The Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay is the follow up to Sailing to Sarantium. I was thrilled after having read book one and book two here is every bit enjoyable. The author rarely knows how to disappoint his readers. I had expected this sequel to get more into the court and political intrigue and I was right. It was also surprising that the author included a new protagonist into the story whereas in the first we mainly followed Crispin. I was afraid at first what this would do to the story but needless to say, it was blended in quite perfectly. As usual, the characters covered in this series make a larger impact in the world than others. What I love is that there are times when the author tells the readers the future of some of the lesser known characters. Although they may seem insignificant now in the present, they would go on to lead either a bright or doomed future in the many years to come.

The Lord of Emperors seems to have dealt less with Crispin’s sanctuary dome project and more on the inner and political dealings of Sarantium itself. The majority of the crew remained as I expected them to be and that is one area where I thought the author could have taken more chances with to really push the story even further. Another weird thing that stood out to be was mainly the ending. It did not felt rushed at all but rather a bit odd. Something just didn’t feel right after having gone through the story for Crispin to end up with whom he did. I would definitely have gone another route.

Regardless, reading the Sarantine Mosaic series has been a blast. Anyone familiar with the author’s previous works will feel right at home here. For anyone interested in another series similar to this where the main protagonist is tasked with building something of gigantic proportions, definitely check out Ken Follet’s Kingsbridge series.