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A young Englishman, Tom Swan, is badly wounded in a desperate sea fight. When he wakes in a hospital, he's in one of the last towns in Greece holding out against the Turks. And there aren't any women to be found. Rich men vie to hire him, and they all seem to want the same thing-a fabulous jewel made for Alexander the Great.
He's not a professional soldier. He's really a thief and a little bit of a scholar looking for remnants of Ancient Greece and Rome - temples, graves, pottery, fabulous animals, unicorn horns. But he also has a real talent for ending up in the midst of violence when he didn't mean to. Having used his wits to escape execution in part one, he begins a series of adventures that take him to the high seas, bedrooms in Constantinople and street duels in Italy, meetings with remarkable men - Cyriaco of Ancona and Sultan Mehmet II and the whole Sforza family - and from the intrigues of Rome to the Jewish Ghetto in Venice.
He's not a professional soldier. He's really a thief and a little bit of a scholar looking for remnants of Ancient Greece and Rome - temples, graves, pottery, fabulous animals, unicorn horns. But he also has a real talent for ending up in the midst of violence when he didn't mean to. Having used his wits to escape execution in part one, he begins a series of adventures that take him to the high seas, bedrooms in Constantinople and street duels in Italy, meetings with remarkable men - Cyriaco of Ancona and Sultan Mehmet II and the whole Sforza family - and from the intrigues of Rome to the Jewish Ghetto in Venice.
100 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 11, 2013
58 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
Christian Cameron
81 books1,107 followersAka Miles Cameron. Also publishes as Gordon Kent with his father Kenneth M. Cameron.
Christian Cameron was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1962. He grew up in Rockport, Massachusetts, Iowa City, Iowa,Christian Cameron and Rochester, New York, where he attended McQuaid Jesuit High School and later graduated from the University of Rochester with a degree in history.
After the longest undergraduate degree on record (1980-87), he joined the United States Navy, where he served as an intelligence officer and as a backseater in S-3 Vikings in the First Gulf War, in Somalia, and elsewhere. After a dozen years of service, he became a full time writer in 2000. He lives in Toronto (that’s Ontario, in Canada) with his wife Sarah and their daughter Beatrice, currently age four. And a half.
Christian Cameron was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1962. He grew up in Rockport, Massachusetts, Iowa City, Iowa,Christian Cameron and Rochester, New York, where he attended McQuaid Jesuit High School and later graduated from the University of Rochester with a degree in history.
After the longest undergraduate degree on record (1980-87), he joined the United States Navy, where he served as an intelligence officer and as a backseater in S-3 Vikings in the First Gulf War, in Somalia, and elsewhere. After a dozen years of service, he became a full time writer in 2000. He lives in Toronto (that’s Ontario, in Canada) with his wife Sarah and their daughter Beatrice, currently age four. And a half.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 9, 2020
My favourite Tom Swan so far.
January 5, 2018
This episode lays the foundation for Tom Swan's second voyage and handles some cast turnover. I liked it and it reads quickly.
Just a minor qualm: instead of being called with his given name (like in books 1-3), Alessandro suddenly gets referred to as "di Brachio" (his surname? Not a city that I can tell, brachium means "forearm". He's from the Bembo family of Venice).
Swan put his hand on his heart. ‘I will be a faithful … er, Donat. Is that like being a knight?’
‘Very like,’ Bessarion said. ‘Men pay vast sums of money for the rank.’
Suddenly Swan was pleased.
Just a minor qualm: instead of being called with his given name (like in books 1-3), Alessandro suddenly gets referred to as "di Brachio" (his surname? Not a city that I can tell, brachium means "forearm". He's from the Bembo family of Venice).
Swan put his hand on his heart. ‘I will be a faithful … er, Donat. Is that like being a knight?’
‘Very like,’ Bessarion said. ‘Men pay vast sums of money for the rank.’
Suddenly Swan was pleased.
October 26, 2021
Street fights, drinking and whores. Oh, Rome.
October 27, 2022
The best writer of historical fiction. Not Cornwell or Scarrow, who's books decorate my shelves, or any other amongst my almost 500 books in the genre. Each series surpasses my expectation, and I now pre-order every book in any presentation.
