
Written on the Dark
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Narrated by:
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Simon Vance
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By:
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Guy Gavriel Kay
About this listen
From the internationally bestselling author of Tigana, All the Seas of the World, and A Brightness Long Ago comes a sweeping new novel of love and war that brilliantly evokes the drama and turbulence of medieval France.
Thierry Villar is a well-known—even notorious—tavern poet, intimately familiar with the rogues and shadows of that world, but not at all with courts and power. He is an unlikely person, despite his quickness, to be swept into the deadly contests of ambitious royals, assassins, and invading armies.
But he is indeed drawn into all these things on a savagely cold night in his beloved city of Orane. And so Thierry must use all the intelligence and charm he can muster as power struggles merge with a decades-long war to bring his country to the brink of destruction.
As he does, he meets his poetic equal in an aristocratic woman and is drawn to more than one unsettling person with a connection to the world beyond this one. He also crosses paths with an extraordinary young woman driven by voices within to try to heal the ailing king—and help his forces in war. A wide and varied set of people from all walks of life take their places in the rich tapestry of this story.
Both sweeping and intimate, Written on the Dark is an elegant tour de force about power and ambition playing out amid the equally intense human need for art and beauty, and memories to be left behind.
©2025 Guy Gavriel Kay (P)2025 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“[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 is peerless in plucking elements from history and using them to weave a wholly fantastical tale that feels like a translation of some freshly unearthed scroll from a time we have yet to discover."—The Miami Herald
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The Last Light of the Sun
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 17 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Bern Thorkellson, punished for his father’s sins, denied his heritage and home, commits an act of vengeance and desperation that brings him face-to-face with a past he’s been trying to leave behind...In the Anglcyn lands of King Aeldred, the shrewd king, battling inner demons all the while, shores up his defenses with alliances and diplomacy - and with swords and arrows. Meanwhile his exceptional, unpredictable sons and daughters give shape to their own desires when battle comes and darkness falls in the spirit wood...
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Quintessential GGK, but the narrator is a bit weak.
- By Jared Petrick on 08-22-24
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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Ysabel
- A Novel
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Ysabel is a contemporary fantasy that centers on the Saint-Sauveur Cathedral of Aix-en-Provence, where a 15-year-old boy accompanies his father on a photo shoot. Befriending a whip-smart American girl and confronting a knife-wielding maniac, the boy finds that the ancient site shimmers with mysteries of fantastical design.
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Contemporary fantasy set in France
- By Michael G Kurilla on 06-09-23
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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Sailing to Sarantium
- Book One of the Sarantine Mosaic
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Berny Clark
- Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Crispin is a mosaicist, a layer of bright tiles. Still grieving for the family he lost to the plaque, he lives only for his arcane craft. But an imperial summons from Valerius the Trakesian to Sarantium, the most magnificent place in the world, is difficult to resist. In a world half-wild and tangled with magic, a journey to Sarantium means a walk into destiny. Bearing with him a deadly secret and a Queen's seductive promise, guarded only by his own wits and a talisman from an alchemist's treasury, Crispin sets out for the fabled city. Along the way he will encounter a great beast.
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Can't give a fair rating
- By Alyssa B. Goss on 10-16-15
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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River of Stars
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 20 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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In his critically acclaimed novel Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay told a vivid and powerful story inspired by China’s Tang Dynasty. Now, the international best-selling and multiple award-winning author revisits that invented setting four centuries later with an epic of prideful emperors, battling courtiers, bandits and soldiers, nomadic invasions, and a woman battling in her own way, to find a new place for women in the world - a world inspired this time by the glittering, decadent Song Dynasty.
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Kay is a great writer, but there's a pattern...
- By Grayson on 09-03-14
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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A Brightness Long Ago
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In a chamber overlooking the nighttime waterways of a maritime city, a man looks back on his youth and the people who shaped his life. Danio Cerra's intelligence won him entry to a renowned school even though he was only the son of a tailor. He took service at the court of a ruling count - and soon learned why that man was known as the Beast.
