Book details

The Journeyer

Author: Gary Jennings

The Journeyer

The Journeyer

$18.99

About This Book

Marco Polo was nicknamed "Marco of the millions" because his Venetian countrymen took the grandiose stories of his travels to be exaggerated, if not outright lies. As he lay dying, his priest, family,...

Page Count
1024
Genre
On Sale
03/02/2010

Book Details

Marco Polo was nicknamed "Marco of the millions" because his Venetian countrymen took the grandiose stories of his travels to be exaggerated, if not outright lies. As he lay dying, his priest, family, and friends offered him a last chance to confess his mendacity, and Marco, it is said, replied "I have not told the half of what I saw and did."

Now, in his new novel The Journeyer, Gary Jennings has imagined the half that Marco left unsaid as even more elaborate and adventurous than the tall tales thought to be lies. From the palazzi and back streets of medieval Venice to the sumptuous court of Kublai Khan, from the perfumed sexuality of the Levant to the dangers and rigors of travel along the Silk Road, Marco meets all manner of people, survives all manner of danger, and, insatiably curious, becomes an almost compulsive collector of customs, languages and women.

In more than two decades of travel, Marco was variously a merchant, a warrior, a lover, a spy, even a tax collector - but always a journeyer, unflagging in his appetite for new experiences, regretting only what he missed. Here - recreated and reimagined with all the splendor, the love of adventure, the zest for the rare and curious that are Jennings's hallmarks - is the epic account, at once magnificent and delightful, of the greatest real-life adventurer in human history.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Imprint Publisher

Forge Books

ISBN

9781429999946

In The News

“Superb.” —The New York Times on The Journeyer

“Astonishing and titillating.” —The Chicago Tribune on The Journeyer

“Fabulous. . . .Sumptuous and exceedingly bawdy.” —The Washington Post on The Journeyer

“He enlivens his picaresque story with wonderfully detailed descriptions of the landscape, climate, flora and fauna Polo encountered along the way. The real energy of Gary Jennings's narrative is devoted to those old standbys lust and bloodlust. His zeal for clinical description of sexual practices is matched only by his enthusiasm for the minutiae of Oriental torture. Pound for pound, The Journeyer is a classic.” —Gene Lyons,Newsweek

“A novel of epic proportions.” —Library Journal on The Journeyer

“As Gary Jennings did for pre-Hispanic Mexico in Aztec, he has enriched The Journeyer with an anthropologist's knowledge of diverse lands and cultures. . . . Jennings combines inexhaustible research with the yarn-spinner's art, drawing indelible portraits of Marco and his companions on the long journey. Stunning . . . You'll never want it to end.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Perfect entertainment.” —Philadelphia Inquirer on The Journeyer

“Employing both great sweep and meticulous detail, Gary Jennings has produced an impressively learned gem of the astounding and the titillating.” —Chicago Tribune Book World on The Journeyer

“A first-rate narrative. . .spiced with bawdy tales and bizarre customs . . . Sensual delights. . . Jennings is a superb storyteller.” —Houston Post on The Journeyer

“Wild adventure . . . endlessly intriguing . . . constantly surprising.” —Atlantic Monthly on The Journeyer

“Relentlessly gripping.” —Publishers Weekly on The Journeyer

“Remarkable . . .Extraordinary . . . Recreates a whole lost civilization.” —Miami Herald on The Journeyer

About the Creators

The Journeyer

The Journeyer

$18.99