​It took me too long to pick up this book. The teaser on Amazon does not do it justice. The description is lackluster for a volume so full of ideas, philosophy, humor, and emotion. If you haven't read it, get it today. Read on for why.

In this two-volume tale, Guy Gavriel Kay assembles, stone by glittering stone, the tale of a master mosaicist, Caius Crispus, who is summoned to perform the commission of a lifetime by the emperor of Sarantium. Crispen journeys from a small, plague-stricken town that has claimed his family and his joy of life, to the glittering capital that is the analog of our Constantinople. He must make his way through Byzantine plots and tensions while maintaining his integrity and honor. Among those, how does he weigh the images of the official religion of the empire, against those pagan avatars that have more directly touched his life, knowing that those are considered as subversive by many in Sarantium. Kay's prose is lyrical and rich, whether describing the way that a mosaicist perceives light and color in ways that you may not, or the way in which a chariot racer perceives the patterns in the dust and chaos of a chariot race. The two-volume set completes Crispin's arc through his commission, his career, and his journey of self-discovery.

​Singularity Cyberpunk, caged gods and their obligate worshipers, a satisfyingly complex con job and grand heist, and an epic space battle. The execution is outstanding, the pacing is excellent, and the characters have distinct and interesting voices. On top of all this are meditations on what it means to be human, carried on from the points of view of four engineered lines of specialized humans plus the baselines, to say nothing of the AI that believes it's the reincarnation of Saint Matthew. The character arcs for the main players were all satisfyingly developed. A very satisfying read.

Quillifer is a silver-tongued law student who has a penchant for talking himself out of, or more often into, all sorts of scrapes and predicaments. At first he is concerned with little more than getting into and then out of the chambers of the latest girl to strike his fancy. Then his town is sacked, and he must accept a new life, even becoming a soldier and a sailor. Even here, he employs his charm more than his sword, though he does find that you disappoint a goddess who you have charmed at your own peril.