Empire: Enter the battlefields of Ancient Greece in the epic new novel from the multi-million copy bestseller (The Golden Age Book 2)

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Sparta also received a lot of help in terms of ships and financial support from Persia to be able to challenge and eventually beat the Athenian navy. That is never mentioned either…

Many books have individual characters, each moving through a personal adventure that may eventually cross the path or paths of the others. Mr. Iggulden has grouped his cast into pairs, with each having their own story and interaction. Hunter Elias Post travels with gunslinger Vic Deeds (guns being new to this world). An uneasy respect and tension rides along, as Post and Deeds must rely on each other to survive. Tellius ( a teacher, of sorts) and Arthur (an incredibly apt student) find themselves unwillingly pulled into a dangerous situation, and each solution only seems to makes things worse. Daw and Nancy find out more about themselves and each other than they may have originally wished. Each pair follows their chosen paths and eventually end up in Darien, only to find other strings have been pulled and everything is not as it first seemed. The Sword Saint” is the third novel in the “Empire of Salt” series and was released in the year 2019. Empires have fallen, cities have been broken, and there is darkness coming. Success has only drawn a cold gaze. One false king looks for dominion. His soldiers are going to bring despair and desolation to Darien. With treachery on every side, the ancient capital looks ready to fall. Whilst Sparta is busy in the aftermath of this disaster, Pericles believes that this is a golden opportunity to take measures to protect Athens, he believes that defensive walls to protect both the city and access to the harbour and sea , will be crucial in future times of strife. If I had to find a criticism, it was that the point of view was ... loose. It floated somewhere between third person limited and third person omniscient. I guess it was omniscient, but it would switch focus from being in one character's head to being in another's at really odd points and it was jarring from time to time. Especially when it jumped from one of the main character's heads to some minor character you don't see much of. I really don't care, though. With politics and war, there is little time for rest, the author keeps up a relentless pace that is suited to the story. With so many things going on the author navigates the reader through history and includes a great deal of factual information and accounts. he does mention, that occasionally he has moved an event or skipped over the odd more mundane fact to keep the story flowing. He does this with great flair as the story never once lets up or feels like it has a dull moment.

The story of the barbarian warlord who would later be known as Genghis Khan is a deeply fascinating one. It’s the tale of a man who went from being a chieftain’s son in a minor tribe to ruling the greatest empire the world had ever seen at the time. The first part of that tale is retold by Conn Iggulden in this book, and it’s an amazing journey to be brought along on. I think this has the promise to become a great series, almost old school in terms of the style of writing, not overly brutal or dark and with some great battle scenes to boot. I look forward to discovering more. IN CONN IGGULDEN'S LATEST GOLDEN AGE EPIC, JOIN PERICLES, THE LION OF ATHENS, ON A JOURNEY TO SECURE THE FATE OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE

I loved the way that the author discusses in detail, how catastrophic natural disasters can impact and devastate great nations and allow significant unpredicted changes to take place.. I enjoyed reading Iggulden’s version of life in the China of that time, how the Mongol and Chinese mixed and related to each to each other. Moreover, reading this book started me into a new interest in reading military fiction that extends into today. It is in the second part of the book where the pace steps up a gear as these characters begin to connect together and affect each other. In the city of Darien, the perspective widens so that the politics of the Empire becomes paramount. The geopolitical situation is that there are twelve families ruling under a King, creating a complex political environment which though briefly glimpsed, seems reminiscent of Queen Elizabeth’s court or the Borgias. The King himself is a weak one, placed there by the leading Family for presentation purposes rather than actual leadership, which means that the lesser Families are manoeuvring for new positions of power. As a result, a plot is hatched which leads to an assassination attempt on King Johannes and events that usher in an impressively fast and rather violent last part of the book. The plot is driven around five main characters. A hunter, gunslinger, thief keeper, young man and a girl unaware of her abilities.Conn does a great job of establishing a wonderful world with its own mythos and history, and gives you glimpses of the past, exploring and expanding upon it at a steady pace. His magic system is well thought out and balanced, and it plays a significant role in the story. The many important subplots play a crucial role in the main story and each one of them are masterfully intertwined. For some, the second part is where everything comes together, and the characters start connecting with each other affecting one another. It is an old school Fantasy novel, which is strong on character and in which readers are able to immerse themselves in. Currently, he lives in Hertfordshire, England. He is married and is a father of four. He has also written poems and short novels. He has written amazing Book Series such as Conqueror. Emperor, Wars of the Roses and Dangerous Books for Boys. The Gates of Rome Temujin, the son of Yesugei, khan of the Wolves, goes to a neighboring tribe to find a wife. While he's away, his father is murdered by a gang of Tartars. Worse still, his father's friend usurps the role of khan and leaves Temujin and his family to die on the steppe. Can Temujin and his family survive long enough to get revenge on the Tartars and regain control of the Wolves?

My only complaint is that so many of these great leaders and names have sadly departed for the rewards of the Elysian Fiields, but I’m sure that other heroes will emerge. The time for Julius Caesar to indulge in treacherous political battles has come. His great courage to face slave rebellion, love for a beautiful older woman and the sword of his loyal friend, Marcus Brutus has strengthened him. Once his rank is promoted, he is able to do what no other leaders of his era did. I struggled with the narrative style employed in this novel. Like its setting and magic elements that riff off A Song of Ice and Fire, so does the narrative style. While Darien isn’t as strictly structured as Martin’s epic, with chapters clearly delineated as being from a specific character’s point of view, the revolving third person narration is still there. Unfortunately, Iggulden doesn’t manage to pull it off. For the most part, it reads like third person limited, but it constantly switches whose head the reader is in. It is confusing and incoherent to the point where I wondered what the author was actually going for – were they trying to do omniscient that just felt limited/focused or were they trying to do limited pov but failing? Darien: Empire of Salt uses his considerable writing skills and historical knowledge to venture into a genre he has always considered a personal favourite: Fantasy. The story of Temujin and his rise to uniting the tribes against the Tartars is a powerful one. Temujin goes through a lot of hell from the age of twelve onward, from being abandoned on the steppe during winter, to being imprisoned in a pit and being urinated on, to having his wife kidnapped and raped by Tartars. Once he started uniting the tribes, even I felt like riding with the young khan. While he's not always likeable, he's definitely a charismatic character.

Here the seemingly discordant stories all were combined as one, under their shared geographical location. The thrilling elements of each story were also heightened and it made for frantic reading to see how one act could impact each of the other characters' stories, despite their initial seeming incompatibility at combining as one cohesive whole.