This was historic fiction with a touch of fantasy. Kay has the ability to make the quiet moments profound and make the big moments deeply personal. As with all Guy Gavriel Kay books, I was riveted the entire time, even if it wasn't an action-packed moment. This sets into motion events that will change the whole world. This man, Shen Tai, has his world changed when he is gifted 250 exquisite horses from the Princess of the rival nation as a thank you gift. This battlefield is famously haunted, and therefore strongly avoided by both nations who battled many years ago, but who now share a peace treaty. He does not distinguish sides, but tries to bury any dead he comes across. One man's life changes drastically with one seemingly small decision to devote two years of his life to burying the dead at the site of a battle.
With this book, his inspiration was the T'ang Dynasty from China circa 700 CE. And by that I mean he changes names so as not to write about anything real, but basically takes whole swathes of cultures from the past and writes novels about these new creations that have small elements of fantasy, but are otherwise political, familial, or revolutionary dramas. He writes fantasy-lite novels inspired by history and culture. Upon finishing both books I experienced that "pause," where you turn the final page and just sit there for minutes mulling everything over.Guy Gavriel Kay writes historical fantasy. Excellently written, fantastic themes and characters. If you haven't read either of these books, I'd strongly recommend them. How did others find this method of re-telling and re-working of history? And to anyone knowledgeable about Chinese history in particular, how did you feel about the representation and working of the source material? The setting of both is also thoroughly ancient China, but because he's not actually writing a book set in ancient China there's no obligation to complete and utter historical accuracy. I was curious what other readers thought about 'historical fantasy' - Kay bases both of these books on actual historical events in Chinese history, but fudges place/people names just enough to make them his own. Just finished River of Stars a couple of days ago (Under Heaven a couple weeks before that), and I thought the two works were absolutely magical.
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