In River of Stars, international bestselling author Guy Gavriel Kay weaves a dazzling tale of lives destined to intertwine amidst the turbulent backdrop of an empire in decline, inspired by China's Song Dynasty.Ren Daiyan was just a boy when he took the lives of seven men while guarding an imperial magistrate of Kitai--a moment that changed his life forever. Lin Shan is the daughter of a scholar, his beloved only child. Educated as if she'd been a son, she finds herself livin