Well, for those of you who held off getting this during the Kobo Canada Day sale, you're in luck:
Bargain @ $2.99 for today only (July 16th) as Kobo Canada's Daily Deal from Penguin Canada's Viking imprint (not couponable, price matched in other Canadian stores):
River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay (ISFDB, Wikipedia), 2nd in his Under Heaven duology of historically-based fantasy set in a Song Dynasty China analogue (this occurs several centuries after the original Tang-analogue
Under Heaven, which is still priced at $6.99 CAD).
This is an extra $2 off the "regular" discount price of $4.99 it was at (down from the normal $11.99), just for one day, which Kobo sometimes arranges for its Daily Deal books in Canada.
Ren Daiyan was still just a boy when he took the lives of seven men while guarding an imperial magistrate of Kitai. That moment on a lonely road changed his life in entirely unexpected ways, sending him into the forests of Kitai among the outlaws. From there he emerges years later—and his life changes again, dramatically, as he moves toward the court and the emperor while war approaches Kitai from the north.
Lin Shan is the daughter of a scholar, his beloved only child. Educated by him in ways young women never are, gifted as a songwriter and calligrapher, she finds herself living a life suspended between two worlds. Her intelligence captivates an emperor—and alienates women at court. But when her father’s life is endangered by the savage politics of the day, Shan must act in ways no woman ever has.
In an empire divided by bitter factions circling an exquisitely cultured emperor who loves his gardens and his art far more than the burdens of governing, dramatic events on the northern steppe alter the balance of power in the world, leading to events no one could have foretold, under the river of stars.
Also, the French-language Kobo Canada Daily Deal for Canada is a fantasy as well, if you're interested:
@ $4.99 (regularly $8.99):
Dragon by E. E. Knight (
ISFDB,
Wikipedia), a translation of the 1st in their Age of Fire series of fantasy adventure novels from ROC, out from Bragelonne's Milady imprint which incidentally is DRM-free.