Can this man tell a tale? Absolutely – 100% – yes.

Mixing history – well researched history, I might add – with a bit of humor and a mystery or two thrown in for good measure, Richard Blake takes us back to early 7th century AD Constantinople.

This is the second book of the life of Aelric, young clerk from Britain, and it is great. There are numerous court intrigues going on and poor Aelric seems to be involved in each one of them. There are torture chambers and eunuchs, barbarians committing wholesale slaughter, theological disputes on end, pitched battles. And there’s a baby too!

Blake has captured the sights, the sounds, the smells (checkout the description of a 7th century public lavatory) of one of the great cities of the ancient world ands once again his characters are well developed.

I loved it!

Reviewed by Jack on the 8th December 2015

On to book three.

Tags: Historical Fiction, history