The king is dead. Long live the king. When power falls on the shoulders of a young man, only his slave can teach him how to be great. But power corrupts, and absolute power... A new novel of the ancient world - in all its splendour and barbarity - from a hotly talented, prize-nominated rising star.

Ten years after the fall of Babylon, Cyrus's army is on the march again. His slave Croesus, no longer a young man, accompanies him as always, as does the king's son and heir Cambyses, who has inherited none of his father's diplomacy or charisma and all of his vanity and violence. When the warriors of Persia are unexpectedly crushed in battle Cyrus is put to death, and Cambyses assumes the throne. Croesus, once a king himself, is called upon to guide the young man; but the young man cannot be guided, and after taking offence at an insult by an Egyptian ruler, Cambyses takes the full force of his father's empire to Africa for bloody and brutal vengeance...

"A sophisticated, moving study of corrupted power... Compelling" - Sunday Times

"A gripping tale of the perils of kingship and the relationships of the mighty with those who fear them most." - Good Book Guide

"Beautiful, epic, dramatic" - Bookbag