No Present Like Time
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
The phenomenal follow-up to Steph Swainston's acclaimed The Year of Our War moves us effortlessly into new waters.
It has been five years since the Insects devastated the Fourlands. Reconstruction proceeds under the watchful eyes of the Circle - the fifty immortals who serve the Emperor.
Jant, the Emperor's winged Messenger, has other concerns. He suspects his wife is having an affair and a brilliant newcomer has joined the Circle, displacing Jant from his rightful position as centre of attention. Worse still, an inhabited island has been discovered three months' sail from the Fourlands and the Emperor has enlisted Jant for his diplomatic mission. Just perfect for a man terrified of the sea. Unfortunately for Jant, he is a pawn in an ancient political game.
It'd be enough to drive anyone to drugs . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wonders abound in British author Swainston's polished sequel to The Year of Our War (2005). The Emperor San and his Circle of Immortals strive to protect the medieval empire of the Fourlands from monstrous creatures called Insects, but the continuity of the Circle is threatened. Serein, the Swordsman, is unexpectedly defeated in ritual combat by a young upstart, who is then sent along with Comet, the Messenger, and other Immortals on a mission to Tris, an idyllic and recently discovered island nation. Unfortunately, the Immortals, who assume their own superiority to mere humans, make a mess of things, upsetting the democratically minded islanders and accidentally loosing on them an Insect they'd brought along to help persuade the natives to join the empire. Swainston's scintillating prose, well-developed characters and talent for brilliant absurdities (one character alternates between human and shark and drives an automobile with a living engine) mark this as one of the more innovative fantasies of recent years.
