Carrhae

The Parthian Chronicles #4

by Peter Darman

‘Carrhae’ is the fourth and final instalment in the Parthian Chronicles, the adventures of King Pacorus of Dura, and follows on from ‘Parthian Vengeance’.

The great Parthian Civil War is over, leaving behind an empire exhausted by years of bloodshed. But no sooner have hostilities ended than Armenia, the client state of Rome, declares war on the empire and unleashes its army against Parthia.

Even Dura’s mighty army cannot stave off a series of defeats as the enemies of Parthia circle the empire like hungry wolves. And Pacorus knows that Marcus Licinius Crassus is also marching east to extend Rome’s rule from the Euphrates to the Indus and enslave the whole of Parthia.

The scene is set for a final showdown on the battlefield of Carrhae, a clash that will decide the destinies of two empires and two men.

Genres: Historical Fiction

536 pages, ebook

First published January 29, 2013

About the author

I was raised in Grantham, Lincolnshire and attended the King's Grammar School after passing the Eleven Plus exam. In the latter I clearly remember writing an essay on Oliver Cromwell – my first piece of military writing.

Then came a BA in history and international relations at Nottingham followed by a Master of Philosophy course at the University of York. The subject was the generalship and cavalry of Prince Rupert of the Rhine, my boyhood hero, during the English Civil War. The year I spent researching and writing at York, Oxford and at the British Library in London was a truly wonderful time.
I moved to London and eventually joined a small publishing company as an editor. Thus began my writing career.

Reviews

[Simon Binning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the final book in Peter Darman's Parthian series, and is a fitting end (although I see there is now a fifth book set in the middle of the series). The author has managed to create a large cast of characters who have all grown and developed throughout the series; this is no mean feat. Some have become what you expected of them, others have taken unexpected paths, but always in believable ways. The weave of fact and fiction is handled well (we know remarkably little about the Parthians; very few written records survive; most of our knowledge comes from other cultures who had their own bias), and although most people know the outcome of Carrhae, there is still plenty of intrigue and suspense in the build up. Overall, I feel that I really got to know the main characters in a way that is often rare in historical fiction, and the ending is, for me, simply beautiful (though I suspect some might find it too sentimental!)
If you have not read any of this series, I would urge you to read them in order; they will be much more rewarding, and well worth your time.

[Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last in a stunning series. The story line was complex enough to engage in both it's complexity and sweep and all the characters came through in three dimensions. This final book was a superb read - the best of the four books.

It was fascinating to read about the Carrhae campaign from the Parthian aspect rather than that of Crassus. I would say that Peter Darman is very under rated; he leaves Simon Scarrow in the cold, let alone Con Iggulden.

It was hard saying goodbye to old friends. Domitius, you will not be forgotten!

[Nabarz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best one in the series.

[Frank Shumaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so surprised to look on wikipedia and find many of the characters performed exactly as they did in the Roman wars as the book said. Parthian books 2 and 3 were great books but this was a masterpiece as it's rating by others reflects. Through the 4 books you go from teen years through the life of Prince/Pacorus and the Carrhae battle has been told from the Roman version many times. But few have tackled the half century like Darman. As I sted in my first book review I found his writing like David Gemmell as he liked to follow his characters and their associates through years of their lives, not just a snapshot of a few days of their life. Bernard Cornwell is like that too with his Sharpe, Saxon, archer series, and civil war novels. It is hard to express how much I enjoyed this series and having strong female characters added much to the mix. Read them, don't get hung up on proofing errors and for $12 or so get the equivalent of 2 or 3 Game of Thronessized novels.......shu

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great conclusion to an amazing series...I don't what else to say. All four books are among some of the best I've ever read. Pacorus is one of my favorite characters up there with Uhtred Ragnarsson, Jon Snow, Arimnestos from Killer of Men, Vaelin Al Sorna and Royce Gelborn.

The author brings you to this time period and doesn't let you go, I was googling maps of the places he was talking about and searching about characters as they popped up.

Now what the hell am I supposed to read!?!?

[Ralph Halse · Rating 5 out of 5]

As soon as I knew Darman's final in the Parthian series was released, I purchased it and I was not dissappointed.

Without getting into a 'spoiler' recommendation, my interpretation of this conclusion was well thoughout, interesting, not predictable and set the final tone well.

Readers of historical fiction will enjoy the series on Rome versus Parthia immensly.

