#BlogTour-‘The New Achilles’ by Christian Cameron

About the book..

Alexanor is a man who has seen too much blood. He has left the sword behind him to become a healer in the greatest sanctuary in Greece, turning his back on war.

But war has followed him to his refuge at Epidauros, and now a battle to end the freedom of Greece is all around him. The Mediterranean superpowers of Rome, Egypt and Macedon are waging their proxy wars on Hellenic soil, turning Greek farmers into slaves and mercenaries.

When wounded soldier Philopoemen is carried into his temple, Alexanor believes the man’s wounds are mortal but that he is not destined to die. Because he knows Philopoemen will become Greece’s champion. Its last hero. ‘The New Achilles’.

Bone weary with blood and death, Alexanor has fought until his father’s sword is a mere bloody stump and had enough.

Realising that he is the last of his training school, and he has done his military service, he turns his back and enters the temple of Apollo’s son , Asklepios to become a healer.

Learning from the legendary Chiron, he has to put aside pride and arrogance in thinking that he can rebalance the scales by saving lives instead of taking them. In an age where men are used up and worn out by war and death, the once glorious honour of death in battle is now seen as an everyday fodder for gods that people of Greece are not venerating as maybe they should.

Although Alexanor has chosen to hide away from the world, the world does not owe him a duty to leave him there and trouble follows him. His place in the upcoming battles for Ancient Greece is as a trainer for the one whom he believes will not only save them all, but who will restore the people’s beliefs in the mighty gods of Olymous-the time has come for a new hero to save them, and that hero is believed to be Philipoemen.

At once, Philipoemen becomes a symbol of resistance, and restoration of the values of kleos and the story becomes something much more complex and deeper than one might expect. This is not ‘Game Of Thrones’, Greek style, this is about honour, place and time and the individual and collective responsibility to these concepts.

Vividly rendered, you journey on the ships with Alexanor,you smell the blood and visceral innards, you share his frustrations in casting aside old values for new, you are there with him in his visions and are swept along with his training of Philopoemen. It’s a very, very real, bloodthirsty, honest and searing depiction of the time period in Ancient history, that recalls to mind the battle scenes of the ‘The Iliad’ and Thucydides’ epics.

It must be remembered that Greece, as a country, was then a series of small islands all ruled by different kings with many many battles being fought between east and west, king against king so the values of honour and kinship were vitally important between this fragmented country.

And that is so well conveyed, it’s a book that will please those who love classical history for all the Easter egg nods, yet is absolutely accessible to anyone who is unfamiliar with this time or place-Christian Cameron pitches himself squarely between both camps and announces ,’Come, let me tell you a story’.

And so, we gather and we listen.

Hugest thanks to the always amazing Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers, Orion and the author, Christian Cameron for taking me back to a place in time which resonates so much for this reader!

About the author…

Christian Cameron is a writer and military historian. He participates in re-enacting and experimental archaeology, teaches armoured fighting and historical swordsmanship, and takes his vacations with his family visiting battlefields, castles and cathedrals. He lives in Toronto and is busy writing his next novel.

Links-https://christiancameronauthor.com/

 https://www.compulsivereaders.com/

Twitter  @Phokion1

              @Tr4cyF3nt0n

              @OrionBooks