For a boy brought up on hornblower and the French revolution, leading me to Sharpe, an insatiable appetite for history in fictional stories brought me to Christian Cameron, in any era I reccomend his books fully.
For a boy brought up on hornblower and the French revolution, leading me to Sharpe, an insatiable appetite for history in fictional stories brought me to Christian Cameron, in any era I reccomend his books fully.
January 3, 2025
My favorites in the series so far are #2 and #3. This one disoriented me a bit in the beginning, as Alessandro is suddenly referred to as Di Brachio and his character seems to change somewhat. There were a few big time cuts in the beginning that left me trying to grasp the plot, too.
Overall, though, I am still enjoying this series immensely.
Overall, though, I am still enjoying this series immensely.
April 24, 2013
At this stage, four books in, I'm not going to devote any heavy effort to an in-depth analysis in review. Suffice it to say that if you liked books 1-3 you'll be just as happy with book 4. If you're new to the series, check out my review of book 1.
April 23, 2019
Actual rating: 4.00
January 14, 2015
Bziuuu tramwajem i po Swanie:-)
January 30, 2020
And another one...
These books are fantastic. Ordering the whole set at once is great. The 100 page book, when combined with the other 5-6, reads like a much longer book.
Tom Swan is an awesome character. I highly recommend.
These books are fantastic. Ordering the whole set at once is great. The 100 page book, when combined with the other 5-6, reads like a much longer book.
Tom Swan is an awesome character. I highly recommend.
June 3, 2017
great continuation of the story
July 30, 2020
Great series, well researched. Tom Swan is such a great character. Action packed and absorbing from start to finish.
February 10, 2021
Still great
Love all of Cameron’s books, this is no exception. Perhaps a little less action that the previous books, but still a very enjoyable read.
Love all of Cameron’s books, this is no exception. Perhaps a little less action that the previous books, but still a very enjoyable read.
April 25, 2021
Bit of a dip in the action but still fun to read. Tom Swan is a very charming character.
7/10
7/10
July 19, 2021
As I suspected - by episode 4 the story arc is becoming a little repetitive.
May 13, 2021
This is the fourth installment in the Tom Swan and the Head of St George serial and while it feels like the author is beginning to find his feet with this format somewhat there are also some really odd changes from the previous entries. The main issue comes in the form of Swan's friend Alessandro Di Brachio who up until this point in the story had simply been addressed as Alessandro but throughout this novella he is now nearly always addressed as Di Brachio, a confusing change that required double checking to ensure he was in fact the same character. Something that is also exacerbated by Di Brachio feeling quite a different character too. He is now rather brash, quick to anger, and according to Swan somewhat hypocritical for being foolhardy himself while chastising Swan for similar actions. This is really odd considering the charming, cool headed Alessandro Di Brachio of previous installments.
Then there's the issue of Peter, the Flemish Archer in the Swans employ, and the representation of his accent in the text. Peter has always been Flemish but his grasp of many languages from English to Greek has been good and while he supposedly spoke with some accent it wasn't directly represented in the text whereas he now sounds like Dracula for some reason. Peter speaking is now represented like:
"‘Good boy,’ Peter said. It sounded like Gut buoy."
or
"‘He’s smilink, the gapitano,’ Peter said in his Flemish- accented English."
And
"My friend Antonio and I have him vell enough in hand, eh?’ Peter grunted. ‘Get your breastplate on. I’ve been holdink it too long.’"
Overall the editing feels rather sloppy too with a fair few spelling mistakes, especially when it comes to Violetta which often ends ups as Violette instead, along with some logical errors such as Swan having his gauntlets fitted for combat before a few sentences later dropping his unadorned gauntlets to the deck.
Rant about all the odd directional changes in this part over it really does seem like Cameron has a better hand on these last few novellas when it comes to the scope of them. The first few felt a little too ambitious with too many moving parts and, especially in the case of part two, far too many location changes with not enough time to flesh out each location while having to give Swan something to do. With Rome the plot takes a step back and breathes a lot more, there are still a few good exciting action scenes but the book isn't stuffed full of them and Cameron really has become more efficient with the travelling sections, giving the reader a small taste of what's going on without having to build too much plot around them so the bulk of the story takes place actually in Rome unlike the Venice book which ended up spending more time in Rome, at sea, and then in Constantinople that it ever did in Venice.
