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All the Seas of the World

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All the Seas of the World

Written by: Guy Gavriel Kay
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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About this listen

Returning triumphantly to the brilliantly evoked near-Renaissance world of A Brightness Long Ago and Children of Earth and Sky, international bestselling author Guy Gavriel Kay deploys his signature "quarter turn to the fantastic" to tell a story of vengeance, power, and love.

On a dark night along a lonely stretch of coast a small ship sends two people ashore. Their purpose is assassination. They have been hired by two of the most dangerous men alive to alter the balance of power in the world. If they succeed, the consequences will affect the destinies of empires, and lives both great and small.

One of those arriving at that beach is a woman abducted by corsairs as a child and sold into years of servitude. Having escaped, she is trying to chart her own course—and is bent upon revenge. Another is a seafaring merchant who still remembers being exiled as a child with his family from their home, for their faith, a moment that never leaves him. In what follows, through a story both intimate and epic, unforgettable characters are immersed in the fierce and deadly struggles that define their time.

All the Seas of the World is a compelling drama that also offers moving reflections on memory, fate, and the random events that can shape our lives—in the past, and today.

©2022 Guy Gavriel Kay (P)2022 Penguin Audio
Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Historical Fantasy Fiction Revenge Destiny
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What the critics say

*LONGLISTED FOR CANADA READS 2023*

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 AURORA AWARDS*

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

One of:

Amazon's "Best science fiction and fantasy of 2022"

The Globe and Mail’s “Best books of 2022”

“Tragic, stirring, romantic, meticulous, comic, rueful, worldly-wise, and written in the intimate, deceptively nonchalant voice of a storyteller offering up his great gift, All the Seas of the World is classic Kay, and to this reader, at least, there can be no higher praise.”—Michael Chabon

“A compelling historical fantasy, [All the Seas of the World] develops with the creeping intensity of an avalanche: an action here, an assignation there, and before you know it, all hell has broken loose. It’s a thrilling and exciting reading experience. . . . Written largely during the pandemic [the novel] has an elegiac quality, an aching awareness of the temporary nature of lives, empires, worlds. As Kay writes, ‘If we take a moment for them it is also a moment taken for ourselves. For those who love us, those we love.’”—Robert Wiersema, Toronto Star

"The heart of All the Seas of the World is the relationship between Nadia bint Dhiyan and Rafel Ben Natan . . . fully realized, powerful and thought-provoking characters. Kay asks questions . . . about how we move forward in a world shaped by loss. From his very first trilogy, The Fionavar Tapestry, Kay has shown an ability to inhabit female characters with depth and intelligence, while exploring how they navigate worlds built for and by men. . . . All The Seas of The World captures all that Kay does best: a deep look at what makes us human, woven into a package of thrilling adventure."—Winnipeg Free Press

What listeners say about All the Seas of the World

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Kay is amazing

As usual, a beautifully interwoven story that I loved. Favourite author by far. Didn’t want it to end

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loved it

bittersweet and delightful as always by GGK, a sense of visiting many stories, interweaving, creating a new tapestry, along with a masterful, soulful narration by Simon Vance

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful

It is obvious from Guy Gavriel Kay's writing that he is a poet. His prose is lyrical and beautiful. I loved the new character's in All the Seas of the World, and the ones who had appeared in Children of Earth and Sky and A Brightness Long Ago. Simon Vance uses his voice masterfully to illustrate Mr Kay's prose. My favourite book of 2022.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Beautifully done

Throughout the book, I found myself saying, and I quote: “well now he’s just showing off.”

This book will soon be “the book I have gifted to the most people.”

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Emotionally stunted 26 year old man and bawled my eyes out.

Just a beautiful story all around. I would 1000% recommend reading his 2 previous works (read all his works) for proper context and appreciation. It reads well as a self-contained story though.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Epic storytelling - great reading.

Another epic historical fantasy world by one of the most creative literary minds of our era. This time, the author provides more insight into how the characters think, how their lives are intertwined and threads of thought and mores that reach across time and space to modern women and men.

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    4 out of 5 stars

A story of home

The female lead in this novel is reminiscent of one of the characters in Children of Earth and Sky, a young woman who has been stolen from her home, treated harshly by the world and learned to take her revenge by learning how to fight and how to kill. In this case, Lenia aka Nadia has formed a business partnership with Raphael, another exile, having been driven as a child from this world's own version of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Many of the other characters in the book also struggle with the idea of 'home', what it is, is it important, how do you tell where it is. At one point, the author speculates that perhaps home is the place we can never go back to. In a world of refugees, driven from their homes by violence and hate, this book has important things to say. My one caveat is that I believe there are some individuals whose 'short stories' pull the reader too far from the main stories. I think that the author might have 'let go' of some of his 'darlings' and made a more cohesive narrative. That being said, I love this author's work and will continue to read everything he has to say.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing as always

You will never be disappointed in a story by Guy Gavriel Kay. You will always enjoy listening to Simon Vance. The two together is amazing.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Not my favourite by far

I’m a huge fan of this author and have read six other books he’s written. But this one fell flat. It was challenging to keep track of the characters and none of them unfolded into anyone I cared about. Nothing really happens, no climax or win or any sort of magic like in his other stories. I do love this narrator and I’ll try another book with the hope that this was just an anomaly.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Too much introspection

There is no doubt this book is well written but nothing really happens in the plot line. Before any “action” happens you have hours of character introspection and rehashing of feelings, emotions, what-ifs and retelling of past histories over and over. We get it - she was a slave. Why tell us this over and over again. By the end I didn’t care about any of the characters. Just too much thought and not enough plot or character development. Disappointing because I love the authors other books.

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