Blood of Kings

by Andrew James

It is 530 BC and Cyrus the Great has carved out the largest Empire the world had ever seen, making Persia the undisputed superpower of the ancient world. But there is treachery afoot, and Cyrus's life is in danger. When Darius, dispossessed prince of the Royal House of Parsa, tries to save the King of Kings, he is arrested and falsely condemned for treason.

In a fast paced tale of love, betrayal, war and revenge, Blood of Kings sweeps the reader up on an epic journey from the mud brick cities of Ancient Persia to the burning heart of Pharaoh's Egypt.Packed full of dramatic and authentic battle scenes, it recreates the sweat, blood and fear of ancient warfare, as Persia smashes Egypt's army and brings the reign of the Pharaohs to a violent end.

But it is also a book that will delight Herodotus fans, bringing the ancient Greek historian's characters to life like never before, as it follows the doomed 'lost army of Cambyses' into the Libyan Desert, marching towards a fate that would baffle archaeologists for millennia to come.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical

443 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 7, 2013

About the author

Andrew was born in London and studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Trinity College, Oxford. After two years of studying law, he eventually decided to become a barrister. “I spent twelve years defending people on every charge from murder and terrorism down to assault. Addressing juries and getting results was very satisfying; but in the end, the need to write was stronger.”
By now Andrew had visited most countries in the Middle East, and become fascinated with the region’s dramatic history. In 2008, frustrated that his busy career stopped him writing, he gave up his practice at the Bar, left England and moved to Siwa Oasis in Egypt’s Western Desert, to write his first novel, Blood of Kings.
Spiders, Snakes, and a Revolution
His life changed overnight, swapping a smart flat in central London for a mud brick house with a palm thatched roof. “There were spiders the size of my hand running along the walls, scorpions dropping through the ceiling, and more than once I found a viper curled up among my clothes. The scene in the book where the viper fights with a desert cat was from first hand experience. As was the scorpion sting!”
Why travel so far to write a book? “I came to Siwa because this is where the central events actually happened in real life. I wanted the setting to be as authentic as possible.”
Occasionally, Andrew’s quest for realism went further than planned. “In 2011, just as I was writing a scene about Egypt revolting against Persian King Cambyses, with soldiers manning barricades and masked youths throwing stones, Egypt rose in revolt for real. It was a shocking parallel, which took me completely by surprise.
My only source of news was the Internet. When that went down I spent 10 days alone in my remote desert house, with no idea what was happening. A nearby German archaeological mission packed up, hired armed guards and made a dash for Cairo airport 850km away. I was left virtually the only Westerner for hundreds of kilometres around.”
Civil War
Then things went from bad to worse. “The oasis was 40 kilometres from the Libyan border, and most of the Siwans had family there. When British bombs started falling on Colonel Gaddafi during the civil war, things here were very tense.”
Andrew stayed for another 8 months before being forced to leave. “Thanks to the British Embassy I got out in one piece, but for a while it was scary. I kept a hammer by my bed and a knife under my pillow. The desert nights were sweltering, but I had to sleep with my doors and windows bolted. One night rocks were thrown through my window at about 3am. Another time I had broken glass thrust at my face.”
Packed full of dramatic and authentic battle scenes, Blood of Kings vividly captures both the atmosphere of the oasis and the austere beauty of the surrounding Sahara desert. The novel will appeal not only to fans of blood-and-guts ancient warfare, but also to lovers of exotic Greek historian Herodotus, whose characters it brings back to life after 2,500 years.

PLEASE NOTE: BLOOD OF KINGS IS THE ONLY BOOK I HAVE WRITTEN. A lot of people ask me whether any of the other books on Goodreads by authors called Andrew James are mine. No, they are not.

Reviews

[The Idle Woman · Rating 3 out of 5]

There isn't a huge amount of historical fiction out there about Ancient Persia, but I was interested to stumble across this novel about the rise to power of Darius, father of Xerxes and founder of the Achaemenid royal house. Considering my present interest in that family, it had to be read; but it made for an uneven and occasionally frustrating novel. While the battle scenes and landscapes are vividly described, the characterisation is occasionally weak and the romantic elements seem to have been filtered in from an entirely different book. An ambitious but ultimately flawed attempt to do justice to an intriguing historical figure.

