.

A beautiful book

Like all of Guy Gavriel Kay’s books, Under Heaven continues the tradition of beautifully written historical fiction. The characters were well developed, and the plot is intricate and entertaining.

What an extraordinary book.

One of my favourite authors. My favourite narrator. He catches the richness and subtly of the writing, the characters’ emotions. A story of ancient China told through the characters’ eyes and experiences. The lives of the poor and the common alongside the intrigues of the court and of nations. Beautiful.

Sweeping epic

Excellent story, the author kept doling out little bits of backstory, but kept enough to leave the listener intrigued. I couldn't put it down, and the narration was top-notch.

One of my favorite by my favorite historical fantasy author

Here you’ll find a list of Kay’s books that I’ve most enjoyed. Their themes of religion, cultural clashes, war, personal and civic tragedy, magic are a veritable Aladdin’s carpet ride through the appeal and strengths of beautifully written historical fantasy. Reading Kay’s books is equivalent to taking an advanced course in European pre-medieval through Renaissance European history with sidetracks through the Middle East and lands that have never been.

This is, I think, my 8th or 9th book by Guy Gavriel Kay. I began with the Fionavar Tapestry (trilogy), which I’ve relistened to recently with even more pleasure. (That’s the most purely fantasy group of novels that I’ve read so far, complete with time travel and fully-imagined cultures in an unidentifiable distant past.)

The next group has in common a focus on competing cultures with different religions and schisms within those religions, as well as intricate and murderous court intrigue and revenge. The series begins with The Lions of Al Rassad and picks up geographically (but centuries later) with the moving Sarantine Mosaic novels, Sailing to Byzantium and Lord of Emperors—both of which are so beautiful that they almost broke my heart. Almost.

Then I moved to the stand-alone novels, Tigana and Ysabel, both focusing on strong female characters. In fact, such characters have appeared in all of Kay’s books.

Now I can’t wait to begin the second novel in Kay’s T’ang Dynasty books. If it’s as good as this one, I’ll be re-listening to them both just as soon as I’ve made my second journey through The Sarantine Mosaic.