Rating: 
Summary: Grand ambitions, modest execution
Review: This book is not up to Kay's usual standards: the characters are given short shrift (especially the women, who are all beautiful and clever and devoid of an inner life), many allusions are made to later events without bothering to carry out the preceding ones, and the writing feels unfinished.Kay's already demonstrated he can conceive and execute a complex trilogy - the Fionavar tapestry provides ample evidence of that - but he seems to have forgotten that the second book in a series needs to be the one that carries out plot threads introduced in the first book, ties up some loose ends, and clarifies over-riding themes to be completed in a third book. _Lord of Emporers_ doesn't do any of this. In fact, the elements that made the first book so enjoyable are almost entirely absent here. Die-hard Kay fans will love this book. Those of us who expect our series to grow stronger with each installment will be disappointed. Will I buy the third book? Probably. But I think I can wait until the paperback.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: I think the main reason I like this book, and all of his books really, are the excellent characters he has populating his stories. The dividing line between good and evil is always blurred, leaving us with normal people making extraordinary decisions. Everyone has a reason for their actions, and it is dictated by their past experiences. Kay truly excels at coming up with an interesting backdrop for his stories, and this is no exception. I absolutely love the way he has taken the Byzantine era as his setting and slightly fictionalized it. Though this story is done (or so it appears), I am eagerly awaiting his next book!
Rating:
Summary: A complex treatment of relationships
Review: Kay's prose is, as always, lovely and engrossing. His detailed recreation (and slight warping) of Byzantine life is engrossing, and thought provoking. Both Sarantium books (and if you read one you will have to read the other) would be worthwhile reading for that alone. Kay's approach to his character's relationships, however, adds an additional layer to these two wonderful books. Don't expect to predict how the romances and friendships will play out in the long run. As in real life, the intimacies and and antagonisms in the Sarantium books are complex and ever-changing. Additionally, Kay's preference for telling events from all sides, although sometimes a little tedious, is overall an engrossing device which drew me completely into the world of Sarantium. Both books are well worth your time; and the characters are well worth your affection.
Rating:
Summary: Cohesive and beautiful
Review: Kay has reached the high point of his impressive career with this two-book series. I was stunned by how well his themes and ideas were presented in Lord of Emperors. This novel is obviously the result of exhaustive research, planning, and editing to get it just right, which, I am happy to say, it is. Furthermore, he gets the tale told in two succinct volumes, which is more than I can say for most other fantasy novelists.
Rating: 
Summary: As good or better than the first
Review: Loaded with intrigue, surprise twists, and action. More happens in this novel than in two by other authors, but Kay pulls it off gracefully. Subplots highly trackable. Rich, interesting characters, vivid descriptions of the physical world. If only other authors on the fantasy shelves were half as good.
Rating:
Summary: better than the first one
Review: As I recently finished Lord of Emperors, I figure I should write my review while it's still fresh in my mind. After reading the first book in this duology, Sailing to Sarantium, I fell in love with Kay's use of language, especially his sensual descriptions of the physical world. I was less impressed with his story-telling. In this second installment of the story, the opposite has occurred: the story is much more fully fleshed, and he neatly tied up the loose threads from the first book, but the language seems to have suffered. Things just aren't as alive as in the first book, and the characterizations seem a bit forced. Still, if saying that Kay's language is less alive, it's amazing nonetheless. I was happy to have finished the series, and I will probably buy other Kay books in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Exposition galore!
Review: Having read everything by Kay before did forewarn me of his liking for subplots and excessively meandering exposition. But in this (and the first part - Sailing to Sarantium) he overdoes it. We have subplots every tenth paragraph, most of which is not even set in the presence. This makes for a very tiresome read. A always, Kay is a master storyteller and his characters are great. However, in this book we get so many characters and would-be protagonists that it is difficult to indentify with anyone. Not surprisingly, the story works at its best during the spectacular action scenes or the conversations between the main protagonist and some of the (always exceendingly clever) women who seems to want him for their own devious purposes. I loved The Fionavar Tapestry and Tigana i one of the best books I've ever read, but this one is only average, and rather boring. In the future, I would advise mr Kay to work more closely with a good editor.
