Chapter 1 Summary

The great Kublai Khan sits in his garden, sensing the end of his empire. He sends for news from his distant holdings and is answered by Marco Polo. As Polo weaves tale after tale of the cities he has visited in Khan's name, it is impossible to tell if the cities actually exist or if they were created from Polo's imagination. Polo tells of trading cities, hidden cities, cities and the dead, and cities and the sky. By the end it becomes clear that each of the wondrous places is the same city. Even though Invisible Cities is a small novel, it provides volumes of information that will stay with the reader for years after he or she has put it away.

Marco Polo meets with Kublai Kahn and describes the cities he has visited in his travels. Kublai Kahn does not necessarily...