A review by ianbanks
Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay

5.0

Another alt-world, another art form utilised for the purpose of metaphor and another turbulent kingdom. Still more incredibly competent and gifted people making their mark on the world in an instant while dealing out snarky, wise and incredibly layered levels of conversation.

It's business as usual for Guy Gavriel Kay.

And I freaking loved it. Crispin is the first really believably bewildered-by-the-world character presented in Mr Kay's novels since Dave back in The Fionavar Tapestry and he's a pleasure to read. Unlike other bad-tempered characters in fantasy, who seem to only lose their tempers when the plot demands it, Crispin constantly seems on the boil, but has mostly mastered his temper.

And he isn't the only one: there are more people ruled by their passions in this book than in almost any other by Mr Kay. Which is interesting when you consider how much his Sarantium is run on intrigue and powerplays. But it makes some kind of sense as most characters that intrigue here do so because of frustrations and disappointments in other areas of their public and private lives.

This book takes the time to set things up and lay groundwork for the second volume. I've often wondered if this was a book cut in half because of publisher demands because it ends at a fairly arbitrary point where little has been resolved or even begun to become a problem.

But if you're a fan, you won't care, because Kay's prose is a pleasure to read at all times.