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Products: 365
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Christian Cameron |
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Tyrant
The first book in the Tyrant series (2008)
A well-born officer of Athenian cavalry, Kineas fought shoulder to shoulder with Alexander in his epic battles against the Persian hordes. But when he returns to his native city, he finds not glory but ignominy, as all veterans of the Boy King's campaigns are sent into exile. With nothing to his name but his military skills, Kineas has no choice but to become a mercenary, and soon accepts a commission to soldier for the Tyrant of Olbia, a wealthy city on the Black Sea. But when he reaches Olbia he finds he and his tight-knit band of Athenians have stumbled into a deadly maze of intrigue and conspiracy as the Tyrant plots to use them as a pawn in the increasingly complex power games between his own citizens, the so-called barbarians of the encroaching Scythian plains, and the dread military might of Macedon. Caught between his duty to the Tyrant, his loyalty to his men and a forbidden love affair with a charismatic Scythian noblewoman, Kineas must call on all his Athenian guile, his flair on the battlefield, and even - he is convinced - the intervention of the gods, to survive.
Storm of Arrows
The second book in the Tyrant series (2009)
Kineas, the Athenian cavalry commander, has come a long way since being dismissed from the army of Alexander and vengefully exiled by his own city. Together, his mercenary force and their Scythian allies have defeated a mighty Macedonian army at the Ford of the River God, and his adopted city of Olbia is now free once more. But his destiny will not allow him to enjoy the fruits of victory for long. Far to the east, at the farthest edge of the Sea of Grass, Alexander is threatening to crush the Scythian hordes once and for all. The Lady Srayanka of the Cruel Hands, the Scythian warrior-princess who spurned a king's love to be at Kineas's side, is pledged to take her tribe east to help stop 'the monster' -and Kineas knows he has no choice but to follow, even if it means embracing the violent death in battle that he has seen prefigured in countless dreams. But long before he can confront the might of Alexander's army alongside his beloved Srayanka, he must undertake an epic journey, of breathtaking daring, taking an army through hundreds of miles of hostile terrain - towards his own appointment with fate.
Funeral Games
The third book in the Tyrant series (2010)
Satyrus and Melitta, twin heirs to a rich kingdom on the Black Sea, become desperate fugitives when their mother, the Scythian warrior-princess Srayanka, is cut down in a savage act of betrayal. Accompanied by their tutor, the Spartan Philokles, they must make a perilous journey west, pursued by ruthless assassins, to find sanctuary with the army of their father's closest friend, Diodorus. But Diodorus is caught up in the tangled web of alliances, betrayals and intrigue that followed Alexander the Great's death, as his generals fought over the huge empire he had created - and soon the twins will have their first taste of real battle as two Macedonian warlords clash. In this violent and unstable world, they must chose sides carefully, as Antigonus One-Eye, and his brilliant son Demetrius, prepare to take on the might of Ptolemy's Egypt, and the forces gather for the biggest and most spectacular battle the world had ever seen - Gaza.
Review (With Spoilers to Previous books)
After the death of Kineas in Storm of Arrows i wondered where this series could go next, its not often an author has the balls to kill his main star off, but all credit to Chris, he followed his plot to its ultimate conclusion without wimping out and Kineas had his heroes death.
Funeral Games for me is almost a whole new series but subtly blended with the old, we have the old with the irascible Spartan tutor Philokles mixed with the new stars of Satyrus and Melitta.
Now here most authors would make the classic mistake of making son and daughter carbon copies of the Father and Mother (the previous starts of the series), But again Chris does not fall into this trap and creates new whole characters, full of their own characteristic traits and shortcomings and with glimpses of their own future prowess to come.
This was and is and excellent book, by the end i had a whole new set of friends that i will now miss for a year while i wait for Chris to write the next instalment.
A Solid 8.5 out of 10 for me and a must for any-ones reading list for 2010.
Killer of Men
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Orion (5 Aug 2010)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0752898582
ISBN-13: 978-0752898582
Synopsis
Arimnestos is a farm boy when war breaks out between the citizens of his native Plataea and and their overbearing neighbours, Thebes. Standing in the battle line - the wall of bronze - for the first time, alongside his father and brother, he shares in a famous and unlikely victory. But after being knocked unconscious in the melee, he awakes not a hero, but a slave. Betrayed by his jealous and cowardly cousin, the freedom he fought for has now vanished, and he becomes the property of a rich citizen of Ephesus. So begins an epic journey from slavery that takes the young Arimnestos through a world poised on the brink of an epic confrontation, as the emerging civilization of the Greeks starts to flex its muscles against the established empire of the Persians. As he tries to make his fortune and revenge himself on the man who disinherited him, Arimnestos discovers that he has a talent that pays well in this new, violent world, for like his hero, Achilles, he is 'a killer of men'.
Review
When i started this book i was a little taken aback with the style, it was not what i had come to expect from Chris, that's not to say it was bad, it was just different, it was enough of a change to give me slight pause to think has the man lost it? should he have stuck with a winning formula like the tyrant series?
None of this should make you stop reading, because as you carry on reading you suddenly find your self being pulled into the world or Arimnestos.
Day one of reading this book and before i knew it it was 3 am and i really didn't want to put the book down. By the time i finished the book i had gone through a roller-coaster of emotions alongside my friend Arimnestos, i had lost sleep every night and been left reconsidering quite a few of his actions, what would i do it that situation? am i a good enough man to stand along side him, could i have stood in the storm of Bronze?
This book is a truly brilliant piece of writing, not only is it a great escape from real life it is also a great exploration of the human soul and a sometimes deadlier, some times more civilised more enlightenment time .
The other big authors of the genre will have to work damn hard this year to stop this being my book of the year.
So the challenge has been made Mr's Scarrow, Iggulden and Co can you beat this?
For you the readers...this is a must buy, If Christian does make it to the UK i will do my very best to secure Signed copies, but buy a copy of this book you cannot miss this book.
9/10 (always leave room for improvement no matter how good it is..LOL)
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