El rey del Bósforo

Tyrant #4

by Christian Cameron

En el capítulo anterior de la saga, Tirano. Juegos funerarios, los gemelos Sátiro y Melita, herederos de un próspero reino a orillas del mar Negro, son obligados a exiliarse tras el asesinato de su madre a manos de Herón, un antiguo camarada de su padre.Ahora Herón gobierna el reino que les pertenece, pero no sabe que Sátiro y Melita se han endurecido en las batallas libradas por los sucesores de Alejandro Magno. Esta vez, en cuanto reúnan sus fuerzas nada ni nadie les impedirá planear su venganza.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Greece, Fantasy, War, Ancient

561 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 3, 2011

About the author

Aka 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.

Reviews

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Read in Spanish] -- [Reseña en español más abajo]

This is what I like about sagas: It gets me so excited to read from the beginning to the very end because I ask myself "And now what?" and I just want to keep on reading the next one immediately. This is what's happening to me with this saga. I really like the characters, even though sometimes they are too many, meaning too many names, which confuses me and I have to rewind a bit to check who is who.
Despite being long books, I still enjoy them a lot, especially the endings that make me want to keep on reading the next one. I like the historical context a lot and also how the laces are describes, since I am a big geography fan. The story is also very well written, with many elements that fix very well in a novel.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Esto es lo que me gusta de las sagas: me emociona leer el principio y el final porque me pregunto "Y ahora qué sigue?" y quiero seguir leyendo inmediatamente el otro. Eso es lo que me está pasando con esta saga... me gustan muchos los personajes, a pesar de que a veces son demasiados y también los nombres, lo que me confunde de vez en cuando y debo retroceder algunas páginas para ver quién era quién.
A pesar de ser libros largos, de todas formas los disfruto mucho, sobre todo los finales que me hacen querer seguir leyendo. Me gusta mucho el contexto histórico y también cómo se describen los lugares ya que soy un amante de la geografía. También está muy bien estructurada, con varios elementos que encajan muy bien en una novela.

[Michal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, I am done with this series for good. I really liked the first book (especially the setting) and since I love other Cameron's series I was trying really hard to like the Tyrant series, too. The main problem for me are the characters. Satyrus lacks personality, and Melitta's parts are either very boring, or annoyingly implausible. Needless to say, these are just my opinions, everyone should probably try these books for themselves, because others' reactions are very positive. For me this is 1.6 stars.

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

End to end action, on sea, on land, on the steppes, with great characters and no quarter given, while the atmosphere is pitch perfect.
I am curious where the series will go next, but here we have a book that fulfills the promise of the first volume and of the preceding duology in spades.

I plan to review this (with a short discussion of previous installments) on FBc soon and will add the full review here as usual

FBC review

INTRODUCTION/OVERVIEW: "Tyrant: King of the Bosporus" is the fourth book in the extended Tyrant series and the second book in the series that follows Satyrus and Melitta the children of the heroes of the original Tyrant duology - series that now seems to be planned at four volumes, making for a total of six Tyrant books all together - that started in Funeral Games last year.

The original series that comprises of two books, Tyrant and Tyrant: Storm of Arrows follows the adventures of Kineas, an Athenian nobleman and commander of Alexander's allied Greek cavalry until he and his comrades are politely but summarily dismissed after the final defeat of Darius at Gaugamela in 331 BC.

Not welcome back in democratic Athens as both nobleman and "lackey of the Macedonians", Kineas is forced to find his fortune on the Black Sea as cavalry commander for the tyrant of Olbia; with a mixture of former and new comrades and allying himself with the Scythians Sakje, Kineas rises high in the Black Sea and contiguous steppes arena, though he is haunted by a prophecy about his final battle... And the Macedonians are coming both for the free Greek cities of the Black Sea in the West and to subdue the Scythians of the steppes in the East, so Kineas must face his former boss and idol, the Boy King and his Companions in battle.

This duology while hemmed a little by the prophecy which made the last several hundred pages a bit too predictable starts like a good but "I've seen this before" one, only to explode into one of the most memorable books about the era of Alexander with great characters, atmosphere and take-no prisoners attitude. Highly recommended.

Fast forward some 12-13 years later to 316 BC, seven years after Alexander's death when the fight for the pieces of his empire is intensifying and Tyrant: Funeral Games begins. Kineas' twin children with his Scythian warrior-princess wife are growing up with their mother who leads a mixed Greek-Scythian city founded by Kineas in the Black Sea hinterland. But when Eumeles, a former comrade of Kineas and now local bigwig, decides the three are a threat to his ambitions and brutally murders their mother Srayanka, the twins escape only due to the martial skills of their guardian, the Spartan warrior Philokles who was their father's best friend and companion.

Chased by Eumeles' minions led by the brutal Athenian mercenary Stratokles and getting involved in the wars of the successors, Satryus and Melitta find sanctuary in Alexandria at the court of Ptolemy, Alexander's former general who had some interesting encounters with Kineas in the original series. With the fortune of the African merchant Leon - another of Kineas' people - and the soldiers of Diodorus- one of Kineas' officers who kept to the mercenary business all this time - the two plan both revenge and to claim their inheritance and take the Black Sea cities from Eumeles, but first they have to help Ptolemy survive a challenge to his rule of Egypt from the most powerful of Alexander's generals Antigonus who wants nothing less than to recreate the full empire with him in command. And the fight that comes will be bloody and worth of the book title...

The story of Ptolemy's securing his rule in Egypt was also recounted in a slightly more fantastic setting in the wonderful Jo Graham novel Stealing Fire (FBC review).

King of the Bosporus starts in 311 BC when Funeral Games ends and Satyrus and Melitta believe they are finally ready to take on Eumeles. But Melitta is pregnant, so she is unwillingly confined to bed for a time, while Eumeles and his powerful allies have a long reach even to Alexandria, so he is prepared...

Before discussing why "King of the Bosporus" is another successful offering from the author, I would like to mention that Christian Cameron has started another wonderful series, this time about the turbulent era of the Persian Wars in the 490's-470's BC. The first volume published last fall, Killer of Men was another big time favorite which I have just missed reviewing here as I did with Funeral Games for that matter, but I plan to remedy this and review the sequel Marathon later this year when it will be published.

ANALYSIS: What makes Christian's Cameron historical fiction set in the Classical World in general and this book in particular stand out?

The first thing you notice when reading any Tyrant or Long War series book is the meticulous research and the pitch perfect atmosphere. No anachronisms here and also no "modern attitudes" from the characters which is one of my main turn-offs in the genre unless done extremely well in an ironical mode. The author's website linked above has a lot of "behind the scenes" information about the period in cause and how he chose this or that term, this or that scene and that adds considerable value too.

The novels are also page turners and relatively free of infodumps, so the recreation in depth mentioned above is incorporated seamlessly in the narrative and in each of the 5 books to date, I found myself compelled to keep reading as much as time would allow once I opened the respective book.

Getting down to the Satyrus and Melitta tetralogy and to King of Bosporus in particular, I would say that the main difference here is the youth and expectations of the main characters, though it is well tempered by the superb ensemble cast from the original duology as well as the new ones appearing here first.

The twins are born to relative privilege and expectations - the Scythians have a strong matriarchal component, so Melitta like her mother Srayanka could and (of course later would) become a warrior too, heir on her own to the Sakje "crown", while Satyrus could claim his Greek heritage in the Black Sea cities. Brutally thrown out of their normal life in a mixed Greek-Scythian milieu and running for their lives as 13 year olds tends to shape one's character and I think that the author managed to show that very well.

Satyrus alternates between overconfidence and insecurity, while Melitta tries to both emulate her mother's warrior heritage but also fit into the Greek world where "decent" women, especially of the upper classes, are expected to stay home, defer to men and run the household, rather than go and fight with bow and arrows on a trireme or on horseback and bed the men of their choice. It is true that their formative years in the "new life" are in Alexandria which at the time is a new city with less tradition than say Athens, but this "belonging and not belonging" at the same time is to me the main characteristic of the two main heroes of the tetralogy and shapes their actions to a large extent.

