Shards of Empire - Hardcover

Shwartz, Susan

3.34

35 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312857160 ISBN 13: 9780312857165

Publisher: Tor Books, 1996

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After centuries of power and tyranny, the Byzantine Empire is falling. Fierce Turkish armies attack the empire's borders from without; treacherous aristocratic intrigues attack its heart from within.
Young Leo Ducas, heir to a noble family, goes to battle to serve his emperor and his God. But even on the battlefield, Leo's worst enemies are not the Turks, but his own treasonous kinsmen.
Shattered and scarred, Leo returns to Byzantium in disgrace. There he finds only dissension and madness. His cousins are in exile, his parents dishonored. When the holiest of churches proves no sanctuary against the evil magics that brought down an emperor, Leo flees to the borders of the empire.
On the caravan routes and in the crude hermitages, Leo sees wonders and magics that no Christian man has a right to behold. Among the ruins of empires older than Byzantium, he encounters plots and conspiracies even more insidious than those he has fought before ... and finds a beautiful Jewess who may hold the key that will unite all the peoples of Asia Minor.

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About the Author:

Susan Shwartz is the author of such acclaimed novels as "The Grail of Hearts", "Shards of Empire", and "Hostile Takeover". She lives in Forest Hills, New York.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Historical fantasy set in the Byzantine Empire of the 11th century, from the author of Empire of the Eagle (1993, with Andre Norton). In a.d. 1071, at Manzikert, Turkey, the Byzantine armies of Emperor Romanus face the Seljuk Turks under Alp Arslan. The Byzantine reserves, commanded by Andronicus Ducas and his young nephew Leo, desert the battle at the crucial moment; only Leo springs to defend his emperor, who is wounded and captured. Later, having been handled honorably by Alp Arslan and ransomed, Romanus finds himself the prisoner of a new emperor, Michael. Soon, treated viciously and finally blinded, Romanus dies a miserable death. Leo, too full of rage and grief to remain in Constantinople, travels east as a caravan guard and by chance meets up with Nordbriht, one of Romanus's Varangian guards and, as it turns out, a werewolf; along with Asherah, the beautiful Jewess who helped tend the dying Romanus; Kemal, the friendly Seljuk who took Romanus and Leo captive; and Meletios, a mad but impressive holy man. Now, the province of Cappadocia is menaced by new invaders, wild, brutal Turkmen Turks wholly unlike the civilized but lately dead Alp Arslan. Leo's community faces extinction--until they discover the lost entrance to an underground city, within which they will find danger, magic, and--perhaps--the means to save themselves from their enemies. The historical section at the start is decidedly superior, with a well-researched, persuasive, and engaging backdrop. Too bad Shwartz didn't simply continue, since the remainder--werewolves, magic, lost cities and all--works hard but carries less conviction. -- Copyright �1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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