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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. Here is a novel of the ancient world in all its splendour and barbarity from a hotly-rated new author. Ten years after the fall of Babylon, Cyrus's Persian army is on the march again. His old slave Croesus 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 advise the new emperor, 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 army to Africa for bloody and brutal vengeance. A gripping tale of the perils of kingship and the relationships of the mighty with those who fear them. 278pp, paperback.