Hopefully the rather jarring changes in this novella are a course correction from Cameron and things stay in a much more consistent going forwards. Though the Dracula accent could really do with reverting.
Then there's the issue of Peter, the Flemish Archer in the Swans employ, and the representation of his accent in the text. Peter has always been Flemish but his grasp of many languages from English to Greek has been good and while he supposedly spoke with some accent it wasn't directly represented in the text whereas he now sounds like Dracula for some reason. Peter speaking is now represented like:
"‘Good boy,’ Peter said. It sounded like Gut buoy."
or
"‘He’s smilink, the gapitano,’ Peter said in his Flemish- accented English."
And
"My friend Antonio and I have him vell enough in hand, eh?’ Peter grunted. ‘Get your breastplate on. I’ve been holdink it too long.’"
Overall the editing feels rather sloppy too with a fair few spelling mistakes, especially when it comes to Violetta which often ends ups as Violette instead, along with some logical errors such as Swan having his gauntlets fitted for combat before a few sentences later dropping his unadorned gauntlets to the deck.
Rant about all the odd directional changes in this part over it really does seem like Cameron has a better hand on these last few novellas when it comes to the scope of them. The first few felt a little too ambitious with too many moving parts and, especially in the case of part two, far too many location changes with not enough time to flesh out each location while having to give Swan something to do. With Rome the plot takes a step back and breathes a lot more, there are still a few good exciting action scenes but the book isn't stuffed full of them and Cameron really has become more efficient with the travelling sections, giving the reader a small taste of what's going on without having to build too much plot around them so the bulk of the story takes place actually in Rome unlike the Venice book which ended up spending more time in Rome, at sea, and then in Constantinople that it ever did in Venice.
Hopefully the rather jarring changes in this novella are a course correction from Cameron and things stay in a much more consistent going forwards. Though the Dracula accent could really do with reverting.
April 12, 2013
Review:
So the book its self:
Tom Swan now in his fourth outing is a well-rounded, well-formed and amusing character. He is the rebellious youngster we either were or wanted to be. Whilst he is a jack of many trades and a master of none, you get the feeling that as he matures his expertise will blossom and if he survives long enough he will become a master spy, swordsman, linguist, treasure hunter etc.. Will this be too much, will he take on the look of a superman. I don’t personally think so. Christian Cameron builds in enough character flaws and self-doubt to keep the man grounded and real.
As usual Christians attention to historical detail is second to none, his fighting scenes are real, because anyone who has researched the writer knows that he fights in armour himself, he knows how hard it is, what the moves are and what pains occur from long use and the battering of a sword / pike. He has attending sword fighting training and practices archery. he lives the books before he writes them. This gives each and every character a much more real person feel in the book, as only writing from experience can.
The book is short and is over well before you want it to be, 100 pages goes so fast that if you are like me it will be gone in one short evening. but to be honest if it was 1000 pages i would have struggled to put it down.
This series would have made a great series of novels, maybe we can convince Christian to write a full novel on the man… best way is to buy the books (all of them) and review the fact that you love them.
I will be buying them all, that’s for sure.
Cannot recommend highly enough
(Parm)
rest of the series
Tom Swan and the Head of St George Part One: Castillon
Tom Swan and the Head of St George Part Two: Venice
Tom Swan and the Head of St George Part Three: Constantinople
Also on sites like amazon there seems to be a lot of backlash at present on Amazon regarding short stories. Comments like
. It’s too short
. I didn’t know it was a short story
. It stops just as it gets going
and many many more:
These things do not belong in feedback for a book on here: Amazon clearly label all short stories (EG see below for this book)
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 286 KB
Print Length: 100 pages
Publisher: Orion (11 April 2013)
Note where it says 100 pages, dead give away for the length of the book. (that answers the first couple of issues raised above)
Re: it stops just as it gets going! Well look at it in the same way as an episode of a great TV series. It’s a self-contained story, and leave you wanting more at the end so you come back next week… or in this case next month.
For 99p its an utter bargain.
