&sq=&lang=&file=File:The_Crystal_Empire,_first_edition_cover.jpg) Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | L. Neil Smith |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Alternate history |
| Published | 1986 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
The Crystal Empire is a 1986 novel by American science fiction and alternate history writer L. Neil Smith. It is set in an alternate universe that shares with Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt, Robert Silverberg's The Gate of Worlds and Harry Turtledove's In High Places a point of divergence where the Black Death kills much more of Europe's population than it did in reality, opening the way for a Muslim conquest of Europe. The plague also decimates the Mongol Empire, allowing a Mughal power to arise in the Far East in its place.