"The Carpet Weavers"

A story spanning centuries and generations. The plot intrigues enough to pull you along but most of all, the writer shows an amazing ability to jump back and forth between times, places and protagonists, reveiling enough to tell the story yet keeping most of it hidden, the absence of details hidden at an incredibly large universe and history. Though a few people are paramount to the story (because they played key positions in the plot) none is *the* protagonist, thereby telling a vast tale that transcends normal humans, weaving ("ahem") a pattern literally larger than the universe.