So the book its self:
Tom Swan now in his fourth outing is a well-rounded, well-formed and amusing character. He is the rebellious youngster we either were or wanted to be. Whilst he is a jack of many trades and a master of none, you get the feeling that as he matures his expertise will blossom and if he survives long enough he will become a master spy, swordsman, linguist, treasure hunter etc.. Will this be too much, will he take on the look of a superman. I don’t personally think so. Christian Cameron builds in enough character flaws and self-doubt to keep the man grounded and real.
As usual Christians attention to historical detail is second to none, his fighting scenes are real, because anyone who has researched the writer knows that he fights in armour himself, he knows how hard it is, what the moves are and what pains occur from long use and the battering of a sword / pike. He has attending sword fighting training and practices archery. he lives the books before he writes them. This gives each and every character a much more real person feel in the book, as only writing from experience can.
The book is short and is over well before you want it to be, 100 pages goes so fast that if you are like me it will be gone in one short evening. but to be honest if it was 1000 pages i would have struggled to put it down.
This series would have made a great series of novels, maybe we can convince Christian to write a full novel on the man… best way is to buy the books (all of them) and review the fact that you love them.
I will be buying them all, that’s for sure.
Cannot recommend highly enough
(Parm)
rest of the series
Tom Swan and the Head of St George Part One: Castillon
Tom Swan and the Head of St George Part Two: Venice
Tom Swan and the Head of St George Part Three: Constantinople
Also on sites like amazon there seems to be a lot of backlash at present on Amazon regarding short stories. Comments like
. It’s too short
. I didn’t know it was a short story
. It stops just as it gets going
and many many more:
These things do not belong in feedback for a book on here: Amazon clearly label all short stories (EG see below for this book)
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 286 KB
Print Length: 100 pages
Publisher: Orion (11 April 2013)
Note where it says 100 pages, dead give away for the length of the book. (that answers the first couple of issues raised above)
Re: it stops just as it gets going! Well look at it in the same way as an episode of a great TV series. It’s a self-contained story, and leave you wanting more at the end so you come back next week… or in this case next month.
For 99p its an utter bargain.
July 23, 2014
The fourth Tom Swan installment is the best so far as it hits just the right notes and it coheres the story that came before - in a way this one is the natural ending of the first part (let's not the forget the huge cliffhangers volumes 2 and 3 ended on) while this ends at a new beginning; to give a mild spoiler Tom Swan gets married - at least more or less (!) -
Anyway now that the first part of the story is done and the new one is under way, one can look back and appreciate how good this serial is
polished version of the above on FBC:
http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com...
Anyway now that the first part of the story is done and the new one is under way, one can look back and appreciate how good this serial is
polished version of the above on FBC:
http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com...
June 7, 2015
Solo el inicio, con una batalla entre galeras, mantiene la acción del libro. Todo lo demás es el protagonista robando, yéndose de putas, y peleando con los Orsini. Pero al menos no decae mucho el interés por saber que va a pasarle a Tom, porque está lo suficientemente bien escrito como para mantener tu atención. Lo que si hace es acabar todas las historias que surgieron en los tres primeros capítulos de esta serie, algo que agradezco bastante. A ver que pasa en el siguiente, y penúltimo, en el que vuelve a mar Egeo.
April 18, 2013
Part Four of Tom Swan continues the exciting adventures of our young rogue/historian/soldier. Author Christian Cameron continues to prove himself one of the very best in historical fiction. His action packed novels absolutely absorb the reader in the time period. Looking forward to the next installment!
July 1, 2016
Tom Swan lands in Venice and then navigates back to Rome. A couple of entertaining "bar fights" along the way. I believe this edition of the story is largely a placeholder between bigger adventures. Good enough to keep me reading.
May 6, 2024
Part 5 of Tom Swan’s world-crossing spy/archaeology adventure sees some repercussions from earlier encounters. The Orsini and Bessarion both call him to task. Plot a little weak, premise wearing thin five episodes in. Good enough but flimsy.
April 16, 2013
Wonderful writing, wonderful story. Extremely enjoyable. My only problem was how long I had to wait for this installment.
December 30, 2014
Love the series.
October 16, 2015
Tom Swan and friends continue their adventure.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews