The Golden Throne: The Curse of a King

by Christopher de Bellaigue

'Wolf Hall for the Ottoman Empire . . . History at its most gripping' Daily Telegraph on The Lion House

A ground-breaking, present-tense reconstruction of the life and world of one of the most consequential figures in world history, Suleyman the Magnificent, from the author of The Lion House

Chosen by The Times as one of the Best Books of 2025

‘A wonderful book – entrancing, addictive, full of effortless erudition’ Rory Stewart

Istanbul, 1538. The greatest of the Ottoman Sultans is at the pinnacle of world power, while his family and future are at the mercy of their own dynastic whichever of his five sons succeeds him must eventually kill all the others. So why not get a head start?

For the next fifteen years, as Suleyman the Magnificent and his terrifying pirate captain Barbarossa face down imperial enemies across two hemispheres, the self-fulfilling curse of the Ottomans gathers its own unstoppable momentum.

From the burning pyres of Paris to the rain-lashed mountains of Transylvania, from Buda to Basra, from Crimea to the coast of India, The Golden Throne is an intensely gripping yet entirely historical reconstruction of the life and world of the most feared and powerful man of the sixteenth century, revealing the price of succession and the terrible cost of success.

‘The pace, the language and the story-telling are simply magnificent’ Victoria Hislop

‘Thrilling entertainment created out of meticulously researched history’ Robert Peston

‘Mesmerizing, superb, impossible to put down' Simon Sebag Montefiore

'Wonderful and highly enjoyable' Margaret MacMillan

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Historical, Middle East

228 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 6, 2025

About the author

Christopher de Bellaigue was born in London in 1971 and has worked as a journalist in the Middle East and South Asia since 1994. His first book, In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: A Memoir of Iran, was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize. His latest book is Patriot of Persia: Muhammad Mossadegh and a Tragic Anglo-American Coup. He lives in Tehran with his wife and two children.

Reviews

[Wendy Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

**Not finished.
I was really looking forward to this book given some of the reviews, and because it was on a topic I have been diving into this year (Ottoman history). However, it did not live up to the hype. I am not convinced the approach - i.e. writing in the present tense and more informally - really worked. I found this rather jarring at times; e.g., reading about an incident in Ottoman times, and modern informal language like "Well this is awkward" being used.
I also found the text jumped around a lot, seemingly so the author could jam in a random story or piece of information. Yes, that content was interesting, but it felt like a constant stream of non sequiturs.
For folks interested in this historical topic, there are better and more readable sources.

[Harry Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think I preferred the first but still very interesting and uniquely written.

[Anand · Rating 3 out of 5]

de Bellague has tried something fresh and elegant, but I struggled to follow along. Writing in the present perfect, the style is that of a cynic and snark, delivered in a deadpan that lacks the structure and scaffolding of a good story. There are some terrific phrases - this must be the first history book to use “grizzled sexed up bugaboo”, “bullshit artist” and “swinging dicks” to describe players in the Franco-Austro-Hungarian-Ottoman drama. I admire the author for trying something new, and will probably read the next one in this trilogy anyway (Lion House was excellent) but this style didn’t work.

[Patrick Elsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very odd book, it’s written in a very off way.

[Ahmet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a conventional narrative history. It is told more as a novel or a play, with the narrative darting about the empire, bringing in the key players in the story. These include his most famous consort, Hurrem (also known as Roxelana) and her rival Mahidevran. His sons, who in the Ottoman tradition would compete for his throne, and the various officials, including Grand Vizier, Lufti Pasha, Barbarossa and Sinan the architect. External influences are not ignored. These include the French King Francis I, who was loosely allied to the Ottomans in competition with Charles V of Spain. Looking eastwards, the Iranians were led by Tahmasp, Shah of Iran.

Overall, the narrative jumped around too much, and didn't flow. I appreciate that it may draw others into the period, and that's a good thing. In the West, Suleiman's contemporaries, like Francis and Henry VIII, are better known, without this fascinating sultan's achievements.

[Rose Gan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was more entertained by this sequel than the first volume, Lion House, and The Golden Throne certainly made up for the almost complete absence of Suleiman in the first book, but I was still left wanting by the last page. I simply don’t like de Bellaigue’s writing style, an odd mix of erudite bombast and crude modern slang. He also favours sentences without main verbs- hanging fragments of statements which require a second or third read to make sense.

The end is also very abrupt. Is there to be a third part? One would imagine so, because the events that directly follow are explosive. But do I want to struggle my way through a future third volume by this author?

[Hbomb · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 tbh this is prob better than 3.5 and I'm just not the right clientele? I really wanted to learn about the Ottoman empire and I did...but I was constantly having to go back to the front to read the list of names and who they were. also there were walls of text that felt like the author had just thrown all his thoughts as they came to him and never stopped to think about restructuring sentences to appeal to a broader audience. I found it odd when a random modern joke was suddenly thrown in sporadically. Anyway, I feel I've learnt a good bit about 5-10yrs in the 1500s that wasn't Henry VIII.

[Emina · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author attempts too much. It‘s too bitty (small snapshots - almost shoehorned stories - which can feel bitty).

To be fair, I like some turns of phrases I read and they were apt - but that was about it…

[Torben Burkal · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is one good thing about this book.
It’s only 211 pages to read.

Probably the most boring and confusing book I have read for years

[Chris Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it but it is all over the place.
It doesn't really read as either a history or as a historical novel.
Fascinating though, and the more I read the more I realise what a hack GRRM is.

[David Irving · Rating 4 out of 5]

A plunge into the turbulent world of the 16th-century Ottomans, centring on Suleyman the Magnificent and the geopolitics and dynastic rivalries that shaped his reign. I approached this book knowing embarrassingly little about this civilisation and era, but the author’s meticulous research and vivid detail illuminated an entire world. The book is undeniably fascinating, offering glimpses into imperial politics and intimate palace dramas. However, despite this, the narrative sometimes felt disjointed, sacrificing narrative flow for exhaustive detail. 3.5 stars