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Sailing to Sarantium 4 1/2 stars -rounding down

A mosaicist is summoned, from a distant city, to appear before the Emperor Valerius II in the city of Sarantium. This mosaicist is old and has no desire to travel the long and dangerous road to the metropolis and then spend years there completing whatever the Emperor desires . In his place he sends his partner, who has lost his wife and daughters to the plague. He urges the younger man to get on with his life. Before Crispin (as he is called) departs, an alchemist and a Queen both give him something to take on his journey. Crispin then begins his path to self-discovery. He travels alone at first, however, for safety reasons joins other travelers along the road.

The story is set in the 6th century, in a world resembling The Byzantine
Empire. The world is familiar, from other Guy Gavriel Kay books. While reading, if I am unsure of anything that seems important, I use Google to uncover parts of history I am vague about. Byzantine was one of those searches this read. I discovered that there was a poem written by W.B. Yeats entitled Sailing to Byzantium. Love finding things like that while reading.

The writing, as usual for Kay , is beautiful and poetic. This author can touch my soul, like no other:

Darkness lasted in the Aldwood, night a deepening of it not a bringing forth. Morning was a distant, intuited thing, not an altering of space, or light. The moons were usually known by pull, not by shining, though sometimes they might be glimpsed, and sometimes a star would appear between the black branches, moving leaves, above a lifting of mist.

This author effortlessly intertwines Historical Fiction and High Fantasy. Highly recommended if you are a fan of either.