Tyran: Destroyer of Cities by Christian Cameron

There are currently many writers of historical novels who can put together a story which holds the attention with exciting battle scenes and heroes contrived into, and out of, perilous situations but there are a few who can take the genre to a higher plane and Christian Cameron is one of the select.  

Destroyer of Cities is the fourth volume of the Tyrant series which is set in the devastating period following the death of Alexander when his generals fought like rats in a sack to take over his empire.   There are two main contenders when this novel opens, Ptolemy who controls Egypt and Antigonus One-Eye who is master of Asia.   Athens is allied to Antigonus though most of Greece is controlled by Casander and the Greek islands- Cyprus, Crete and Rhodes- are, as they say, up for grabs.   Ptolemy has troops on Cyprus but both sides are determined to take Rhodes a center of the all important grain trade.   This is where Cameron's hero, Satyrus King of the Bosporus, comes in for his kingdom depends on the sale of grain and as Antigonus already controls Athens, one of the main grain markets, for him to have Rhodes as well would leave Satyrus having to take any price Antigonus cared to offer.  

Demetrios, son of Antigonus, at the head of a huge army is already threatening Rhodes and so Satyrus leads his grain fleet into Rhodes harbour and sells to the "boule" as the ruling council is known.   The boule is divided by factions, the oligarchs who want to do a deal with Antigonus and the others who want to preserve their independance.   Panther, admiral of the Rhodian fleet, is of the latter faction and asks Satyrus to stay and help organise the defence.   The oligarchs manage to get a delegation to Demetrios to negotiate surrender but he is not interested as he sees himself as the new Alexander and wants to conquer Rhodes to prove the point.   Against all the odds the Rhodians commanded by Satyrus hold out until Demetrios has to pull back and although a face saving formula is worked out he has suffered a setback that will mean that his dream of conquering Egypt is over.

Christian Cameron brings to his novels a wealth of research and blends it unobtrusively into a narrative peopled with characters who draw the reader into their story.