City without End (Entire and the Rose, Book 3) [Hardcover]

Kay Kenyon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2009

-Book three of the critically acclaimed epic series.

-The first book in the series, Bright of the Sky, was named among Publishers Weekly's top 150 titles for 2007.

-Author plans extensive tour of bookstores and conventions.

-Stephan Martiniere's cover illustration won the prestigious Silver Spectrum award.

In this series Kay Kenyon has created her most vivid and compelling society yet, the universe Entire. Reviewers have called this "a grand world," "an enormous stage," and "a bravura concept."

On this stage unfolds a mighty struggle for dominance between two universes. Titus Quinn has forged an unstable peace with the Tarig lords. The ruinous capability of the nanotech surge weapon he possesses ensures détente. But it is a sham. In what the godwoman Zhiya calls a fit of moral goodness, he's thrown the weapon into the space-folding waters of the Nigh. This clears the way for an enemy he could have never foreseen: the people of the Rose. A small cadre led by Helice Maki is determined to take the Entire for itself and leave the earth in ruins. The transform of earth will begin deep in a western desert and will sweep over the lives of ordinary people, entangling Quinn s sister-in-law Caitlin in a deepening and ultimate conspiracy.

In the Entire, Quinn stalks Helice to the fabled Rim City, encircling the heart of the Entire. Here he at last finds his daughter, now called Sen Ni, in the Chalin style. Outside of earth-based time, she has grown to adulthood. He hardly knows her, and finds her the mistress of a remarkable dream-time insurgency against the Tarig lords and more, a woman risen high in the Entire's meritocracy. Quinn needs his daughter's help against the woman who would destroy the earth. But Sen Ni has her own plans and allies, among them a boy-navitar unlike any other pilot of the River Nigh a navitar willing and supremely able to break his vows and bend the world.

Quinn casts his fate with the beautiful and resourceful Ji Anzi who sent on a journey to other realms holds the key to Quinn's heart and his overarching mission. But as he approaches the innermost sanctuary of the Tarig, he is alone. Waiting for him are powerful adversaries, including a lady who both hates and loves him, the high prefect of the dragon court, and Quinn's most implacable enemy, a warrior whose chaotic mind will soon be roused from an eternal slumber.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In the third Entire and the Rose novel, the conflict between the Entire's rulers and those who would save the Rose comes to a head...The series' fast-paced adventure, solid world building, and fascinating characters wind this volume to a satisfying conclusion and promise lots more intrigue in the next." -- Booklist, February 15, 2009 "Having introduced her remarkable alternative universe and its colorful array of characters, both human and alien, in the previous books, Kenyon simply cuts loose, ratcheting the story's action ad dramatic tension right off the scale. If you still haven't added Kay Kenyon to your reading lists, City Without End leaves you without any good excuses to keep ignoring her. To think that Kay Kenyon has more to offer, in light of how much she's given us in these stories already, is thrilling to contemplate. I really don't know where she'll go from here. And that's more than enough, not only to keep me on tenterhooks for the next volume, but to have you jumping into book one the first chance you get." -- -SFReview.net, February 2009 "With Bright of the Sky and A World Too Near, Kay Kenyon established herself as one of the most underrated science fiction authors out there. In my opinion, The Entire and the Rose is without a doubt one of the most fascinating scifi series on the market today. Kay Kenyon's latest is full of surprising twists and turns, and the plot moves forward at a crisp pace. No offense to Peter F. Hamilton and other scifi authors in the middle of ongoing series, but The Entire and the Rose could well be the best game in town right now." -- Pat's Fantasy Hotlist, March 11, 2009 "The story line is action-packed as the players eventually converge in a supernova finish. Fans of the trilogy will appreciate this superb ending - even those who read the previous entries will find the plot multifaceted and at times especially early on convoluted." -- reviewed by Harriet Klausner in MBR Bookwatch, The Midwest Book Review, March 2009 "Lush, captivating and entrancing - City Without End is both a solid novel on its own and a great furthering of the story Kenyon is telling in this saga. There was a strong sense of closure upon the conclusion of the volume, but the unresolved plot elements still linger enough that the concluding volume Prince of Storms will be most welcome upon its publication." -- SFFWorld, June 8, 2009 "The stage is now set for the final volume in what is already looking like one of the classic science fiction series of our time." -- SF Site, July 2009 "[Kenyon] demonstrates mastery of techniques necessary to create plausible, memorable worlds through which her characters walk...Kenyon's plots develop along intricate, satisfying lines, but what sets these books apart is her subtext--the morality of choice...Kenyon seems to be asking the question ' What would you be willing to give up to have a universe where ____?' Each of us can fill in the blank for ourselves, but the question doesn't change. What would you be willing to give up?" -- Internet Review of Science Fiction, July 2009 "... a pleasantly old-fashioned final race to save Earth's universe, the Rose, from being consumed by the alien Tarig to power the Entire, a parallel universe... The plot is intricate, if not always coherent, with heroes and villains eventually sorted out just in time..." -- Publishers Weekly, January 2009 "...contains a complex story line as so much is going on in the parallel universes. The storyline is action-packed as the players eventually converge in a supernova finish. Fans...will appreciate this superb ending..." -- Merry Genre Go Round Reviews blog (Harriet Klausner), January 2009

