Sailing to Sarantium: Book 1

Ellen Pilon is a library assistant in the Patrick Power Library at Saint
Mary’s University in Halifax.

Sailing to Sarantium is the first of two volumes that make up the
Sarantine Mosaic, a fantasy loosely based on Byzantium. Endpaper maps
suggest the parallel between the two cities.

The Emperor has died and there is no successor. The people seem to have
the power to select their own emperor: they choose Valerius, Count of
the Excubitors (the Imperial Guard). Holy Jad is the “god in the Sun
and behind the Sun” and his son is Heladikos the Charioteer, who died.
Issues of faith are debated throughout the prologue and are an important
element of the novel’s politics and symbolism.

The hero is the mosaicist Caius Crispin, who has learned his art from
Martinian. Martinian has been summoned to Sarantium from Rhodius, but
because of his age and disinclination to travel, he sends Crispin in his
place. Crispin, who feels safest within the walls of a city, does not
actually sail to Sarantium, but walks the great distance. The novel
traces his journey and escapades as he travels east to deliver Queen
Gisel’s message and become mosaicist for Emperor Valerius II’s
sanctuary dome. On his journey, Crispin acquires Linon the sentient
bird; two companions, Vargos and Kasia; and eventually a third
companion, Carullus of the Sarantium Imperial Guard.

By the end of the novel, each character’s role is played out. The
symbolism, especially of Holy Jad, is reinforced in the dome mosaic, and
Queen Gisel is sailing to Sarantium, her way having been prepared by
Crispen. His journey gave him “vision at the base of seeing,”
allowing him to create a masterpiece mosaic in the sanctuary dome of
Valerius II.

Sailing to Sarantium abounds with secondary characters, and keeping
their names straight is no small challenge. That said, Crispen’s
journey, by turns funny and tragic, is an entertaining one.