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Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade #7
Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade: Part Seven
Fifteenth-century Europe. Tom Swan is not a professional soldier. He's really a merchant and 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, he begins a series of adventures that take him to street duels in Italy, meetings with remarkable men - from Leonardo Da Vinci to Vlad Dracula - and from the intrigues of the War of the Roses to the fall of Constantinople.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
115 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 30, 2015
38 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Christian Cameron
81 books1,109 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 17, 2023
Another great episode of Tom Swan.
October 30, 2019
Actual rating: 4.00
August 1, 2015
This is the best Tom Swan yet. 100+ pages of pure adrenaline, action, and suspense. You will admire Thomas Swan's audacity and inspiration at the Pavillion. You will be riveted at each awesome narrative of the battles - and there's more than one packed into this surprisingly short book. You will cringe at each blow he takes and wonders if he will survive with body intact. You will turn page after page in a breakneck, frenzied speed that matches the pace of the narrative (eventhough you originally planned to spend a longer time reading it). You will marvel at the outcome at the last few pages just as you wish the next few books are already out so that you can follow what happens next.
Incredible, really, how Mr Cameron packed so much awesomeness into a short story. Each Tom Swan is the same - novellas jam-packed with really well written, face-paced action and character development - the quality and quantity I'd usually come to associate with longer, epic books. If you haven't gotten into these books yet, you don't know what you're missing!
Incredible, really, how Mr Cameron packed so much awesomeness into a short story. Each Tom Swan is the same - novellas jam-packed with really well written, face-paced action and character development - the quality and quantity I'd usually come to associate with longer, epic books. If you haven't gotten into these books yet, you don't know what you're missing!
June 1, 2024
Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade is another excellent instalment in the Tom Swan series. This short novella provides a suitably epic culmination of the siege of Belgrade. There is plenty of action, including a long fight scene. Tom Swan is not enjoying his war, and it shows. Cameron portrays a wonderful riot of brave camaraderie and seething fear mixed with the horrors of war. It's an excellent story from a consistently brilliant writer. Highly recommended.
August 5, 2015
Congratulations mr Christian G. Cameron! What a stunning finale of the Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade short stories series. Admitted I am a big fam of mr. Camerons work, but this might be his best work ever!(until now) Pictures of the siege of Dross Delnoch from`Legend' by David Gemmell came to mind when I read Tom Swan 7, but this is even better.
As soon as the Siege of Belgrade series started, I started digging a bit, and some of my Serbian friends filled in some of the gaps in my knowledge, so I knew the basic outline of the Siege of Belgrade beforehand, but the way Tom Swan blends into the events is simply brilliant! A (fictional) day to day eyewhitness report from july the 15th to july the 22th 1456 from Tom Swan, the knight in armor, and his company of lances, in the hardest fight they have ever been into.
It is all painted so vivid and realistic as if you are there in the Siege.The fighting, the swordsplay, the adrenaline, elation and battle-lust, the pain, the wounds, the sores and the bruises, the stunning fatigue and the black backlash and depression of the aftermath, and still you go through all this, pick yourself up to clean and repair your gear, get the nicks out of your sword, and arm up for the next one..All of this up to the point where you are so tired you cannot think straight anymore. You are so sore you don't even notice from which wounds you are bleeding. Apart from this carnage that goes on non-stop for some 36 hours, Tom Swan wouldn't be Tom Swan if he didn't also have a few tricks up his sleeve in the best spy novel tradition to wrongfoot his adversaries.
Of course we all know the historical result. Against all odds Hunyady (and Tom Swan) the defenders of Belgrade and John of Capistrano's rabble cruisader army beat the Mighty Turkish army of Mehmet II. This victory led to the noon bell ritual that is still undertaken in Catholic and old Protestant churches nowadays. 22th of july is still a memorial day in Hungary.
As I have said before, to my opinion the Tom Swan Siege of Belgrade is a benchmark of HF short story writing, and this stunning finale nicely wraps it all up.
As soon as the Siege of Belgrade series started, I started digging a bit, and some of my Serbian friends filled in some of the gaps in my knowledge, so I knew the basic outline of the Siege of Belgrade beforehand, but the way Tom Swan blends into the events is simply brilliant! A (fictional) day to day eyewhitness report from july the 15th to july the 22th 1456 from Tom Swan, the knight in armor, and his company of lances, in the hardest fight they have ever been into.
It is all painted so vivid and realistic as if you are there in the Siege.The fighting, the swordsplay, the adrenaline, elation and battle-lust, the pain, the wounds, the sores and the bruises, the stunning fatigue and the black backlash and depression of the aftermath, and still you go through all this, pick yourself up to clean and repair your gear, get the nicks out of your sword, and arm up for the next one..All of this up to the point where you are so tired you cannot think straight anymore. You are so sore you don't even notice from which wounds you are bleeding. Apart from this carnage that goes on non-stop for some 36 hours, Tom Swan wouldn't be Tom Swan if he didn't also have a few tricks up his sleeve in the best spy novel tradition to wrongfoot his adversaries.
Of course we all know the historical result. Against all odds Hunyady (and Tom Swan) the defenders of Belgrade and John of Capistrano's rabble cruisader army beat the Mighty Turkish army of Mehmet II. This victory led to the noon bell ritual that is still undertaken in Catholic and old Protestant churches nowadays. 22th of july is still a memorial day in Hungary.
As I have said before, to my opinion the Tom Swan Siege of Belgrade is a benchmark of HF short story writing, and this stunning finale nicely wraps it all up.
September 18, 2015
Excellent ending to the Belgrade siege adventure of Tom Swan and arguably the best (and one of the longest both in pages and content/action) of the 13 to date; many moments to remember but Tom meeting the Sultan was the best imho
Next another series titled Tom Swan and the Last of the Spartans seems to be in the cards for early next year and that is obviously an asap - one issue (not unusual in longer series with one main hero) I am curious how the author will handle is Tom's continual rise in the world
Next another series titled Tom Swan and the Last of the Spartans seems to be in the cards for early next year and that is obviously an asap - one issue (not unusual in longer series with one main hero) I am curious how the author will handle is Tom's continual rise in the world
December 19, 2022
The siege of Belgrade was magnificent and I enjoyed that quite a lot! Looking forward to another adventure with Sir Tomaso Suane!
January 15, 2023
Very satisfying. A feast for any fan of wit and medieval military feats. Onwards!
August 13, 2015
Great ending to the Siege of Belgrade adventure. I can't wait for the further adventures of Tom Swan in: Tom Swan and the Last Spartans.
August 4, 2020
One of the top historical fiction writers of the age!
To many, history is dull. For any who might be of this opinion,I I urge him to read these absolutely thrilling tales. This is, effectively, could be called a coming-of-age series. But please don't judge the quality of this book by that phrase! Thomas swan is not the chosen one. He is a rascal and a scapegrace, and on his journeys we see how his experiences slowly forge him into something else.
Intrigued, terror, hunger, exhilaration, stench, dust, humor, anxiety....I don't have time nor donI have the space to go on. Just start from the first installment: Tom Swan and the Head of St. George. If you love history, you will not regret it.
To many, history is dull. For any who might be of this opinion,I I urge him to read these absolutely thrilling tales. This is, effectively, could be called a coming-of-age series. But please don't judge the quality of this book by that phrase! Thomas swan is not the chosen one. He is a rascal and a scapegrace, and on his journeys we see how his experiences slowly forge him into something else.
Intrigued, terror, hunger, exhilaration, stench, dust, humor, anxiety....I don't have time nor donI have the space to go on. Just start from the first installment: Tom Swan and the Head of St. George. If you love history, you will not regret it.
June 30, 2017
Excellent Historical Fiction sold in bite sized chunks.
March 5, 2020
So good.
This was another fantastic book by Cameron and set up the story wonderfully for the next section of the series.
This was another fantastic book by Cameron and set up the story wonderfully for the next section of the series.
October 10, 2023
Cameron can write. Love his descriptions.
October 31, 2023
Very entertaining. One of the best adventures I ever read. A true masterpiece. In German: sehr lesenswert. Please keep up that level of storytelling.
December 25, 2016
Buen final de serie, con el asalto entero de la ciudad, excepto por una excursión de Tom a ver al Califa. Buenas explicaciones sobre la batalla, sobre cómo se consigue superioridad en defensa de la ciudad cuando las murallas están bien construidas. Y un final que deja abierta una tercera serie. A-
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews