{5\/5} “They didn’t execute out-of-favour civil servants in the Twelfth Dynasty of Kitai under the Emperor Wenzong. That, he thought wryly, would have been barbaric, and theirs was an emperor of exquisite cultivation. They just sent members of the disgraced faction away, sometimes so far that their ghosts couldn’t even return to threaten anyone.”<\/p>\n
River of Stars<\/strong> by Guy Gavriel Kay, published in 2013<\/p>\n Wenzong, Emperor of Kitai, spends more time thinking about his garden than who his army is attacking. Hang Dejin, the prime minister, is Wenzong’s old tutor whose eyesight is failing. But his mind is still sharp, and a gardener crying in the presence of the emperor gives him an opportunity to get rid of someone very dangerous — Kai Zhen, deputy prime minister. Meanwhile, young Ren Daiyan joins the sub-prefect as a bowman, and when their party is stopped by bandits Daiyan shoots all 7 of them.<\/p>\n It has a similar tone to Under Heaven<\/strong>. In fact it takes place in the same world, 400 years later.<\/p>\n Although you hear the viewpoints of a bunch of characters, it feels like one story. It contains some of the most astonishing conversations ever written.<\/p>\n It’s about leaders who sometimes listen to foolish advice and sometimes listen to wise advice. It’s about schemes at court and schemes in battle.<\/p>\n