Under Heaven is Guy Gavriel Kay's 2010 historical fantasy, set in the empire of Kitai, a version of Tang Dynasty China touched lightly by magic. Shen Tai, the second son of a celebrated general, has spent two years alone at Kuala Nor, burying the bones of the soldiers -- friend and enemy alike -- left from his father's last campaign. His labor is noticed: the dowager empress of a rival power gifts him two hundred and fifty priceless Sardian horses, a reward so vast it could make him or destroy him.
As Tai is drawn back toward the glittering, treacherous capital of Xinan, his sister Li-Mei is sent in the opposite direction, married off to a steppe ruler to secure their family's position at court. Their converging journeys, entangled with poets, courtesans, generals and assassins, play out against the gathering storm of a rebellion that will reshape the empire.
Kay drew on the historical An Lushan Rebellion for the novel's climax, and Under Heaven marks his first major departure from the European-inspired settings of his earlier novels.
