Very moody but heartfelt first part of a two-part series. Kay replaces his military characters with court plotters. The artistic soul for this book is a mosaicist, and the thinly disguised universe in this one most closely resembles Byzantium. Crispin's anguish and anger make him an interesting wanderer to follow, and he collects some unusual traveling partners.

This doesn't quite break your heart like his other work, but the slower heartache is even more powerful.

Got this from a co-worker, who has a talent for finding multi-book series that are very good. This one grabbed my attention right away, with a very different main character, a mosaicist, an artist who creates mosaic murals. Set in a fictional world based on our own early Greek and Roman cultures, it's the story of Crispin's travels to Sarantium at the command of the Emperor to work on the dome of The Great Sanctuary. Which will be his masterwork, if he can survive all the Court intrigues and live to finish it. Can't wait to find book 2 in the series.
I'll be passing it on to frustrate someone else.