Under Heaven
Review
This is the second Guy Gavriel Kay book I’ve read, the first being Tigana. I’ve found his writing style to be dense, at least for me. I am much slower to read his work compared to other authors. I enjoyed the book more than Tigana, but it was still slow to get through. I’ll try more Guy Gavriel Kay in the future, there is something to his work that keeps me coming back.
⚠️ Spoiler: major story
The book had two plot lines going: Shen Tai and Shen Li-Mei. Every other chapter tended to switch POVs. During the Shen Li-Mei chapters I found myself wishing for a Shen Tai chapter instead. Shen Li-Mei was mostly just running around the Bogü steppe without much going on. I did enjoy her friendship with Meshag. Their eventual separation from each other was melancholic.
The scene where Wen Zhou, Wen Jian, and Shen Liu die as a result of the rebellion regarding Wen Zhou’s actions was reminiscent of the Red Wedding. Not quite so extreme, but had me feeling a similar sort of way. I had enjoyed Wen Jian’s interaction with Shen Tai in particular and her death had me feeling mournful.
For some reason every time I write the name of the book I write Heaven as Heavan. No idea why.