Lord of Emperors
Book Two of the Sarantine Mosaic
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Narrated by:
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Berny Clark
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By:
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Guy Gavriel Kay
About this listen
Crispin the mosaicist wants to concentrate on his art. Rustem of Kerakek, a physician, is also on his own journey of self-discovery. But no man may withdraw from society that easily, and both men soon find themselves drawn into the deadly webs of Sarantium.
Lord of Emperors is the sequel to Sailing to Sarantium.
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By: Mary Renault
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Kushiel's Dart
- By: Jacqueline Carey
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 31 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good...and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.
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The Kushiel series in order
- By Glen Gaines on 10-27-09
By: Jacqueline Carey
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Wrath of the Furies
- A Novel of the Ancient World
- By: Steven Saylor
- Narrated by: Stephen Plunkett
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In 88 BC, it seems as if the entire ancient world is at war. In the west, the Italian states are rebelling against Rome; in the east, Mithridates is marching through and conquering the Roman Asian provinces. Even in the relatively calm Alexandria, a coup has brought a new pharaoh to power and chaos to the streets. The young Gordianus is waiting out the chaos in Alexandria with Bethesda when he gets a cryptic message from his former tutor and friend, Antipater.
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Terrible reading hurts the story
- By SCar7 on 11-06-15
By: Steven Saylor
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I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire
- Ravenloft: Strahd, Book 1
- By: P. N. Elrod
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Some of the parchment pages were the color of cream, thick and substantial, made to last many, many lifetimes. Other pages were thin and desiccated, positively yellow from age, and crackled alarmingly as Van Richten turned them over. There were no ornate illuminations, no fussy borders, only lines of plain text in hard black ink. The flowing handwriting was a bit difficult to follow at first; the writer's style of calligraphy had not been in common use for 300 years. No table of contents, but from the dates it looked to be some kind of history.
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Love it...just one complaint....
- By Ryan Conrad on 03-15-14
By: P. N. Elrod
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The Boleyn King
- Boleyn Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Laura Andersen
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
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Just seventeen years old, Henry IX, known as William, is a king bound by the restraints of the regency yet anxious to prove himself. With the French threatening battle and the Catholics sowing the seeds of rebellion at home, William trusts only three people: his older sister Elizabeth; his best friend and loyal counselor, Dominic; and Minuette, a young orphan raised as a royal ward by William’s mother, Anne Boleyn.
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Great idea, bad story
- By S. D. Ristick on 09-22-14
By: Laura Andersen
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Hero of Rome
- By: Douglas Jackson
- Narrated by: Cornelius Garrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
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The Roman grip on Britain is weakening. Emperor Nero has turned his face away from this far-flung outpost. The Druids are on the rise, spreading seeds of rebellion among the British tribes. Roman cruelty and exploitation has angered their British subjects. The warrior queen Boudicca will lead the tribes to war. Standing against the rising tide of Boudicca's rebellion is Roman Tribune, Gaius Valerius Verrens, Commander of the veteran legions at Colonia.
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Good story, well told and well read
- By Mike Varley on 10-01-14
By: Douglas Jackson
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Quatrain
- Twelve Houses, Book 0.5
- By: Sharon Shinn
- Narrated by: Eva Wilhelm
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Sharon Shinn's Twelve Houses books have fascinated fans and critics alike with their irresistible blend of fantasy, romance, and adventure. Now in Quatrain, she weaves compelling stories in four of the worlds that fans love in "Flight", "Blood", "Gold", and "Flame".
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Lovely set of novellas, description needs updated
- By Lindsay C. on 09-25-20
By: Sharon Shinn
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Push Not the River
- By: James Conroyd Martin
- Narrated by: Dawn Harvey
- Length: 19 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Push Not the River is the rich story of Poland in the late 1700's - a time of heartache and turmoil as the country's once peaceful people are torn apart by neighboring countries and divided loyalties. It is then, at the young and vulnerable age of seventeen, that Lady Anna Maria Berezowska loses both of her parents and must leave the only home she has ever known.
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Save your time; buy something else.
- By AMS on 10-22-15
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The Sworn
- The Fallen Kings Cycle, Book 1
- By: Gail Z. Martin
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 17 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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As plague and famine scourge the Winter Kingdoms, a vast invasion force is mustering from beyond the northern seas. And at its heart, a dark spirit mage wields the blood magic of ancient, vanquished gods. Summoner-King Martris Drayke must attempt to meet this great threat, gathering an army from a country ravaged by civil war. Neighboring lands reel toward anarchy while plague decimates their leaders.
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Above average book with a poor narrator
- By Ross on 02-11-11
By: Gail Z. Martin
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In which Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and courageous Puritan, pursues knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe -- in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.
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Shōgun, Part One
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After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen—Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. As internal political strife and a clash of cultures lead to seemingly inevitable conflict, Blackthorne’s loyalty and strength of character are tested by both passion and loss.
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Great book poor marketing
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The Spear Cuts Through Water
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The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—hold the countryside in their choking grip. They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace.
