Under Heaven

by Guy Gavriel Kay

Reviewed by Coral

For the two years of his official mourning period, Shen Tai has honoured his father’s memory by burying the bones of those who had fallen on one of the battlefields between the Kitai and Taguran empires. Word of his work has spread all the way to the Taguran court and Tai finds himself gifted with 250 horses, suddenly elevating him to one of the most powerful people in the Kitai empire.

But even before news of his gift can spread, Tai finds himself the target of an assassination attempt. Now Tai must navigate a political minefield with information 2 years out of date, identify who wants to kill him and try to survive the gift he’s received.

There are a couple of things I love about Guy Gavriel Kay books that held true for this book as well: they are easy to read, as he has a way of writing that just draws you in, and more often than not the book has an unexpected ending.

That being said, I did also find that too much of the book was spent on what I felt was the build-up portion of the story. The last chapter of the book was kind of a wrap up chapter, skimming over events that I wish the book had spent more time on. I felt that there were parts of the story that I was more interested in that just got one or two paragraphs at the end while so much more time was spent on Tai’s long journey back to the capital.

Grade: B