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Terror of Constantinople by Richard Blake

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annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Terror of Constantinople by Richard Blake

Post by annis » Wed January 27th, 2010, 6:18 pm

Image

Constantinople in 610 AD, three hundred years after Constantine the Great took the small fishing village of Byzantium and made it the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire; the city where Europe meets Asia; the City of Man's Desire, where anything can be bought for the right price. But is the City of Gold a city of dreams or nightmares?

"Terror of Constantinople" marks the second outing for Aelric, a young Saxon nobleman transplanted to early seventh century Rome from England. Initially sent on a mission with his mentor, the priest Maximin, to collect books for the Roman Church in Britain, clever, cynical Aelric has proven a useful tool for the venal, power-hungry clerics of the Roman Church, and is not planning on returning to his bleak, benighted homeland anytime soon.

His previous assignment as investigator and hatchet man for the Dispensator of the Church of Rome successfully completed, Aelric looks forward to settling into his nice new home in one of the few remaining suburbs of Rome still in working order. He's coining it on the trading market, collecting books by the dozen for his library, and about to marry his pretty, ditzy mistress and become a father. Life looks good.

However the Dispensator hasn't finished with Aelric yet, and blackmails him into accepting a new assignment, this time in Constantinople. Aelric soon finds that beneath its sophisticated veneer the city is suffocating in fear, controlled by a terrifying secret service which scoops up people at random on charges of treachery, sending them to torture and death in the cells beneath the sinister Ministry. Agents provocateur infilitrate every level of society and citizens are encouraged to denounce each other at will. Wives tired of their husbands, sons wanting their inheritances in a hurry, business rivals, and envious neighbours all find a ready ear in the Ministry's Black Agents. Divide and rule is the policy of Emperor Phocas, a paranoid megalomanic under threat of losing his position and his head to the next claimant to the throne. Danger lurks at every turn. Despite his overweening confidence in his own golden good looks, charm and intelligence, Aelric has to admit that even he might have stepped over his head into a cesspit this time. Will quick wits, a sexy smile and a sword be enough to save him?

"Conspiracies of Rome" was one of my historical fiction finds of 2008, and "Terror of Constantinople" is another winner. Blake's erudition and political savvy create a convincing framework for an irreverent, bawdy historical thriller, written with élan and full of action, intrigue and suspense. The period is unusual and fascinating, as Blake himself says, "just at the transition between late antiquity and the mediaeval period," and Aelric makes a compelling protagonist. He's conceited, ruthless, amoral and hedonistic. He also has a contagious zest for life, a passionate thirst for knowledge and a distaste for narrow-minded religious dogmatism of any sort. He's generous and protective of his motley mix of retainers as befits a Saxon lord, and has the Saxon warrior's boundless capacity for alcohol, love of a good, brutal fight and zeal for blood-feud if he or his are injured in any way; a complex and contradictory character who always leaves the reader guessing. Just don't call him a barbarian...

If you enjoy Flashman you'll very likely love Aelric.
Last edited by annis on Tue May 10th, 2011, 7:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Wed February 3rd, 2010, 8:36 pm

Bugger- I've discovered that Richard Blake is a pseudonym for Sean Gabb, director of the British Libertarian Alliance! Though it's best not to get into religion and politics, needless to say libertarianism is definitely not my bag.

However, that doesn't take away the fact the he wrires a cracking, clever historical adventure, And you have to admire the scholarship of an author who can write his own brilliant abusive epigram (in a style parodying Catullus), chanted in "Terror of Constantinople" by the crowd at a chariot race.

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