The second title in Richard Blake’s superior series of historical novels sees his resourceful young hero Aelric dispatched from Rome to Constantinople on a top-secret mission. It’s 610 AD and while Rome may have been reduced to a shadow of her former glory, the eastern capital is bursting at the seams with wealth, exotic splendour ñ and danger. The emperor Phocas has instituted a reign of terror to rival Caligula’s and, with civil war looming, Aelric will need his wits to survive. Blake’s colloquial style sometimes makes his characters sound like football yobs in search of a punch-up but he knows how to deliver a fast-paced story and his grasp of the period is impressively detailed.

Reviewed by Simon Shaw in The Mail on Sunday
3rd January 2010

Tags: Historical Fiction