About the Author

Kay Kenyon sold her first science fiction novel, The Seeds of Time, to Bantam in 1997. Within a few years she left a career in consulting to become a full-time writer. Several subsequent novels were short-listed for such awards as the Philip K. Dick (Maximum Ice) and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (The Braided World.) Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies such as Fast Forward 2, The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, and Shine, An Anthology of Optimistic Science Fiction. In  2007 the first book in her sci-fantasy quartet, The Entire and The Rose, was published by Pyr. Publishers Weekly listed book one, Bright of the Sky, among the top 150 books of the year. The series (rounded out by A World Too Near, City Without End and Prince of Storms) has twice been shortlisted for the American Library Association Reading List awards. The four books  are available in trade paper, Kindle, and Audible.com versions. Bright of the Sky is free on Kindle. Kenyon is a founding board member of the Write on the River writers' conference in Eastern Washington. She regularly writes on fiction topics and the writing life at her blog, Writing the World.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 433 pages
• Publisher: Pyr (February 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591026989
• ISBN-13: 978-1591026983
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,090,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kay Kenyon has a message for aspiring writers: Never give up! Although she has published 10 science fiction novels, she remembers how tough it was to break in. She'd been working full time to support herself and her son, commuting two hours a day, and stealing time in the evenings to write, and finding only rejections from agents and publishers. Then she wrote The Seeds of Time, and after eight years of work she was an overnight success. Since then her work has been published in French, Spanish, Czech and Russian, and is available in audio versions.

Kay's best known work is The Entire and The Rose series. She is very grateful for the reception of these books, beginning with Bright of the Sky--named one of the best books of 2007 by Publishers Weekly--and ending with Prince of Storms. Also, she has been buoyed by the incredible artwork on these covers, the work of the phenomenal Stephan Martiniere. (Authors love all their books, but when you get an ugly cover, you just have to hold your head up and act proud!)

Kay is hard at work on a new novel, believing--as writers usually do--that it is her best yet. You can catch up with her latest work at www.kaykenyon.com, where she often blogs on the craft of writing and trends in the industry. You can also follow her on Face Book.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best yet, February 5, 2009

By 

Louise Marley "Louise" (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: City without End (Entire and the Rose, Book 3) (Hardcover)

Book Three of this magnificent quartet defies the usual expectations of a series. It is bigger, deeper, more colorful, more inventive even than the first two--and they were wonderful. Kenyon is a writer not only of imagination but of scientific knowledge; in these books science meets fantasy in the grand tradition of great science fiction. The critical acclaim is more than deserved, but the book is also spellbinding, utterly entertaining, and completely unforgettable. A tour de force, which should attract the attention of all readers of science fiction--and of epic fantasy.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kenyon's Series picks up steam in its third volume, April 5, 2009

By 

Jvstin "Paul Weimer" (Circle Pines, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: City without End (Entire and the Rose, Book 3) (Hardcover)

City Without End is the third in the "Entire and the Rose" quartet by Kay Kenyon.

City Without End picks up where the (to me) disappointing second novel,A World Too Near leaves off. Titus Quinn has lost his wife, but did not destroy all of the Entire with the nanotech given to him for that very purpose. Helice Maki is free to scheme and seek her own goals. Sydney, Titus' estranged daughter, is now known as Sen Ni, continues her secret insurgency against the Tarig overlords. And then there is Ji Anzi, Chalin native of the Entire, who has given her heart to the man from Earth, Titus Quinn. Her journey is the most expansive, and surprised me as to where it led...

And speaking of Earth, things on Earth for Titus' extended family grow ever dicier as the stakes continue to raise, as the brightest star in Earth's sky is extinguished in the Tarig's quest to keep the Entire alive...

New readers to the city, like in most series, should definitely not start here.

If the quartet can be thought of as a chess game, the first novel introduced (most of) the major participants, the board and the milieu and the opening moves. The second novel expanded on this, but in a way that I felt recapitulated some of the weaknesses in second, middle novels in series. It is in this third novel, though, that things really start to accelerate. Plans, gambits, plots and secrets all move in a well orchestrated and naturally-flowing order. There are surprises, reverses and reveals that bring back the strength of the first novel, and just possibly, exceed them.

The environment and the science fantasy environment, which I do not lightly compare to the late Philip J Farmer's World of Tiers is, for me the highlight of these novels. Kenyon adds a couple of wrinkles to this environment which I only lament that she could have shown *more* of. The Entire is a fully envisioned artificial world that is simultaneously a BDO (Big Dumb Object), a universe of its own, and an expansive canvas to set her story.

However, for those of you who rely on well drawn characters for your reading satisfaction, rest assured, the characters are well formed and human, with all of the contradictions and confused natures that humans have. There are precious few one-note or one-dimensional characters here

The end of the novel is not a cliffhanger, but it sets up the factions in both the Entire and the Rose (Earth) for what I hope will be a finale and capstone worthy of the remainder of the series.

I highly enjoyed City Without End and will without reservation, buy the fourth and final volume, in hardcover, when it comes out. As I have said elsewhere, do start with the first book. BRIGHT OF THE SKY, and immerse yourself into the Entire yourself.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars oh my gosh, a great read, August 20, 2009

By 

Rusty Reader "Retired- read/play a little poker" (Henderson, Nevada) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: City without End (Entire and the Rose, Book 3) (Hardcover)

I have read quite a bit of sci-fi but City Without End knocks my socks off. Without a doubt, it is one of the most brilliant, creative, mind boggling books of hard sci fi ever written. Near the end you begin to realize there has to be more and the reader is sad to see this wonderfully written book end. I can hardly wait and please don't tell me that book four will be the end because the entire universe has too many stories left to be told. I am a rather slow reader and love to savor a book such as this by dreaming the story from night to night as it unfoldes. Perhaps my dreams are influenced by the Inyx. The Inyx are only one of many sentient beings that inhabit the universe known as the entire. They are large horse like creatures that communicate telepathicly and are able to influence the dreams of all other sentient beings. But you must read the series to find out more. One reader said the book was confusing. Not true, the novel is complex but so well written that it flows smoothly to and exciting and satisfying conclusion.