Tyrant: Destroyer of Cities

Tyrant, Book 5

By: Christian Cameron

Narrated by: Peter Noble

Length: 22 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's Summary

This novel in the scintillating Tyrant series brings the epic siege of Rhodes in 306 BC to spectacular life.

The death of Alexander the Great was the signal to begin the greatest war in human history - a war that swept like a firestorm from one end of the known world to the other, as his former generals fought like jackals to make his vast empire their own.

By 305 BC, the most powerful players in this deadly game faced each other across the Mediterranean: Ptolemy, the master of Egypt, and Antigonus One-Eye, master of Asia. And between them, the island of Rhodes, a strategic fortress city that neither could afford to cede to the enemy.

But trapped in the city was one man with the courage and determination to save it from destruction. A man who, surrounded by his closest friends and the woman he loved, simply could not afford to fail. 

A man called Satyrus.

©2020 Christian Cameron (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group

Another great book in this series

On track to read every book by this author. Really enjoyed this fifth book in the series.

Good Third Installment

I really liked this book, especially because of the main part of the book being the siege. Cameron always does a good job when it comes to the imagery of sieges: the tactics, the suspense, the different buildup of the sides, and playing out each action in great detail. This is also when the Antigonids become the main antagonists of the series. Antigonus One Eye and Demetrious are definitely interesting, and I do like Demetrious as a character, but they're kind of underwhelming when compared to Heron and his struggle to kill the twins off while also trying to control the Euxine.

Unfortunately though, Melita does virtually nothing in this book. In the beginning of the book, she goes east to Hyrkania because some unknown faction from the far east raids a farm, and the raiders are hyped up to be some sort of major power in the east of the Caspian. But then halfway through the siege in the book (about like 8 or 9 hours left), there's one small chapter that essentially wraps up her conflict. Then by the next chapter or two, Melita and a portion of the asagetae are brought to Rhodes.


One of the downfalls in Cameron's writing in this book is trying to writing from different perspectives, especially if the other perspective doesn't really have any arcing direction. It just seems as if he adds in random bits here and there, to pad out Melita's part without completely forgetting about her as a character. To be honest, he could've just cut all the Melita stuff out from the beginning of the book to when she comes in with the reinforcements and nothing would have changed.

Overall,

Simply Wonderful

I have enjoyed this series so very much. Great writing a gripping storyline throughout the series. Peter Noble is a treasure I wonder how he can do what he does, it’s magic I think. He has a way of switching from male to female voicing that is so convincing it’s just remarkable. I know I will listen to this more than once. I love the quick little barb about Alexander the Great very near the end perfect in my view. Made me laugh hard and think hard.

I look forward to more from this series. Please.

outstanding

each review is for a different book, but this is not so christian Cameron, historical fiction is boys own action and since the 60s I've been fascinated by costume and weaponry and sail ships, hornblower, but the sea battle off Cyprus left me breathless the writing, and narration, implacable. then the heroism of a siege entwined with a myriad of emotions. simply outstanding

Just boring

First I must say that I love the hellenistic period but this book was just boring. I guess if I was a teenage boy I would have liked it. A lot of hack n' slash but plain characters.

Another brilliant addition to the series

As with all the books in this series, Cameron writes amazing stories, develops brilliant characters, and Peter Noble breathes life into them. looking forward to the next one but I'm gutted its the end if the road for this series! 😢