The Years of Rice and Salt: A Novel

Kim Stanley Robinson

Jun 2003 · Sold by Spectra

About this ebook

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

Ratings and reviews

A truly incredible book chronicling an alternate world where the world developed around the East, not West. Kim has done an incredible job creating a flushed out alternate world, and their own versions of our history. My favorite parts of the book was the recurring theme of reincarnation and a "jati". Essentially a group who are destined to meet each other in each lifetime and influence the world and each other's lives. They may be reincarnated to different eras and cultures but they retain the same first letter of their name throughout the book. I personally find this idea incredibly romantic, as many times the characters will actually remember their past lives, reminisce and promise they will see each other again in the next lifetime, as in the book "to the next life, to a better time". I personally disagree that the ending was lacking, it really plays off the previous notion of the reincarnation theme. That no matter the time and era, these characters will find a way to each other, just like their previous lives. I'm a big sucker for themes like this. I won't spoil the rest of the book, its quite long but it's a thrilling read. This was my first book from Kim Stanley Robinson, and now it certainly won't be my last book from him Get this book, you won't regret it!

I kept hoping that I would get into this book, but it never really happened. Character names were difficult to relate to, then once you became familiar with a character, the story would end and you would have to struggle to get familiar all over again. I guess "struggle" is the best description for me.

The book was well written and had a compelling story. Unfortunately, it meandered in the last hundred pages. Then it simply ended. In essence, the book was still telling it's main story up until the last two pages, which contained a very abrupt end.

About the author

Kim Stanley Robinson is a winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. He is the author of more than twenty books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy and the critically acclaimed Forty Signs of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below, Sixty Days and Counting, The Years of Rice and Salt, and Galileo’s Dream. In 2008 he was named one of Time magazine’s “Heroes of the Environment.” He serves on the board of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute. He lives in Davis, California.