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This book uses Ulu Beg's two different life trajectories as a context - as a prince of Samarkand and as an astronomer - to narrate a moving picture of the intertwining of knowledge and war in the Timurid Empire. Lumine's romance as a novelist and rigor as a scientist are cleverly blended between the lines of the novel, weaving the cold names in the entries of scientific discoveries into the historical story of fiction and reality: Turkish mathematician and astronomer Khadizadeh was forced to wander to Samarkand due to Timur's invasion and massacre, but here he gained academic success. "Oasis Ptolemy" Cassie came to Samarkand from the desert, but was assassinated for political reasons after a speech questioning geocentrism; and Ulugh Berg himself saw his destiny in the stars and accepted death calmly. His only last wish was to spread the knowledge about the starry sky to the entire world...