'A great story . Doherty's writing is evocative, providing richly detailed scenes of life in medieval Byzantium' World History Encyclopedia Tragedy broke him. Revenge will remake him. AD 1046. The Byzantine Empire teeters on the brink of full-blown war with the mighty Seljuk Sultanate. The two great powers vie to control Anatolia - a land of strife, riven with bloodshed and doubt. Young Apion's life is shattered one night when his family is murdered during a brutal Seljuk raid. Left for dead in his burning home, then rescued but only to be sold into slavery, it seems that he is destined for a cruel life.

Until a benevolent Seljuk farmer, Mansur, offers him a second chance at happiness. Yet despite his new life of pastoral harmony on Mansur's border farm, a hunger for revenge burns in Apion's soul. Then a fateful encounter draws him down a dark path that leads him right into the heart of a conflict that will echo through the ages. The gripping first novel in the Strategos series, perfect for fans of S.J.A. Turney and Simon Scarrow.