The Last Light Of The Sun

Guy Gavriel Kay creates yet another inspired mix of history and fantasy in this epic novel based on the events from the ninth-century reign of Anglo-Saxon king Alfred of Wessex. For years, the internecine squabbling between the various Cyngael and Angelcyn peoples has made them easy prey for Erling raiders. But the Angelcyn King Aeldred has devoted his reign to consolidating his hold on his lands, and his work is put to the test when a large force of Erlings invades. As always, the author provides readers with sympathetic characters on both sides of the conflict. This is a stand-alone novel, but fans of Kay will enjoy the brief references he makes to his two-book SARANTINE MOSAIC series, which is set 300 years before THE LAST LIGHT OF THE SUN. Those references help to accentuate one of the main points of the book: that the crushing weight of history has a tendency to obliterate the small--but telling--details that are so vital to people actually experiencing important events.