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Unlistenable
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What listeners say about Lord of Emperors
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Blue
- 01-11-21
One of my all time favorites! So epic!
Hard to say much without spoiling. Aside from a little overly sexualized characters, this has to be one of my favorite books.
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- John Russell
- 10-02-17
As usual, Magnificent Kay.
Second part of a magnificent story, and a great examination of human loss and achievements.
Berny Clark does a very good job, although I admit to preferring Simon Vance as per other titles from this author. If you read or listen to one of Guy Gavriel Kay's superb offerings, you will end up with all of them sooner than you think. (And eagerly awaiting new publications)
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- Jesse Hanenburg
- 12-28-19
absolutely engrossed
I love Kay's work, these 2 books were some of his finest and Berny Clark did a wonderful job of narrating. I will listen to this one again for sure
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- Matt
- 04-28-21
So very worth reaching the plateau
Having come straight from the novel previous to this one, I’ll admit to growing a little weary and restless at times during (roughly) the first half of this second book. Once everything this novel was moving towards hit its stride, however, I never wanted to stop listening. It’s kind of painful to come to terms with saying goodbye to these characters. Some extraordinary storytelling by Kay and—another—epic achievement by Clark.
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- KitnBit
- 05-21-21
save this wonderful book from this narrator
loved it but it's like ge never read or before. status or with no inflection, bi emotion. souls have read it first and gotten to know the characters so that he could put some real feeling into this rendition it was very tough for me to stick with it but the stories I know from guy are always wonderful
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- KBergin
- 09-16-20
The Byzantium trilogy is magnificent.
All three books set in this part of the world [The Lions of Al Rassan, set 400 years earlier; Sailing to Byzantium; & Lord of Emperors] show Guy Gavriel Kay at his height.
The last two books, which can be read alone, are filled with iridescent characters, danger, intrigue, religious mysteries, adventure, astounding beauty, and moments of unspeakable evil.
Their central character, Caspius Crispis, a mosaicist who is much more than the “artisan” he calls himself, carries us through the lowest and the highest of the great city, Syrantium, home to half a million from multiple ethnic and religious backgrounds and the Emperor and Empress, who have called for him, a foreigner, to design and apply an inspired mosaic to the largest temple dome in medieval Spain. His half year there, he spends among the both the court and the street, learning more than he should know. Especially the women.
This author, my favorite historical fantasy artist, forces us to inhabit the lives of his central multi-faceted characters so deeply that we sometimes fear the beginning of a new chapter. The prose is both beautiful and terrifying—one of the Kay’s gifts. This is no genre writer. He should be elevated to the heights of mainstream fiction. If you have never read his work, the two last volumes of this “trilogy” are a good beginning.
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- Jill
- 10-28-18
Love this author and performance!!!
The first book in this series was a little slow and tedious. Not too much though. I still liked it. This second book made up for the first ones set up. I loved it. The performance was awesome. I am so amazed at the ability to individualize the various characters to this degree. Well done!!! And the story was able to take you to a different place and time SO well. Outstanding!!!
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- W. Roberts
- 12-07-23
Be patient, this is worth it!
When I started book number one I didn't know if I could remember all the names. I also felt like the pacing was slow because there was a lot of background to established. I am so glad that I stayed with it because the story that unfolds is worth the time. the author is very good at reminding you of the identities of characters that you haven't visited in a few chapters. It's a sweeping epic that is largely the tale of three kingdoms, with elements of magic lending a mysterious touch, but something about the writing feels more literary. I think I could compare it to historical fiction from a world just one step toward magic from ours. There is grandeur in the scale what it is trying to convey. As an artist I enjoyed very much his description of what it is like to work on mosaic. I feel a creative kinship with one of the main characters, Crispin, who ties the heart of the story together. We follow him loosely, switching characters, but it is he who interweaves through many intrigues and dramatic situations. This book was wonderful!
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- Wanderlusting
- 02-11-13
frustratingly good
Any additional comments?
The book was excellent but i the characters and plot lines i was most interested in were left hanging. My favorite character was killed off at the end of the last book and i almost did not come back. . . I am glad i did, , new characters were deep and pulled me in, , i did keep waiting for more development on the birds. Souls of sacrificed girls were trapped in animated mechanical birds. I thought this was going to be a major part of the second book but instead the author focused on chariot racing and political infighting. At the end of the book there were several pages that tied up loose ends, , i would rather have another book :)
Overall a very good book but still frustrating
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- Isaac Parker
- 03-04-23
Excellent
Simply fantastic. I'd thought the narrator was too slow at the start, but later came to think he fits the series perfectly in my opinion. I have never read a book by Guy before, but I greatly enjoyed the prose, character development, wit, and overall plot. I would highly recommend these 2 books. I generally read much faster/more physically dramatic fantasy novels, so this was unique and wonderful to me that a novel with a basis around a mosaic could be so enthralling. I will be reading or listening to more books from this author.
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