The Wandering King (Book 2: With This Shield), by Stephen Marte
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The Wandering King (Book 2: With This Shield), by Stephen Marte
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Euryanax is encamped with his father Dorieus’ army in Italy. While sleeping outside the walls of Taras, they are attacked by indigenous tribesmen called Messapians. The Italians charge the camp on horseback, barking like dogs, throwing javelins and pelting the Spartan shieldwall with arrows and sling stones. The cavalry attack is only a feint meant to draw the Spartans’ attention. While the army repels the invaders, a lone man sneaks into the tent of Dorieus’ mistress, the beautiful hetaera Stesilaus and carries her off to the mysterious city of Sybaris. In the ancient world, Sybaris was synonymous with wealth, debauchery and impiety. The Sybarites are ruled by the tyrant Telys, who is intent on conquering all of southern Italy, including its neighboring city of Croton, home of the philosopher Pythagoras and his peaceful followers, the Cenobites. Will Dorieus’ army become embroiled in the war between Sybaris and Croton, a struggle the Greeks considered akin to the Biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah? Or will the Spartans continue on to Sicily, where they intend on building a colony on Mount Eryx and resuming Dorieus’ private war against the Persian Empire? Wander with Euryanax as his adventures lead him to the cities of Taras, Croton and Sybaris in Italy, and Heraklea, Motya and Selenius in Sicily. Then sail with him across the wine-dark sea to Attica, where Athens is attempting to overthrow its own tyrant, Hippias. Stand with Eury as he battles tyrants, mercenaries, barbarians and the powers of the East. Listen to the wisdom of Pythagoras, the schemes of the wily, lawyer Themistocles and the speeches of the future ‘father of democracy,’ Cleisthenes. As you do, you’ll watch Euryanax learn that becoming a Spartan King, means a lot more than leading soldiers to victory.
The Wandering King (Book 2: With This Shield), by Stephen Marte- Amazon Sales Rank: #231259 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-06-28
- Released on: 2015-06-28
- Format: Kindle eBook
About the Author Stephen Marte is a professional writer working in the creative department of a large, international corporation. He has worked as a journalist, high school English teacher and advertising copywriter. He lives in Bucks County, PA, with his son Zachary in a house filled with books.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Spartan Prince Euryanax continues to build his legend across the Mediterranean's battlefields, at great personal cost. By Tiberius In this second book of the series, the action lights up with an enemy raid on the Spartan army of King Dorieus while they are camped outside the Italian city of Taras and poised to cross over to Sicily to establish their colony. The raid triggers the involvement of the Spartans in the simmering conflict between the rival Italian cities of Sybaris, led by a powerful tyrant, and Croton, under the influence of the wise Pythagoras. The lead character, Prince Euryanax son of Dorieus, proves as wily and bold as ever as he overcomes a range of foes including alley thugs, plotting politicians, palace guards and tribal war bands, leaving a flotsam of grief and destruction in his wake. The story then carries over to Sicily, where the Spartans seize a small Phoenician fortress, allowing Euryanax to steal away his Persian paramour, the Princess Aria, for a few breaths of happiness before a terrible confrontation with a mighty Persian host.There's an interesting plot twist as the author then drops a veil of mystery on the Sicilian tale's outcome; the next scene reveals a shell-shocked Euryanax wandering aimlessly on the Spartan shores, a victim of unthinkable grief and mute apathy. Owing to his noble bloodline, he's given a chance to recover his wits and redeem his name by joining the Spartan expedition to free Athens of the tyrant Hippias. Beset by betrayals, grim fights and desperate odds, Euryanax is progressively forced to shake off his trauma and draw on all his military savvy to survive the treacherous waters of Athenian politics, the blood thirst of Thracian and Scythian mercenaries, and the pitfalls laid by his various nemesis.A clever plot mechanic sees Euryanax being visited by the spirits of the dead during his fevered recovery from a battle, who help him discover the truth about his bloodline.The author delivers on all the expectations set by the first book, and ups his game with greater character development, more intricate plot twists, numerous skirmish and battle scenes, and a fast-paced narrative punctuated by fewer mythological anecdotes than in the first book. A gripping adventure draped in personal drama and historical authenticity.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Italy, Sicily, Athens (and a few mild spoilers) By JPS This is volume two of the “Wandering King” series (the translation of the hero’s name Euryanax) with the story picking up just where the previous title ended. As often the case with Series, it is preferable to read the first episode before this one, although it could just about be read on a standalone basis.As mentioned in my review of Book 1, the author wins praise (from me at least) for choosing a little known story from Herodotus that starts well before the Persian Wars, although these will be included in due course. He also wins praise for his careful use of the sources, and of Herodotus in particular. As also mentioned, there are some influences and similarities (but no more than that) with Christian Cameron’s Killer of Men series or with books focusing on Leonidas, King of Sparta. However, with regards to the first, the story is told from the perspective of a historical scion of one of Sparta Royal Houses, as opposed as being told by a (famous and also historical) Plataean war leader. It is told by one Euryanax who, unlike Leonidas, never became King despite being the son of Leonidas’ elder brother.The author has once again, as he did in Book 1, introduced quite a bit