Like Funeral Games, King of the Bosporus is also almost end to end action, on sea, on land, on the steppes with naval battles, sacked cities, brutal killings, pirates, cavalry action, but also intrigue, camaraderie and the expected touch of the fantastic in the classical world style of blurring the line between reality and the supernatural.

Since this book has a lot of closure and in a sense concludes the main thread from Funeral Games, I am really curious where the series will go in the next two volumes announced for early 2012 and 2013, but King of the Bosporus (A+) is a book that fulfills the promise of the first volume and of the preceding duology in spades.

[Miguel Angel Pedrajas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta cuarta parte de la saga "Tirano" me ha parecido la menos emocionante y frenética de todas. No está nada mal, pero a momentos se hace larga y es mucho menos épica y rabiosa que las anteriores.

La novela discurre la estrategia a dos bandas jugada por los hermanos Sátiro y Melita, con el objetivo común de tomarse revancha y derrocar al rey del Bósforo. La guerra de los Diádocos queda muy difuminada y apenas aparece en esta parte. Hay algunas batallas emocionantes. Pero en general, en algunos momentos parece que estamos en un interludio que nos llevará a un desenlace mucho más emocionante y épico. Esperemos que sí.

[Clemens Schoonderwoert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This adventurous book is the 4th volume of the ever better getting Tyrant series.
As before the book has been historically very well researched and described in the historical and author's note at the end of the book, while there is also a well defined glossary and great maps at the beginning of the book.
Storytelling is once again of an absolute top-quality, for the author has the ability to bring vividly to life the Ancient Greek world in its most brutal way but also in its most beautiful way, so much so that it keeps you thrilled right till the end.
The book starts off in the year 311 BC and it will end in the year 310 BC, and we are following Satyrus and Melitta who are staying at their adopted home of Alexandria in Egypt, which is ruled by Ptolemy, former general of Alexander the Great.
But the time has come for Satyrus and Melitta to fulfil their obligation and thus seek revenge on the man who ordered their mother's death, Eumeles (formerly Heron), and to take back what is rightfully theirs, the Black Sea Kingdom.
And so they finally set out for war and take their revenge on the treacherous people who betrayed them and their mother, and in doing so they have to fight very hard to succeed before making their vengeance complete.
What follows is a wonderful book full with great battle scenes, gripping interaction between the characters within this tale, and treachery from all kinds of people in this warlike Greek world, all this things make this book so intriguingly spellbound.
Highly recommended for this is for sure "A Kinglike Greek Story"!

[Shane Findlay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outside of the fantasy genre Cameron is definitely my favourite author.

[NekroRider · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5

It took me a bit to get into this one but it was largely because January turned busy fast and I didn't get much reading done. This was another great book in the series, though. I personally sometimes find naval stories get tedious when they go on for chapters on end, so it was great that that wasn't the case here. Instead, the chapters switched back and forth between Satyrus (naval) and Melitta's (land/steppes) povs which kept things fresh and moving well.

It was good to see the two main characters grow the way they did. Too often, a young person who becomes a leader "too young" can be portrayed in a very annoying way. But Satyrus in particular was able to make the mistakes of youth while also having the wisdom to learn from those who care about him, and to change. The dialogue between him and Sappho (and Hama and Carlus and others) during the Philae situation was really well done imo. I also always appreciate the wah Cameron describes the sheer exhaustion of his characters as well as the resilience and perseverence.

[Clay Kallam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled into this six-book series by way of one of my favorite recent fantasy series, the Traitor Son Cycle by Miles Cameron. I noticed that, for some unknown reason, Cameron also wrote under the name of Christian Cameron, and had a series set in the time of Alexander the Great.