[oweb26 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best one in the series, the best thing about this entire series is even with all the fighting you develop a connection with the characters through all the wars and turns with the books.

Not many books can make me say wow when I finish them but this one did!

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having listened to, and enjoyed, the audiobooks of the first three volumes of the Parthian Chronicles on Scribd as they didn't have the fourth and final* volume so I added it to the reading list to complete the saga.

Set in the Parthian 'Dark Ages' Darman does a good job of filling in the historical vagaries to create an enjoyable tale based around the exploits of Pacorus, King of Dura. The fourth volume is centred around the heavy defeat of Crassus army at Carrhae, which given so many words have been written on the battle, does lead to a bit of an anti-climax as you know what is going to happen (indeed the Battle at Hatra earlier in the book is much more tense). That said the book was an enjoyable read and rounded off the four books of the Parthian Chronicles nicely.

Until...

* whilst Darman intended this to be the last book he decided to re-visit Parthia for a fifth volume (Companions, set between books 2 and 3) and then subsequently continued Pacorus' adventures after the Roman defeat at Carrhae and is now up to volume 14 - so I have a lot more visits to Dura and the Parthian Empire to come! :-)

[ali shaibani · Rating 4 out of 5]

entertaining

The good: the author brings to life the Parthian side, which has been completely underrepresented and ignored in a Roman centric history. He has created sympathetic protagonists and his descriptions of battles are engaging.
What could be better:
-The Parthians practiced local versions of Zoroastrianism, with significant emphasis on Mithra, also associated with the Sun and warriors. Unfortunately the gods mentioned are more Assyrian or Sumerian.
- Cremation would not be the preferred method of taking care of the dead.
- Dobbai- as a Scythian/Iranian would also have primarily worshipped in the Iranian Pantheon
- Surena was an amazing figure, scion of one of the seven great Parthian families.
- Sarmatians were steppe Iranian people who would have had a lot of commonality with the Parthians

Overall a good attempt to give credit to the Parthians

[Gerry Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fitting end to a warlord who desired peace

A satisfying read. Brought the story of Pacorous to peaceful close. Well written, full of action a unpredicaltable plot twists. I can't wait the start the book in the series. I'm curious to see who the lead characters will be now that all the companions have passed over into the afterlife

[Brian Bigelow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent continuation of the series. I think it was originally intended to end with this book as it seems to close up the story line quite well. Pacorus is elderly at the end of this book.
Now on to Companions for me.

[Jerry Mercer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Novel Ending

Payouts and his friends and family will always have a place in my memories of good novels. The ending was particularly moving and I commend author Darman for his well-written story.

[Steven Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super Read

Well this did not go exactly as I thought it would 😇 the ending took me somewhat by surprise but I loved the story line, it brought me a great deal of enjoyment and I see that there is still a long way to go 😁

[Sam Cigno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book

Fantastic book read it in less than a week could not put it down. What are the most enjoyable boss ever especially the last several chapters.

[John Carstairs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

Brilliant read another one you cannot put down as you need to know how things end.Very well written from the first book to this one

[Mike Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 4 is an emotional end to the story and appears that it was meant that way. But wait, there are more how does that work? All I can say is it was a jolt to read book 5 and the stories which move more into a greater emphasis on the gods and similar themes. I love the 10 books I've read so far but if you want to stick to historical fiction without the almost Homeric trend in the next books perhaps this should be the last!

My best advice would be take a break after book 4 before moving on to the other books but this is a great series and well worth reading them all.

[Suryabrata Banerjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story about King Pacorus of Dura-Europos, a sub-king and high general of Parthia empire during the time of Crassus, Julias Caeser and Pompei. It is written in first person by King Pacorus describing his life and the events of that era. It reaches its climax at the battle of Carrhae where Crussus get crushed after invading party. It is a good read, but for some reason I always felt that Pacorus is a good man (although described by himself), however, we never get to know his opponent's opinion, except perhaps when Mithridates (High King of Parthia, whom Pacorus defeated to put another good person and his friend, Orodes, in throne) accuse him being the cause of the civil war. I felt Mithridates argument was valid and a story could have been made with Mithridates as protagonist. In this story also Pacorus appears to be having all the luck with him and able to pull out a victory against all odds, often with the help of rescuers. Annoyingly, after all that he gets the credit for all those victories.
However I found it interesting enough to finish it and started reading the story leading to this one, so I guess I liked it after all.

[Margareth8537 · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent conclusion to the series.

[Jay Ranton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book