Published by Orion on June 11, 2019
Pages: 416
Amazon UK
Goodreads
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: he has turned 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.
Greece needs a champion.
When a wounded soldier is carried into his temple, Alexanor believes the man's wounds are mortal. But he is not destined to die. But Alexanor must face his own daemons before he can help the hero face his.Because this is the new Achilles. His name is Philopoemen.
This is Greece's champion. The last hero. He is the new Achilles.
I am so excited to welcome Christian Cameron to my blog today with my review of The New Achilles. Do be sure to check out the lovely Juliet @ Bookliterati Book Reviews
✮ My Review ✮
Wow, so I have just finished this mammoth book and I have now to try and find the words to formulate some review to get you excited by this book. I do not think, go buy this book will do it (although you should!).
This is not a book you can skim or take lightly. You have to concentrate on the wealth of information you have in front of you. Thank god I was reading this on my kindle because quite frankly I did not have a scooby what some of the words meant and so a lot of word pressing was going on and Google was my friend. I am blown away with how amazing this book is, although honestly, I did not have a clue what was going on for the first 20% of the book. You have so many characters, places, words, regions to get your head around, but I did not care that I didn’t understand half of it, because the storytelling of Alexandor and his life from “coward” to Priest was immense.
So, I am completely kicking myself as I have basically all of Mr Cameron’s books on my Kindle, along with Ben Kane and Simon Scarrow, because this is a genre I am completely fascinated with but have not had the chance to sit down and experience. I savoured the words on the page and I want more. I will be opening that Kindle and first chance I get, reliving more stories of the Spartans, Greeks and Romans to name the big few.
I loved getting to know Alexandor and Philopoemen, The New Achilles. We see both men, ravished by their past, both broken from these events, and both grown in well-respected men in their different areas. I do feel like there is potentially more to come from them.
This book was intense too when we had battles scenes, the night attacks, assassinations, I felt like I was there witnessing it, heart in my throat. I was never sure how these things would play out. I could not speed my way through the book to find out either, I had to sit back and watch the formations flank the enemy, I had to listen to the arrows flying through the air, all the while trying to find our heroes in the midst of battle, and hope they made it safely away.
I have been rewatching Spartacus on TV lately, so it was easy to envision the characters from the show in the book, Craig Parker (Glaber) or Simon Merrels (Crassius) could easily be Nabis!
I just have to reiterate that the knowledge of Mr Cameron is immense and it truly shows. It was also refreshing to have the main character as a healer, not a ‘barbarian’ of war. Not bloodthirsty, but one to shy away, Alexandor has some candid views on the world around him but naive at the same time. Between Philopoemen, who wants the glory without saying it, and Phila, the woman that Alexandor is drawn to, opens his eyes to what truly is in ahead of him.
So I refer back to my first comment, GO.BUY.THIS.BOOK!
Until next time xxx
So what has been said so far on tour?
Rachel Read It says
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.
Donna’s Book Blog says
I thought that the plot was well developed and I loved getting to know the different characters, especially Philopoemen, he was a fascinating character and certainly someone that intrigued me and made me want to read on and find out more
Thanks to Tracy at Compulsive Readers for the tour invite and the author for a copy of their book in return for my honest and unbiased review
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Jenchaos says
Hmmm, not usually my thing, but I may have to give it a try.
Zoé says
I really love this genre. It’s hard going but it is so worth it
macsbooks311 says
Fabulous review!! I generally don’t go back this far into history for historical fiction, but this sounds really good!! I took Greek history a hundred years ago at university and I think I would enjoy this very much! Thanks!
Zoé says
I love Greek History, so snapped it up. Oh wow that is amazing! I bet it was so interesting (less of the hundred years ago lol)