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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
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
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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?
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherCornerstone Digital
- Publication dateApril 27, 2010
- File size2293 KB
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From Publishers Weekly
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About the Author
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
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,463,621 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #3,451 in Historical Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- #6,963 in Mystery Action Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #9,149 in Historical Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
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.
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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 . . .
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
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.
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!