Strategos – serie

'A great story ... Doherty's writing is evocative, providing richly detailed scenes of life in medieval Byzantium' World History EncyclopediaTragedy broke him. Revenge will remake him.AD 1046. The Byzantine Empire teeters on the brink of full-blown war with the mighty Seljuk Sultanate. The two great powers vie to control Anatolia a land of strife, riven with bloodshed and doubt.Young Apion's life is shattered one night when his family is murdered during a brutal Seljuk raid. Left for dead in his burning home, then rescued but only to be sold into slavery, it seems that he is destined for a cruel life. Until a benevolent Seljuk farmer, Mansur, offers him a second chance at happiness.Yet despite his new life of pastoral harmony on Mansur's border farm, a hunger for revenge burns in Apion's soul. Then a fateful encounter draws him down a dark path that leads him right into the heart of a conflict that will echo through the agesThe gripping first novel in the Strategos series, perfect for fans of S.J.A. Turney and Simon Scarrow.

Even in the darkness of war, there is always a flicker of hope.AD 1068. The Seljuk Sultanate tears at Byzantium's borders. Alp Arslan's armies grow stronger with every victory, while the Byzantines forces dwindle, the hope in their hearts guttering its last. All cry out for a new warrior emperor to lead them to salvation.This war has been Apion's mistress for many years now. As Strategos high general of the Chaldian border army, he is driven, shrewd and fearless.When news emerges that a new soldier-emperor, Romanus Diogenes, is to be crowned, Apion is summoned to Constantinople to witness the ascension. It is not the formality he expects. Instead, he is lured into a lethal plot, where enemies within seek to divert power into the hands of another.Then reports arrive of a renewed Seljuk assault on the Byzantine borders. Apion must use all his wits to guide Diogenes safely onto the throne, and then spirit him to the head of the army to meet the Seljuk threat and to give the soldiers back their hope.The thrilling second novel in the Strategos series, perfect for fans of Angus Donald and Conn Iggulden.