As one who knows way too much about that Hellenistic time period, and one who loved Cameron’s previous work, I was all in from the moment I started volume one, Tyrant. And as this is a connected series that really needs to be read in order to be appreciated, this review is of all six books considered as a whole, rather than a review of each book (though parenthetical notes will be appended for each).

The story covers about 30 years of ancient history, ending in 301 BCE at the Battle of Ipsos. Now if you already know who won the Battle of Ipsos, you will be a little too far ahead of the game, for much of the suspense of the series (which includes other historical events) will be lost – and you will also be surprised by some revisions Cameron makes in order to tell the story the way he wants to.

But the basic premise is this: Cameron inserts fictional, high-ranking characters into the complicated weave of Hellenistic history, and has them participate in events both major and minor. For the most part, this works extremely well, as Cameron’s grasp of the minutiae of Hellenistic life and his gritty sense of the bloody, painful and horrific cost of ancient warfare is superb. He is also an excellent writer, so the story moves along at a brisk pace, flagging only momentarily in the later volumes.

There are issues, of course. Like Star Trek, Kineas and Satyrus, the two main protagonists, are in the front lines way too often to be believed, especially in the later books, and their interactions with the major historical figures seem unnecessary, as if the editors insisted that somehow Kineas and Alexander are in contact, and so are Satyrus and various Hellenistic leaders.

Cameron, though, is perfectly willing to kill off major characters, and in sudden and unexpected ways, which adds a tremendous amount of tension to battle scenes and assassination attempts (unlike Star Trek). There’s also some magical realism thrown in, but any attempt to explain the plot would require much more patience than any reader of this review is likely to have.

But in short, Kineas, Satyrus and his woefully underutilized twin sister Melitta (why wasn’t she more prominent in the narrative?), all represent what we now consider Southern Russia, at the north of what we call the Black Sea. In those times, it was the place where the steppe nomads and expanding population of farmers and colonizers crossed paths, and it became a crucial part of the Hellenistic game of thrones given its ability to produce grain that the Mediterranean cities desperately needed to feed their people.

So Cameron tosses these characters, their soldiers and their grain into the Hellenistic mix, and in the end, comes up with a wonderful series that I enjoyed from start to finish. Then again, I love excellent historical fiction, and this is my favorite period, so I’m hardly unbiased. But I will say this: If you have even a passing interest in the world of Alexander the Great after his death, the Tyrant series is for you. I just wish there were more than six volumes.

* * * * *

OK, this annoyed me throughout this and the concluding books: The Bosporus is the strait that divides Europe and Asia, and Istanbul is the key. Cameron, however, insists on calling Crimea and environs, 350 miles away, the Bosporus, for no apparent reason.

I grant you this is serious nitpicking, but why not King of the Crimea? Or the Euxine?

[Cheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I had hoped. Even though the premise was quite interesting, the story failed to meet the quality of the previous book. Felt a bit like a slog reading the entire book but I finished it and it feels lukewarm. King of the Bosporus continues the lives of twins Satyrus and Melitta, who lost their kingdom and were automatically exiled from their birthplace. Now that they have come of age, they seek to regain their birthright as twin monarchs in the Bosporus. To do this, both of them must gather strength and allies to outwit and defeat the Tyrant of Pantecapaeum, Eumeles.

Cameron portrays Eumeles as a proper tyrant, as someone who is clever and ruthless. It’s clear that Satyrus and Melitta needed to prove their worth and guile before facing Eumeles and yet, Cameron didn’t flesh out Eumeles’ story at all. The bulk of the chapters focused on Satyrus and Melitta, never Eumeles. And so, when the twins eventually succeeded in defeating Eumeles, it felt anti-climactic. Cameron painted Eumeles as a downright villain without a proper background or personal motivation apart from being hungry for power.

However, there is a tidbit that I found interesting in this book. When a Sakje wants to commune with the spirit or walk through the spirit world, they erect a tent, put up a brazier, throw some seeds, and inhale the smokes. This was quite historically accurate regarding the Scythian people (the direct inspiration for Cameron’s Sakje people in this series).

‘Sakje people took smoke by erecting small tents of hide, shaped like the pyramids of Aegypt, the seams sealed with good pine pitch from the northern forests. Then they lit small braziers – ornate works of bronze and brass, many made by Greek smiths in the towns, with refined charcoal made by the Sindi charcoal-burners in the valleys. When the brazier was hot, the Sakje would throw handfuls of seeds – mostly from the wild hemp, but some from other plants; every man and woman had her own particular choices, for scent and depth of dreams – and the smoke would fill the tent, and people would sit and dream, or walk the spirit ways.’

Historically, the seeds which was thrown into the brazier by the Scythians (or the Sakje in Cameron’s Tyrant series) were probably the cannabis flower. Interestingly enough, the word cannabis itself is derived from the Scythian word kanab. They didn’t just inhale the smokes though, they also soaked themselves in the vapour of it and possibly drank some opium concoction.

Overall, King of the Bosporus seems to suffer from middle book syndrome. What keeps me going is the fascinating cultural description of some of the Sakje’s nomadic way of life in this book.

References that I found regarding the Scythian drug-induced vapour bath:

・ Gold Artifacts Tell Tale of Drug-Fueled Rituals of the Scythians
・ Cannthropology: Saga of the Scythians

[Jose Marquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Como las obras anteriores, la cinemática es impresionante y te mantiene en suspenso para devorar el próximo capítulo.
Un balance muy equilibrado entre narración y descripción que destaca en las batallas navales y las cargas de caballería e infantería, en esta saga mejora bastante la comprensión de la descripción asumo que por mejor traduccion ya que el autor fue militar.
Antes de terminar este cuarto libro ya acariciaba el próximo para comenzarlo; en realidad no se porque demore tampoco en comenzar a leer esta saga tan apasionante.
Ya en el cuarto libro hay suficiente cantidad de mapas en este libro y los demás para orientarse en el contexto de la geografía tanto del Euxino y Alejandría.

[Nicholas Berndt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story.

Cameron is probably my favorite author these days. I’ve loved every book that he’s written and this series is the last one I’ve gotten to. I thought the series started off slowly but has picked up steam a lot after getting through quite a bit of historical account that was needed to better understand the story. I’m very happy with this series and can’t wait to read his future works. Awesome settings, beautifully worded, interesting plot, and a time period and location that are under-written. Five stars.

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

First, I didn't realize this was not the first in the series. Second, I didn't realize this was the forth until I started writing this review.
There is nothing worse than trying to read historical fiction and instead getting modern characters dressed up in costumes.
The plot is boring (a bunch of bloodshed and 'I wants'), the characters depraved (not a likable one in the bunch to care about), the language crude (fuck wasn't created until the 1670's) and I couldn't finish it.

[David Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had trouble with this one in the series. a good part of the story covers how young teenaged twins are able to almost single handedly rally support and re establish themselves as leaders in their parents kingdoms as well as defeating powerful enemies. This really stretched my credulity. It is still a good read, and the historical backdrop is very nicely drawn, but unfortunately not up to the standard of the first two in this series.

[Anthony Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book I read of Christian Cameron, I've now read all but one. He is, in my opinion, the best writer of historical fiction. Across many ages of history his research is impeccable, his plots varied and exciting, his characters real or fictional are indepth, his battles and fights are bloody but educational as to the arms used and how, and the normalcy of every day life let you imagine you are there. Brilliant and extraordinary.

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Más de la saga Tirano, el cuarto libro es la épica historia de dos niños que se convierten en reyes. Tiene el encanto del viaje del héroes llegando a su final, con una buena dosis de aventura épica por el camino.

La transformación de los protagonistas es notable, aunque a veces resulta un poco precipitada.

En cualquier caso, lo devoré.

[Amzon_Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Great Series.

The series is long, the wars are much longer, but it’s well worth your effort. Solidly brilliant historical fiction, OK. Read it now. Do this thing!

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good addition to this series.

