Emperor (Time's Tapestry) - Softcover

Baxter, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0441017037 ISBN 13: 9780441017034

Publisher: Ace, 2009

Synopsis

The first novel in Stephen Baxter's acclaimed Time's Tapestry series.

“EPIC HISTORICAL FICTION laced with a science fiction premise...a vividly convincing picture of a past world.”—SFX

It is The Prophecy. Inscribed in Latin, the ancient scroll has resided in the hands of a single family for generations, revealing secrets about the world that is to come, and guiding them to wealth and power. It begins when a Celtic noble betrays his people at the behest of his mother’s belief in The Prophecy—and sides with the conquering Roman legions.
 
For the next 400 years, Britannia thrives, as does the family while Rome rules over the island. But loyalties are torn when Constantine, most powerful Emperor of them all, comes to Britannia.
 
And even as the sun begins to set on the Roman Empire, the Prophecy is renewed—a message from an unknowable future promising the world to those who can decipher its cryptic words...

About this title

About the Author

Stephen Baxter, author of the space duology featuring Proxima and Ultima, is the national bestselling author of Ark and Flood. He is a winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the Locus Award. His novel Voyage won the Sidewise Award for the best alternate history novel of the year, and he won the Philip K. Dick Award twice, for The Time Ships and for Vacuum Diagrams. He was also a recipient of the John W. Campbell Award for The Time Ships.

From Booklist

About 40 years after the death of Julius Caesar, a child is born in Britain. As his mother struggles in hard labor, she prophesies in Latin, a language she doesn't speak. The forecast is written down and kept as a treasure that will, if properly interpreted, aid the family in times to come. Following the prophecy, the family makes peace with Claudius and prospers under Roman rule while retaining ties to the homeland. Constantine's visit to Britain, however, tears the family asunder, and part of the prophecy is lost. As Roman power wanes and barbarians encroach, the prophecy, with its promise of foreknowledge for those who can construe it, is renewed. Baxter follows what is known of Roman Britain, including the results of recent archaeological research, adding the element of how much influence belief in a knowable future might exert. Embedded in Roman British history, the family's 400-year effort to protect and interpret the prophecy constitutes a very coherent, readable story, which this book just begins. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Ace
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0441017037
• ISBN 13: 9780441017034
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 384