This is the second book in Mary Renault’s amazing Alexandriad, telling there story of the adult Alexander the Great through the eyes of the eunuch Bagoas.
It is truly astonishing, allowing the reader to effectively experience Alexander’s story in the first person as though one were actually there. The book introduces a brilliant cast of supporting characters too, bringing all to life in a way rarely repeated. Highly recommended.
The Persian Boy traces the last years of Alexander's life through the eyes of his lover, Bagoas. Abducted and gelded as a boy, Bagoas is sold as a courtesan to King Darius of Persia, but finds freedom with Alexander the Great after the Macedon army conquers his homeland. Their relationship sustains Alexander as he weathers assassination plots, the demands of two foreign wives, a sometimes mutinous army, and his own ferocious temper. After Alexander's mysterious death, we are left wondering if this Persian boy understood the great warrior and his ambitions better than anyone.
Fantastic insight into the Principate Roman Empire by one of the UK’s finest historical fiction writers. Simon Turney is superb at animating his characters and his historical research is immaculate.
Further, the tale he tells here of plotting and intrigue at the heart of the Roman Empire is truly gripping, his protagonists always with an eye on the main chance, and their competitors for imperial attention. Also highly recommended!
Promoted to the elite Praetorian Guard in the thick of battle, a young legionary is thrust into a seedy world of imperial politics and corruption. Tasked with uncovering a plot against the newly-crowned emperor Commodus, his mission takes him from the cold Danubian border all the way to the heart of Rome, the villa of the emperor’s scheming sister, and the great Colosseum. What seems a straightforward, if terrifying, assignment soon descends into Machiavellian treachery and peril as everything in which young Rufinus trusts and believes is called into question and he faces warring commanders, Sarmatian cannibals, vicious dogs, mercenary…
Harry Sidebottom always brings real academic rigor to his amazing historical fiction books.
His research is second to none, allowing the reader to really immerse themselves in the Roman Empire. His characters are also highly engaging, allowing the reader to experience their world from the very beginning of the book.
The thrilling new historical adventure in the Warrior of Rome series from Sunday Times bestseller Harry Sidebottom.
*** 'What Bernard Cornwell is to the Napoleonic Wars, Harry Sidebottom is to Roman legions: unassailable' - THE TIMES *** _________________________________
AD 265, Gaul - The Roman Empire is on the brink.
Emperor Gallienus has amassed a huge army across the Alps to seize back the mountains from the usurper Postumus.
War has come.
Ballista and his cavalry are on the frontline, battling in the most brutal of conditions. But if he is to survive the campaign and finally retire to his beloved…
Dr Simon Elliott describes eight of the greatest, most decisive of the Roman Empire of the first to third centuries. The list includes battles fought from the highlands of Scotland and the forests of Germany to the deserts of the Middle East. They show how the vaunted Roman legions adapted to extremes of terrain and climate as well as a wide array of very different foes, from the wild Caledonian tribes to the sophisticated, combined-arms armies of Sassanid Persia with their war elephants and superb cavalry. Some of the battles even pit the Roman legions against their own kind in brutal civil wars. The well-researched and engaging text is supported by clear maps.
