The age of myths and legends has given way to the world of men. In the front rank stands Pericles, Lion of Athens.

Conn Iggulden Books | Waterstones Conn Iggulden Books | Waterstones

This central character of this novel is Pericles, the younger but only remaining son of Xanthippus, the hero of the two novels of the Athenian series. Our 3rd person point-of-view comes from his perspective . While this is termed as the 1st of two books in a new series called The Golden Age, it also serves as a de facto 3rd book of the Athenian series as it continues on in the timeframe and the characters presented there. I was so pleased when I started reading Lion as I realised straight away I was going to enjoy it. It’s been a long time since I read anything set in Ancient Greece, so a lot was new to me, including the characters as well as the historical setting. This is the first book in Conn Iggulden’s Golden Age series set in the 5th century BCE. I thoroughly enjoyed it which surprised me as generally speaking I’m not keen on reading battle scenes and the book starts and ends with battles. But I had no problem with following the action of the battles between the Greeks and the Persians, and was able to visualise what was going on without any difficulty. The characters’ names took me a little while to get clear in my mind but I soon got used to them. Behind Pericles lies the greatest city of the ancient world. Before him, on land and at sea, stands the merciless Persian army. Both sides are spoiling for war. I am conscious that the above paragraph reads like faint praise. The truth is that, despite its readability, I have problems with the plot and characterisation. First, the clear and obvious hero of the book is Cimon, who steals every scene in which he appears. Pericles pales into insignificance in his presence. The story flags when Cimon is not present. Second, Pericles himself comes over as shallow and impetuous, nothing like how I might envisage the historical figure. True, he is young and inexperienced, but Cimon although not much older is a successful leader of men. Then there are the cardboard cut-out villains, Attikos (fictional) and Ephialtes (historical). Finally there is the entirely implausible love affair and marriage of Pericles to the unsuitable Thetis, the captive concubine of a pirate from Scyros. I just cannot conceive that this could possibly have occurred in the Athens of the aristocratic Pericles. In this third book of Iggulden’s series, we follow the early career of Pericles, son of Xanthippus. Much of it is imagined as little is known of Pericles’ early life and many of the events of this period were unrecorded until much later. His generation followed in the footsteps of those who fought at Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis and sought to emulate their heroes.I really enjoyed this book. It was definitely lighter on the battles compared to the first two, but it was really spent developing our main character going forward, Pericles, and setting up for some battles and adventures to come. Usually books that are mostly spent setting future books up I find a bit of a drag to read, but there was still some great action and politics at play and we got to see a bit more about life and politics in Athens outside of active war times.

Lion by Conn Iggulden (Hardback) - Coles Books Lion by Conn Iggulden (Hardback) - Coles Books

The book opens to a map of the region, as well as a pronunciation guide – which I usually love. Who doesn’t love a book with a map? To make his own name he must prove himself in the liar's den of Athenian politics: pitting wits against friends, sceptics, enemies. The novel follows on directly from the author’s Protector which saw Greek victory in the Persian Wars and focussed on the Athenian leaders Aristides and Xanthippus, and the Spartan general Pausanias. That novel opened in the middle of the battle of Salamis and closed shortly after the Spartan victory at Plataea. Whether it’s due to getting to know the characters, the smoother pacing or just fewer confusing jumps between the narrators, I really enjoyed The Lion. It offers an insight into life as an Athenian at that time: not just war, but the more pleasurable aspects of life; friendships, laughter, the fun of putting on a new play and seeing a society coming together, united under a cause. Iggulden draws the Greek world convincingly and he is strongest writing battle scenes' THE TIMES on the Golden Age seriesThe third in a series set during the Graeco-Persian wars, The Lion depicts the triumph of Cimon, the man most responsible for the defeat of Persian king, Xerxes. The story covers the formation of the Delian League (the alliance of Greek states set up to combat the Persian threat), the hostility of Sparta to Athenian leadership, and the first fracture in the alliance caused by the rebellion of Thasos. i particularly liked the character of Pausanius as I consider him to be one of the most interesting figures from Sparta and found his chapters very enjoyable especially his first introduction in the prologue and his death scene in the temple of Athena. I found it hard to engage with most of the characters. Pericles, the main character, was difficult to understand and contradictory. I did not understand his determination to marry the complete stranger they met on an island. He behaved like he'd never seen a female before. Nor did I understand why he and his wife became so nasty to each other once they were married. Yes, he suspected she was in love with someone else, but given all the talk about Athenian men learning to be calm and mature, you'd think he could do better.