Peace has been made with the Taguran Empire (Tibet) to the west, and with the Bogü ( Turkic or Mongolian) peoples of the northwest. The Empire of Kitai (China) has enjoyed a period of prosperity and peace under its now aging emperor Taizu in his capital at Xinan. The story takes place in a fictionalized China that corresponds approximately to the Tang era.

Under Heaven's Author's letter by Guy Gavriel Kay at Brightweavings, Kay's authorized website In Under Heaven I've served notice with the shift to an imagined Kitai from real China that I reserve the right to change, or telescope events.' So consider this: if I base a book on a slightly altered past the reader who knows what happened in that time and place does not know with any certainty what will happen in my story. 'I want to keep readers turning pages until two in the morning or better (or worse!). The story weaves themes of loss, chance, honour and friendship in a world still haunted by magic. Shen Tai must determine a way forward for himself, which involves making choices between personal, family and imperial needs, choices which become all the more perilous when Kitai is convulsed by a military rebellion that threatens the ruling dynasty. Another line of narrative follows Shen Tai's sister Li-Mei who is sent north to be married off to a leader of the northern Bogü for the purposes of advancing the career interests of Shen Liu, their older brother. Narrowly escaping an assassination attempt with the assistance of the ghosts of the unburied, Shen Tai leaves the battleground on the western frontier to journey toward the capital, Xinan, protected by Wei Song, a female Kanlin warrior. This extraordinary gift threatens to engulf Shen Tai in the political and dynastic struggles that surround the throne of the Kitan Emperor, but also permits Shen Tai to form friendships and gain access to the most powerful figures in Kitai. Shen Tai, the second son of a renowned general of Kitai, is given a lavish gift of 250 prized Sardian horses from the Kitan Empress of the neighbouring Taguran Empire to honour his work burying the dead of both sides at a battleground in the far west of Kitai still haunted by the ghosts of the slain soldiers. In 2013 he published a second novel, River of Stars, set approximately 400 years later in the same world. Under Heaven takes place in a completely new world, as seen by it having only one moon as opposed to the two moons normally present in Guy Gavriel Kay's works. It recounts events based on the An Shi Rebellion. The swork, set in a secondary world based upon Tang China, is a departure for Kay in that takes place outside of a setting based on Europe the Mediterranean. Kay's eleventh novel, it was published in April 2010 by Viking Canada. Under Heaven is a historical fantasy novel by Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay.

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay