I don't tend to read a series of books one after another.  After 600 pages of exploring a fantastical world, I'm usually ready for something else before continuing on with more books in a series.  After finishing Bradley Beaulieu's Twelve Kings in Sharakhai, within 5 minutes I had acquired the next book in his "Shattered Sands" series because I couldn't wait to learn more.

Sharakhai is a shining city in the desert, and a center of commerce and power, its history magnificent and literally the stuff of legend.  But, as in so many things, a closer look reveals that not all is what it seems.  Ruled by twelve immortal kings, who wield absolute power and dispense swift and cruel retribution against all dissenters, the city both bustles with activity and trembles with fear.  

These are three novellas set in "a China that never was," narrated by the peasant Number Ten Ox. The saga starts when Ox is sent from his village to find a cure for a mysterious illness that has paralyzed all of the children in his village. The only sage he can afford to engage is Master Li, who introduces himself as having "a slight flaw in my character." Fortunately, the only sage he can afford is the sage he needs to unravel the mystery. They set off on a series of quests to find the most potent ginseng root in the world, meeting and outwitting a series of more and more malevolent opponents. The writing is witty and steeped in a brew of Chinese mythology and history. This was an enjoyable and entertaining diversion.

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.

A trilogy set at height of the Aztek empire, telling the tale of Acatl, High Priest for the Dead. As High Priest, Acatl must protect the boundary between his world and the worlds of the Gods, Gods who can manifest to their chosen priests when offered sufficient quantities of blood. But when you summon a God, they may have their own designs on you and your world. Acatl often seems to be more of a detective than a priest, piecing together the plots of the different Gods and their factions for dominating the world. 

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. 

​An intense and emotional tale, set in a sci-fi world based on Vietnamese mythology. Yên is a young teacher, given to a dragon by her village in exchange for a healing. The dragon, Vu Côn, needs a teacher for her two children, to teach them the things she could not. Yèn and the dragon find a deep connection, and deep divisions. Yên's future seemingly rests in the scaly hands of the dragon. But this is a twisting, inconstant world, and things may not always be as they seem

In the city of Bangalor, India, fifty years in our future, a murder is committed. Sub-Inspector Ferron is called in to investigate. This is the simple beginning to this short tale, which proves to be neither simple nor short by the end of its 77 pages.

Valentine's memories start one day on the outskirts of a great city, as a festival begins to celebrate the reign of the new ruler. He remembers nothing before that day. Is it only coincidence that he shares a name with the new Coronal? Is it fate that brings him into the company of traveling jugglers, who can help him on his journey? Silverberg tells a compelling tale of Valentine's journey, both across a wildly imaginative planet and through his personal quest to become himself once more, or perhaps more than he was. The art of juggling is woven throughout the story, a metaphor for balance, insight, teamwork, and much more.