of fiction but it is rather skilfully mixed up and weaved together with elements mentioned in the various sources. For instance, the first Spartan attempt to overthrow the tyranny in Athens was a seaborne expedition and landing in the bay of Phaleron which was Athens’ main port at the time, before Piraeus was fortified under Themistocles. The expedition did end in disaster, with the Spartans cut to pieces and chased back to their ships by Thessalian mercenary cavalry hired by the Athenian tyrant.I do not, however, remember reading that either Argive mercenary hoplites or Thracians armed with clubs were present at Phaleron. However, introducing them is not so much of a stretch and is quite plausible because Hippias did have good relations with Argos and Argos was Sparta’s rival and enemy withy the two competing to dominate the Peloponnese. As for the Thracians, Hippias does seem to have hired them as some sort of “police force”, although their behaviours and brutality – well described in the book – means that they were more akin to armed thugs that what we would expect from a modern and well-trained police force nowadays. Note however that the Spartans did capture Hippias’ family after he had managed to take refuge on the Acropolis, more or less as described in the book and the Athenian tyrant negotiated his exile with his family as a result.In addition to the topic itself, and the hero’s wanderings (Southern Italy, then Sicily, then back to Sparta and then Athens), the way the story is told makes it both exciting and griping. The book’s very first scene, with Euryanax, now a very old man, barely escaping an assassination attempt directly related to his past, just throws you into the story. The next scene is a diversionary assault by Italic cavalry on the Spartan army camping near Taras but deprived of its leader (the warlord Doreius and Euryanax’s father).Then the Spartans get dragged into the conflict between two of the main Greek cities of Italy: the rich, powerful and decadent Sybaris and its numerous allies and the city of Croton, conflict-ridden between the rich and oppressive elites made of powerful landlords, the “pacifist” faction led by Pythagoras and the dispossessed which have lost their lands to the powerful. In a nutshell and through this example, the author manages to illustrate and encapsulate the kind of social tensions that plagued Greek cities during the archaic period and continued during the classic period after the Persian Wars. I am however not quite sure that Sybaris was ever able to align quite so large an army as mentioned, nor is it certain that it was quite as decadent as shown in the book. Here however, and in both cases, the author has not invented anything since both elements are drawn from Herodotus.Another interesting point is that there is uncertainty as to whether the Spartans of Doreius played such a crucial role in the defeat and destruction of Sybaris since the Crotonians claimed long after the events that they had achieved this on their own under the leadership of Milo, the five times Olympic champion and a historic figure (just like Pythagoras, among others). Here again, and just as Volume 1, reading both the author’s historical note and his blog to understand the choices he has made regarding both the story and its main characters is well worth the effort.Then there are the events in Sicily, about which we know next to nothing except that the Spartan expedition came to grief and that Doreius was killed in battle against the Carthaginians. This, of course, provides the author with lots of room for (mostly plausible) fictionalisation, even if I still have reservations with regards to the presence of Persians, especially in Sicily, and with the Romeo and Juliet style romance between the hero and his Persian princess, which I continued to find a bit difficult to believe. Also a bit difficult to accept is the ease with which the hero manages to split into and out of the Carthaginian island fortress of Motya.An interesting feature is the case of PTSD that Euryanax will suffer from. Again, there is a bit of a parallel with Arimnestos, the Plataean character of Christian Cameron. However, and in both cases, given the severity of the traumas that afflicts them, this is quite plausible.In addition to the characters first presented in the first volume – those of the Spartan warlords, captains and warriors in particular – this volume introduces a number of new ones that we will meet again in the following volumes. This is particularly the case of the Athenians with Miltiades, Aristides, Themistocles and Clisthenes, to mention just the main ones. Here again, for those that may have read Cameron’s Killer of Men series, comparing how the two authors have treated the same characters (the first three that I mentioned) can be interesting. A nice touch (among others) introduced by this author is to present Cimon (the son of Miltiades) as a twelve year old boy in admiration of the Spartans in general and of Euryanax in particular. He would be the most pro-Spartan of the Athenians a few decades later.Another great read well worth four stars, and I am rather impatiently waiting to read book three…
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Love this series! By Noam Wajnman I loved the first book in the series and book number two was also great! It's set in ancient Hellenic world and follows Euryanax who is the family of Spartan kings. The story is again wonderful with a good plot and friendship, love, war and a well researched historical setting. I loved meeting the colorful personalities of Pythagoras and Milo of Croton. Pythagoras's teachings make quite the contrast with Spartan way of live and world view and is probably why the author chose to make him part of the story. All the politics and philosophies of this period are very interesting but not in way boring. They are presented as part of the story and thoughts of the characters and not delivered as dry facts at all.Again I would recommend this book to everyone, not just lovers of historical fiction as I feel the story itself is exciting and is highly enjoyable.
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