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Siege of Heaven: (The Crusade Trilogy: III): a powerful, fast-paced and exciting adventure steeped in the atmosphere of the First Crusade Kindle Edition

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 96 ratings

If you love Conn Iggulden, Lindsey Davis and Steven Pressfield, you will love this breathtaking historical adventure, brimming with murder, betrayal, bloodshed and romance, from the pen of prizewinning author Tom Harper.

'Harper's portrayal of Byzantium and the intrigues that threaten its destruction is vivid and convincing.' --
Sunday Times
'Harper effortlessly draws the reader into an unfamiliar time bringing alive the characters and their motivations' -- Publisher's Weekly
'A must read' -- ***** Reader review
'Superb read. Thoroughly enjoyed it' -- ***** Reader review
'A real joy to read. Keeps you wanting to read more, griping and exciting right to the end'-- ***** Reader review

*******************************************************************

BETRAYAL AND BLOODSHED. WHO WILL CONQUER?

August, 1098
: after countless battles and sieges, the surviving soldiers of the first crusade are at last within reach of their ultimate goal - Jerusalem. But rivalries fester and new enemies are massing against them in the Holy Land.

Demetrios Askiates, the Emperor's spy, has had enough of the crusade's violence and hypocrisy and longs to return home. But when a routine diplomatic mission leads to a deadly ambush, he realises he has been snared in the vast power struggles which underlie the crusade. The only way out now leads through the Holy City.

From the plague-bound city of
Antioch to the heart of Muslim Egypt, Demetrios must accompany the army of warlords and fanatics to the very gates of Jerusalem.

But what awaits him there is an apocalypse of pillage, bloodshed and slaughter...Who will be the victor?

Siege of Heaven ends the Crusade trilogy. Have you read The Mosaic of Shadows and Knights of the Cross?

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. British author Harper brings to life the political and religious passions of the 11th-century in his excellent conclusion to his First Crusade trilogy (after The Mosaic of Shadows and Knights of the Cross). While series hero Demetrios Askiates, a Greek in service to the Byzantine emperor, doesn't have a mystery to solve as he did in the previous two books, Harper's gifts as a writer are more than equal to the task of sustaining interest and suspense without that plot device. As various warlords compete to be the first to reach Jerusalem, Askiates attempts to free himself of his obligations to the emperor and return home to Constantinople. A diplomatic mission to gain the ruling Fatimids as allies against the Turks sends Askiates to Egypt instead, where he must endure a harrowing trek through the desert to survive. This first-rate historical makes accessible the prosaic details of everyday life in a distant era.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Tom Harper was born in 1977 and grew up in West Germany, Belgium, and America before returning to England to study history at Lincoln College, Oxford. His conclusion to the short story “Death by the Invisible Hand” was published in The Economist in 1997.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003JH79AK
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cornerstone Digital (April 27, 2010)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 27, 2010
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2293 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 540 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 96 ratings

About the author

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Tom Harper
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Tom Harper has written eleven historical thrillers—including Lost Temple and Secrets of the Dead—which have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in York, England, with his wife and two sons.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
96 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2016
thank you
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2017
Good
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2008
Tom Harper again has balanced history with fiction creating a novel both interesting and captivating. More, please....
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2007
Tom Harper is a pseudonym of Edwin Thomas who grew up in West Germany, Belgium and America before returning to England to study history at Oxford university. Siege of Heaven is an extremely powerful novel of holy war and the savagery that comes with it. It is also about intrigue and sacrifice and is a must read for anyone interested in the period of history that encompasses the 11th century. It is about a period of history that I enjoy reading about very much, but even if I am slightly biased I believe that the book is a really good read for anyone interested in historical murder mysteries.

The year is 1098, the crusaders are secure in Antioch, but not without suffering great hardship and loss of men. They have defeated and destroyed Kerbogha's army, but the climate is taking almost as many men as the fighting and internal quarrels consume the princes, Raymond and Bohemond are constantly at one anothers throats over who should have what from the conquered city and with Adhemar dead there is no one to keep the peace . . .

Demetrios Askiates yearns for his family, but the only way home is through the holy city of Jerusalem. However with the princes deadlocked Demetrios enlists the help of Peter Bartholomew, the visionary priest and finder of the holy lance. When Peter rouses the peasants who form the bulk of the crusaders, the princes are forced to listen and the crusade can at last set out.