For a more thorough review, please see my blog:
http://theidlewoman.blogspot.co.uk/20...

[Gordon Doherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blood of Kings was an impulse buy and a holiday read for me. I picked this volume from the many in the Kindle store because it promised everything I fancied at that moment in time: a desert tale of ancient empires and grand-scale war. It was the same impulse that drove me to write Legionary: Land of the Sacred Fire - I wanted to travel into the deep, unforgiving sands and imagine that I was trekking through the fiery wastes, short of water, armour grating on my skin, knowing a hidden enemy might sweep over the dunes at any moment. James' novel delivers just such atmosphere in buckets: in the Egyptian desert and the leafy, cool relief of the oases, and in the icy, rocky mountains of northern Persia too - he put me right there.

The premise - following King Darius' rise to power and charting his part in the campaign which saw an army of tens of thousands of Persians vanish mid-desert - has not been tackled in historical fiction before (at least, not that I am aware of), and this only lends more kudos to James for crafting such a detailed, vivid and immersive account of this virgin territory.

The historical detail is well observed and subtly conveyed in the narrative in a way that informs but does not distract. The Persian kings, armies, people and their customs and everyday life are richly characterised, with tiny observations like the Persian Shahanshah (King of Kings) being given "a magnificent war bow, its belly chased with electrum, elaborately carved griffins at each end, eyes and beaks picked out in gold", causing me to arch an envious eyebrow more than once.

In terms of setting, the author's attention to detail has been honed by virtue of living in the desert for a number of years, walking the paths he writes about. The maps included in the book are a testament to his intimate knowledge of the land. As stated before, the descriptives are generally first class, but there were a few that I found overused - or that made themselves conspicuous by their frequency - such as Darius' observation of the date palms and the ripeness or otherwise of the fruits on them. Not a massive issue, but it was a little 'bump' in the read (and made me crave syrupy dates!).

I chuckled when I read a review of this novel on Amazon which complained about 'too much gore'. Those who are familiar with my books will know that I'm not squeamish and neither is Andrew James - if his torture scenes are anything to go by. Wonderfully done: I won't give anything away but I was wincing/peering through one eye as I read some of the horrific ends and near-ends a few of the characters come to. In terms of battle scenes, I have a healthy appetite for clashing swords, and I found James' fight scenes fell into one of two camps: some, like the clash at the Spring of Shade, were succinct, powerful and memorable; others, such as the ambush at the icy pass near the beginning, were rendered somewhat punchless due to a degree of overdescription (in my opinion anyway). Without giving too much away, one character is tossed from his horse as enemies shoot arrows at him from up on the pass sides, but the descriptive of him being thrown is 2 pages long, and I found that this sucked the pace and peril out of what could have been a thrilling moment.

The tale takes us from Persia to Egypt and back again, and there are a fair few bends along the way. I say bends rather than twists, as I feel they could have been more devious. For example, a lingering doubt resides in Darius' mind throughout most of the book regarding the seeming reappearance of a character he thought was dead. Now the author resolves this in a reasonably satisfying way, but I reckon he could have gone a few steps further to make it more of a jaw-dropper. Easy for me to say, but I just had that nagging feeling that the potential wasn't fully realised with that otherwise impressive plot strand.

Blood of Kings is a lengthy saga, and I did wonder if the author had missed a trick in not breaking it into two or maybe even three volumes. Certainly, the scope of the tale would have allowed for it and if I recall correctly I only paid a few pounds for this book (in late 2015) - great value but probably not quite the reward the author deserves.

Overall, Blood of Kings enthralled, engrossed and delivered my desert adventure fix with aplomb. Recommended.

Originally posted on http://www.gordondoherty.co.uk/review...

[peter eells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent novel

Well researched and written, a thoroughly believable story based on old manuscripts and carvings. This has brought the era to light.

[Beverley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book, I couldn't put it down

[William B Baran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the story of ancient Persia very interesting. There was a weak romantic subplot which didn't seem to add much to the story.
I had this novel for a while and I am glad I finally got to reading it.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good and kept my full attention for 90% but the end rather fizzled out.