WINNER OF THE LOCUS AWARD The bestselling author of the Mars trilogy boldly reimagines the past seven hundred years in this exceptional and engrossing (New York Post) saga, constructing a world vastly different from the one we know. . .

A thoughtful, magisterial alternate history from one of science fictions 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 occurthe coming of the Black Death. History teaches us that a third of Europes population was destroyed. But what if the plague had killed 99 percent of the population instead? How would the world have changed? The Years of Rice and Salt is a look at the history that could have beenone 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, inventors and exiles, renowned storyteller Kim Stanley Robinson navigates a world where Buddhism and Islam are the most influential and practiced religions, while Christianity is a mere historical footnote. Probing the most profound questions as only he can, Robinson shines his extraordinary light on the place of religion, culture, powerand even lovein this bold new world.