Rating:
Summary: Essential for Kay fans
Review: I didn't care for Sailing to Sarantium as much as most of Kay's novels; although the characters were compelling and the world was impressively detailed, the novel seemed a bit slow-paced and didn't fully grip me. Furthermore, the novel's conclusion was hardly as moving as most of his--and Kay has a rare talent for writing satisfying endings. (Of course this was the consequence of it being first in a series, but I was nevertheless disappointed.) I was very happy to find that Lord of Emperors was more to my taste. As in the previous novel, Kay achieves a sort of panaromic sweep as he puts us all over his world and in the minds of his many characters--but I also found there to be more force and direction to the story. Midway through the novel, as events begin coming to a climax, I found myself captured sufficiently to read without pause through to the conclusion. Admittedly, events in the final pages seem contrived, but overall I found the ending to be moving and effective. If you liked Sailing to Sarantium, definitely don't wait for the paperback. If you're new to Kay, the Sarantine Mosaic may not be the place to start. Of his works, I still feel Lions of Al-Rassan is the best crafted and Tigana the one fans of conventional fantasy should read first. If you love those as I do, then by all means read the Sarantine Mosaic.
Rating:
Summary: Goes right on my Keeper and Re-read Shelf - Magnificent!
Review: I have been captivated, amazed, pleased .... this is the sort of book that echoes inside you, that you remember scenes or ideas from - very special. Apart from the deep enjoyment I had from the book, I admired the author's craft very much. GGK's art is growing from book to book. The idea of the mosaic is not only subject of the book - the main character is a mosaicist and the creation of a mosaic is at the center of the story - but is also the underlying theme, or pattern, of the writing. People and their acts, seemingly randomly arranged, making a great pattern. The telling of one night' s actions by a huge number of people, all of them seemingly disconnected, forming for the reader a pattern with a clear curve of excitement, of going towards a climax, wonderfully well done! How often does it happen that an author tries for this, and what comes out is a lot of bits and pieces, too many to hold together, the attention wanders and the momentum is lost. Here, it is done perfectly! The other theme, or pattern, the one of the artist who is at a bit of a distance from people, who observes and records, but is not quite involved - or is he? - is another bit of perfection. The pull of the world versus the pull of remoteness and art is subject of the book, but again, also part of the reading experience. There is the remoteness of the writer, or the reader, who only experiences bits of people's lives, who cannot know all of their past and thoughts - again, this is an often tried method of writing, but is usually fails. The remoteness is too great, I feel indifference for these characters, or I get angry because I do not get enough information to form my own view and be involved with the characters - the book gets boring, why should I go on reading? GGK manages this masterfully, I feel regret at not knowing more, yet I am intensely interested, I look for hints and - when the story ends - I think to myself "I would like to know more, but I am satisfied all in all". The book well deserves five stars, yet, I have a few comments, on what I did not find quite perfect: The pacing of the book, the relative space of events, especially of the Journey to Sarantium in the first volume (Sailing to Sarantium) versus the events of the second, was a bit off for me. It could have been the opposite, more space for what happens in Sarantium, less for traveling there. The other, and it results from the technique of distance and mosaic pieces, was a few characters who got "shortchanged", in my view. The slave girl Kasia, the dancer, the chariot driver, GGK took us quite deeply into their lives, and then just left us hanging, in a way. Even a short epilogue, like for the doctor Rustem, would have satisfied me, but I missed any indication of their future. Finally, the love story of Crispin - I found no indication in the book of anything more than admiration, sympathy, and a certain regard in the book for him and the woman he finally ends up with. That was a bit too little, for the ending that showed them meeting and being immediately completely devoted - like the fulfilment of a deep longing, when that longing was not noticeable anytime before. It was not quite convincing for me. I would like to underscore, I make these criticisms only because I found the book so very good that I thought about it a lot and these weaknesses bothered me a bit, it is still the best read in a long time, and I look forward to seeing what GGK gives us next.
Rating:
Summary: Not Kay's Best
Review: This work is far better than most of the fantasy out there. Nonetheless, it is also far less than I've come to expect from GGK. The action is too slow paced, both in this book and the preceding one. Indeed, the only interesting plot development doesn't come until more than halfway through (Although I must confess, the descriptions of chariot racing and mosaic work are lovely.) What leaves me most unfufilled, however, is the fact that interactions between the characters never really mesh, as they do in other GGK books. The exact feelings and relationship between Crispin and the Empress, Kasia, or Stylaine seem unclear, at best. The Emperor and Empress are notable exceptions to this pattern, although their diminished interactions in the second book make it less endearing than the first.
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