River of Stars

River of Stars
Guy Gavriel Kay

In his critically acclaimed novel Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay told a vivid and powerful story inspired by China’s Tang Dynasty. Now, the international bestselling and multiple award-winning author revisits that invented setting four centuries later – a world inspired this time by the glittering, decadent Song Dynasty.

Ren Daiyan was still just a boy when he took the lives of seven men while guarding an imperial magistrate of Kitai. That moment on a lonely road changed his life—in entirely unexpected ways, sending him into the forests of Kitai among the outlaws. From there he emerges years later—and his life changes again, dramatically, as he circles towards the court and emperor, while war approaches Kitai from the north.

Lin Shan is the daughter of a scholar, his beloved only child. Educated by him in ways young women never are, gifted as a songwriter and calligrapher, she finds herself living a life suspended between two worlds. Her intelligence captivates an emperor—and alienates women at the court. But when her father’s life is endangered by the savage politics of the day, Shan must act in ways no woman ever has.

In an empire divided by bitter factions circling an exquisitely cultured emperor who loves his gardens and his art far more than the burdens of governing, dramatic events on the northern steppe alter the balance of power in the world, leading to events no one could have foretold, under the river of stars.

Copyright

HarperCollinsPublishers

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Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2013

Copyright © Guy Gavriel Kay 2013

Map copyright © Martin Springett 2013

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014

Cover photograph © Shutterstock.com

Guy Gavriel Kay asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Source TPB ISBN: 9780007521913

Source HB ISBN: 9780007521906

Ebook Edition © 2013 ISBN: 9780007521920

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Version: 2014-06-23

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

for Leonard and Alice Cohen

Table of Contents

Title Page (#uc0f92af6-4aa3-5a96-b39f-11ae66e20c70)

Copyright (#ue3f22a19-50ea-55b0-a385-dc8ef120e3c6)

Dedication (#u5ea2481d-ea3a-5802-b6ef-24affe49acc7)

Map (#u0722ad09-36be-5a72-bba3-55277fbaa5cb)

Principal Characters (#uf6b75bba-edba-5630-9f4c-2edb614e6949)

Part One (#ubd142b69-4375-5c86-8fcd-8e0cd6b6e661)

Chapter I (#u3a97a87b-45a0-5830-a529-82432e552a80)

Chapter II (#u268373ea-8a5e-5de6-8dbd-a4e63ebc13f2)

Chapter III (#uf57e3d95-63fe-5ebf-9563-f364816575a6)

Chapter IV (#u77495979-515d-5628-8430-06473b29b39b)

Chapter V (#u3eec6f84-a637-52e1-82d5-21b1df83745e)

Chapter VI (#u6ecb515b-703b-5064-a059-9fd604ab5946)

Part Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter VII (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter VIII (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter IX (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter X (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XI (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XII (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XIII (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XIV (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XV (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XVI (#litres_trial_promo)