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Another Masterpiece from Mr. Kay
- By Craig Cassar on 06-01-19
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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The Lions of Al-Rassan
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Euan Morton
- Length: 19 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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The ruling Asharites of Al-Rassan have come from the desert sands, but over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, their stern piety has eroded. The Asharite empire has splintered into decadent city-states led by warring petty kings. King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, aided always by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan - poet, diplomat, soldier - until a summer afternoon of savage brutality changes their relationship forever.
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Lots of drama
- By KH on 10-12-12
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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Born of an Iron Storm
- By: Anthony Ryan
- Narrated by: Steven Brand
- Length: 19 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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From the international bestselling author Anthony Ryan comes the spectacular second novel in a new epic new fantasy trilogy inspired by Norse mythology.
By: Anthony Ryan
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Under Heaven
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 19 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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One of my favorite by my favorite historical fantasy author
- By KBergin on 10-03-20
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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A Song for Arbonne
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Euan Morton
- Length: 19 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The lands of Arbonne and Gorhaut are on the verge of an all-consuming conflict. When a devious high priest of Gorhaut seizes the opportunity to wage a holy war against residents of Arbonne, an epic clash between the two cultures ensues.
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Beautiful, moving, full of suspence and adventure
- By Efrat Kotzer Hassid on 07-22-20
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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Tigana
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Eight of the nine Palm provinces of the Peninsula have been overcome by warrior sorcerers Brandin and Alberico. But the sorcerers don't know that a small band of survivors is plotting their removal. With tensions mounting, the sorcerers become increasingly at odds as each decides where his own path - and that of the land - should truly lie.
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A little self-indulgent
- By Diana M. on 05-31-20
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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The Summer Tree
- Fionavar Tapestry, Book 1
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Two-time Aurora Award-winning author Guy Gavriel Kay has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award three times. In the first book of his Fionavar Tapestry series, five college students meet a wizard who takes them to the heart of the first of all worlds - a place called Fionavar. The students soon discover that they have been pre-ordained as part of the pattern called the Fionavar Tapestry - and if they don't fulfill their destinies, the world will suffer devastating consequences.
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My favorite trilogy.
- By NZDreamin on 02-10-21
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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Children of Earth and Sky
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 19 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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From the small coastal town of Senjan, notorious for its pirates, a young woman sets out to find vengeance for her lost family. That same spring, from the wealthy city-state of Seressa, famous for its canals and lagoon, come two very different people: a young artist traveling to the dangerous east to paint the grand khalif at his request - and possibly to do more - and a fiercely intelligent, angry woman posing as a doctor's wife but sent by Seressa as a spy.
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Deep Echoes of the Sarantine Mosaic
- By Sarah on 05-13-16
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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The Devils
- By: Joe Abercrombie
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey
- Length: 25 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends. Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it's a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.
By: Joe Abercrombie
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The Witness for the Dead
- Book One of the Cemeteries of Amalo Trilogy
- By: Katherine Addison
- Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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When the young half-goblin emperor Maia sought to learn who had set the bombs that killed his father and half-brothers, he turned to an obscure resident of his father’s Court, a Prelate of Ulis and a Witness for the Dead. Thara Celehar found the truth, though it did him no good to discover it. He lost his place as a retainer of his cousin the former Empress, and made far too many enemies among the many factions vying for power in the new Court. The favor of the Emperor is a dangerous coin.
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Same feel, not as satisfying as Goblin Emperor
- By CalyEk on 07-02-21
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A Breaking of Realms
- Realm Breaker, Book 1
- By: Jasmine Young
- Narrated by: Sabrina Morvillo, Alex Wyndham
- Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Realm-Building is open to all. On the continent of Elondria, anyone may become the next legendary dragon rider by building the greatest towns, cities, and even kingdoms. Skálda Branwright dreams of leaving the Longcold and becoming the first Dragonlord to build an official realm. Only no dragon egg has ever hatched for her. When a hatchling falls to her from another world, begging for rescue, she must decide whether to surrender her dragon to death or become the worst criminal of all—a rogue rider. But this is no ordinary dragon.
By: Jasmine Young
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Katabasis
- A Novel
- By: R. F. Kuang
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality: her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world. That is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault. Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams….
By: R. F. Kuang
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Overgrowth
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she's an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has been willing to listen. Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it's already been warned, and it may be too late.
By: Mira Grant