[Luis Sagi-Vela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuarto libro de la serie Tirano.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, Goodreads somehow has the wrong label for the paperback edition of this book - this is the paperback of King of the Bosphorus, not Funeral Games (which is book 3 of the series). The cover in the thumbnail is correct though.

It's been a while since I read the third one, so it took a little while to get back up to speed with how things were at the end of part 3. But this moves the story along nicely. It can be a little difficult keeping track of the various characters, but I also like the variety of characters - it's a nice reminder that the ancient world was more cosmopolitan that many people perhaps realise. Those differences also help to distinguish some of the characters from each other - and I also enjoy the depiction of their varying proficiency levels in each other's languages.

And as usual, the author has done his research on the era, so the scenes you're reading feel believable and detailed. I already have the fifth book out from the library, so I can get straight on with continuing the series.

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

No podría darle menos de cinco estrellas, es una de mis sagas favoritas y Christian Cameron no me defrauda. Me tarde bastante en terminarlo porque en serio disfruto mucho la prosa de Cameron y porque son muy difíciles de conseguir en físico. Ahora no se cuando pueda conseguir el siguiente.

[Mangieto · Rating 4 out of 5]

No tengo mucho que decir, lo bueno del libro fue la parte naval. Christian Cameron es fuerte en el tema, por lo que noto, y me imagino que Sátiro es tan dado a la marina por esa parte de sí mismo.
Pero bueno, hablando del libro. Los protagonistas, Sátiro y Melita, ya llevan dos libros y no acaban de gustarme. Los siento un tanto simplones en comparación con los personajes de los libros anteriores, quiero pensar que es por sus edades...aunque al final no me gustaron y punto. Y de ambos, quien menos me gustó fue Melita.
De la trama, está fragmentada en mi memoria, pero por lo que puedo decir fue densa. Acción por todas partes, muchas cosas sucediendo y muchas personas actuando.
Lo que salvó este libro para mí fue que adoro a Christian Cameron por los dos primeros libros de la serie. Y espero que a medida que los gemelos crecen vuelva la conexión con los personajes del libro.

[Chris Wray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good, and I enjoyed it more than the previous book in the series. However, everything seemed to work out a bit too smoothly in the end, and all the newer characters (including the central two) are quite forgettable, with none of them being as interesting and memorable as Kineas, Philokles and Srayanka from the earlier books. The characterisation is strongest when the focus is on the older characters, particularly from the first two novels. Still, the setting is fascinating, and Cameron writes well enough that I'll stick with the series, though I probably won't reread it.

[Jerome · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what it is about Christian Cameron. I like reading his books, he's a good novelist and he's writing about a time period that I'm currently interested in and that few have written novels about. However, he doesn't inspire me and I'm not sure why. Just like the previous three books in the series, I've enjoyed my time reaing the book and I'm glad I read it, but not once did I really look forward to picking up the book at the end of the day.

[John Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

love the series of books of the tyrant series. Going to start to read the long series war tonight Mr cameron along with Mr ben kane are becoming my favs in historical fiction books. i was mostly reading civil war books non fictions but there was something missing, so i pick up mr kane book and i was hooked.

[Unbestechlich · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5
Unfortunately it's less than 'i really liked it'. But just for the sake of my beloved old characters. In fact it's less captivating than the first ones, especially two first books that were just brilliant, and two main characters are a bit...pale so to say. well i still really like Cameron's style

[Breg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, great sea battles, I would have liked more of this. All characters (Slaves and Lords) have names and you can lose a little on each of them. A historical novel is difficult to write but Cameron ordered fine.

[Margareth8537 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book moves between the twins as they struggle to regain their position.
There is always a lot happening, but if you have followed the series you know who is who and it is interesting to see what happens to them.
Definitely not a standalone book

[Radek.drab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good description of naval and terrestrial battles in times of Alexander the Great.

[Carlton · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can't be afraid of dying if you seek a kingship or want to hold on to one. (The old version of a King, that is.)

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these books