Under Heaven
core novel 2010 Under Heaven / River of Stars
Record
| First published | 2010 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.17 (17,315 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 592 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780451463302 |
Synopsis
Under Heaven is set in Kitai, a fantastical empire modeled on Tang-dynasty China, during the twilight years of Emperor Taizu's reign, when an uneasy peace is maintained with the Taguran Empire to the west and the Bogü peoples to the north. Shen Tai, the second son of a celebrated general, has spent two years in self-imposed isolation at the site of an old battlefield, burying the bones of the soldiers who died there two decades earlier. His quiet mourning is upended when the Taguran Empress rewards his labor with a gift of 250 rare Sardian horses, an honor so extravagant that it instantly makes him a target of court intrigue.
Where it sits
- Universe: Under Heaven / River of Stars
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Awards (verified)
- Sunburst Award (Adult), 2011: won
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2011: finalist; 2nd place, no-cutoff convention.
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2011: nominated
- Mythopoeic Award (Adult Literature), 2011: nominated
- Aurora Award (Long-Form Work in English), 2011: nominated
Notes
- single-work: a standalone, fully-resolved novel (Viking Canada, 2010) set in a Tang-dynasty-China-inspired world. Kay's River of Stars (2013) shares the same fictional world, set roughly 400 years later, but tells a wholly independent story with no shared characters or plot -- not researched or registered; flagged as a possible future companion admission (the Bas-Lag same-world-independent-story pattern, not a direct sequel).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within Under Heaven / River of Stars (standalone work): position 1 of 2: next River of Stars (2013)
Sources
- Guy Gavriel Kay (sfadb)
- Wikipedia: Guy Gavriel Kay
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Heaven_(novel)
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