A year after the capture of Antioch the crusaders at last reach the holy city of Jerusalem and after a vicious onslaught the city at last falls. Demetrios must find his family before the crusaders violence and bloodshed overwhelm them all . . .
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Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2007
In 1098, the surviving feel their sacrifices were worth it as the Crusaders see the end in sight with the conquest of Jerusalem coming soon. However while some remain wary and weary from all the bloodshed, the leaders of the various Christian armies show their true colors of pride and vainglory as each competes with one other to be the first inside the holy city.

Greek Demetrious Askiates is tired of the destruction, deaths, and atrocities like the spread of the plague in Antioch he has witnessed from both sides of the religious war. He wants to go home to Constantinople, but remains committed to serving the Byzantine emperor even when he is disappointed with being sent to Egypt to negotiate with the Fatimids to obtain their support against the Turks.

The final entry in Tom Harper's excellent First Crusade trilogy (see THE MOSAIC OF SHADOWS and KNIGHTS OF THE CROSS) is an incredible eleventh century thriller as the star Demetrious is not solving a murder, but instead trying to keep from being killed. His trek from the Holy Land into Egypt brings the period of the First crusade vividly alive to his grateful audience as few if any novels in recent memory have.

Harriet Klausner
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Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2012
First posted on Amazon.co.uk on 5 February 2012

Siege of Heaven is the third and last installment of the adventures of Demetrios Askietes, the "truth-finder", as his follows the First Crusade. As usual, the detective story is a pretext, more than anything else, for telling the story of the First Crusade and, here, of the Siege of Jerusalem, but seen through a Byzantine's eyes.

I won't eleborate on the story to avoid spoilers. However, if you want to read a griping and perfectly historical yarn that shows you what the Crusade must have been like with all its sufferings and horrors, then this is it. It also shows to what extent fanaticism and suffering can bring out the worse in men, with almost the whole of the population of Jerusalem being massacred by the conquering Crusaders in a rather very "un-christian" way. One little gripe, however: at times, the doubts and uncertainties of the hero got a bit on my nerves. I don't expect all of my heroes to be "supermen" or "super warriors". However, I don't either expected them to be wimps and I did sometimes (but sometimes only!) get this impression in this book.

Given the talent show by Tom Harper in recreating the past and writting a story which "feels" real and where all historical facts are accurate and verifiable, it is a pity that he has not sticked with what are essentially as much historical novels as detective stories and thrillers. I do hope he will one day revert to those, if only because there are not that many authors who can write good stories while also including the historical pieces with so much accuracy.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2009
Wow what a ride this trilogy has been, from the attempted assassinations in Constantinople to the siege of Antioch to this last brutal and unforgiving book. Siege Of Heaven is all about the political backbiting of the nobles who command the Army Of God, their greed for wealth, glory and power and their eventual siege of the holy city of Jerusalem. We have a close look at what it would have been like for the ordinary soldier or civilian who filled with their religious fervor carry on through plague, war and starvation all to stand before the walls of Jerusalem and when there they commit the most brutal acts all in the name of god.

As for are main characters, Demetrios is back to his old job as the finder of mysteries, this time searching for lost religious idols. Along the way he has to survive several assassination attempts on his life and coming to the walls of Jerusalem he must save the people he loves most from the mindless savagery of the crusading forces. As always at his side are his friends the barbarian Siguld and hid lover Anna, Siguld as always is in the think of battle always watching Demetrios back while Anna tries to save as many innocent lives as possible. Will they all survive the war to end all war? Or will they be forgotten in the dust of history?

This is a good end to a very good series, it's dark and brutal, the reader can almost see the walls of Jerusalem, hear the cry of battle and smell the burning of innocents, this is a series that will make you sit up and think. Have a thousand years really changed anything? Sadly I think not!
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Top reviews from other countries

Rob Toseland
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2017
I'm so sad the trilogy is over. Book 3 was much hard to get into than the first two, but it was great to see how the story ends. I'm going to miss Demerios and Sigurd.
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Mr A.
4.0 out of 5 stars Good read...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 10, 2020
Very interesting and astonishingly detailed series of books. Gives a real understanding of the magnitude of the crusade and its many intrigues.
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AMBOK
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 30, 2018
Found the story telling a bit pedantic
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