The Years of Rice and Salt The Years of Rice and Salt

The Years of Rice and Salt

A Novel

    • 4.3 • 108 Ratings
    • $9.99
    • $9.99

Publisher Description

With the same unique vision that brought his now classic Mars trilogy to vivid life, bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson boldly imagines an alternate history of the last seven hundred years. In his grandest work yet, the acclaimed storyteller constructs a world vastly different from the one we know. . . .

“A thoughtful, magisterial alternate history from one of science fiction’s most important writers.”—The New York Times Book Review 

It is the fourteenth century and one of the most apocalyptic events in human history is set to occur—the coming of the Black Death. History teaches us that a third of Europe’s population was destroyed.  But what if the plague had killed 99 percent of the population instead? How would the world have changed? This is a look at the history that could have been—one that stretches across centuries, sees dynasties and nations rise and crumble, and spans horrible famine and magnificent innovation.  

Through the eyes of soldiers and kings, explorers and philosophers, slaves and scholars, Robinson navigates a world where Buddhism and Islam are the most influential and practiced religions, while Christianity is merely a historical footnote. Probing the most profound questions as only he can, Robinson shines his extraordinary light on the place of religion, culture, power—and even love—in this bold New World.

“Exceptional and engrossing.”—New York Post


“Ambitious . . . ingenious.”—Newsday

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2002
February 26
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
672
Pages
PUBLISHER
Random House Worlds
SELLER
Penguin Random House LLC
SIZE
9.9
MB

Customer Reviews

Captain Marsupial ,

Astonishing

I only rate items five stars if they change my life. Yes, I will be the first to admit there are slow passages, but the reimagination of the world is truly mind blowing. The book takes place in a world where European culture became extinct during the black death, and then recolonized by the other great cultures of the world. The depth and examination of other cultures as they evolve into a modern technological culture is brilliant. The whole book is tied together by vignettes of the afterlife, as we see the same characters born and reborn as they struggle towards enlightenment. Truly magical

Rob322 ,

Great!

This is a great speculative history imagining Europe completely wiped out by the Black Death and the other cultures carrying on. Excellent read!

Joyvortex ,

SF literature - highly recommend

I read this book in 2002 and it instantly became ‘my favorite book.’ I think about it all the time and it turned me into an insatiable reader of KSR. I’m buying it again, but this time as an ebook, so I can follow along with the podcast Marooned on Mars as they do an in-depth reading this month.

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