I have long been a fan of Kay's work, from his early trilogies to my very favorite, Tigana. I love historical fiction in general but especially Kay's way of writing and his characters. But with his last book, Ysabel, I felt like Kay had lost his way; the characters were just not as interesting to me, and the modern/historical mash-up felt forced and awkward. So it was with some trepidation that I picked up 'Under Heaven', Kay's newest novel roughly modeled on Tang dynasty China.

I needn't have worried.

While the novel starts with a somewhat awkward premise - a borderline nobody is given a king's ransom in precious horses - the story weaves together so well, it seduces you with the details and culture of this new world. It was breathtaking and hard to put down, and again rises to one of my favorite books by this author. My only qualms against a higher rating come from the forced ending... where years are wrapped up in mere pages, compared to the detailed scenes of the previous hundreds of pages. And still, I wish there had been more to this novel, or more stories with these characters, something to prolong the pleasure of reading it. Truly a joy.