It follows the life of Croesus, the titular Last King of Lydia, and how he deals with life throwing him around to some of the highest and lowest positions available to people 2,500 years ago. Leach's narrative is largely derivative of the ancient sources, but he adeptly weaves them together and keeps the pacing engaging. Ancient mythology seems to be enjoying a surge in popularity of late, with a plethora of books, movies and games based on these ancient legends and fabled heroes. This is a beautiful re-telling of Herodotus’s famous tale and I don’t think I can recommend it highly enough.

and made offerings to Greek shrines, especially *Delphi; anecdotes attest his friendliness to Greek visitors and his wealth. Croesus notes bitterly that the coinage bearing his family crest will last far longer than their kingdom. The written style is very simple, objective and unemotional, at times almost matter-of-fact, most unlike that of Hilary Mantel, another comparison made in the publicity.The story is a gripping tale of ancient kingdoms, yet its central theme should give warning to any contemporary world leader, or greedy corporate fat cat. The prose is quite simple but there are some really beautiful and poetic descriptions of life that lift it above the ordinary. The adventure of Croesus is a heroic quest for the meaning of happiness, and along the way he considers the nature of fate, freedom vs. The story really is about how he thinks about the world, and his relationships with other characters, who I think you could see almost as parts of his own personality. The friendship developed between Croesus-Isocrates-Maia after the fall of Lydia did not convince me as well.

has been a terrific year for books, and The Last King of Lydia deserves to sit right at the top of the pile. Summary: King Croesus experiences a dramatic change of fortune that allows him to evaluate the true meaning of happiness. Although I do appreciate the costume-pageantry details of Colleen McCullough's "Masters of Rome" series or the grit of Robert Harris' Cicero books, Leach's approach to his semi-mythological subject matter works well in its own context.

We follow Croesus through the great siege of Babylon, where he doesn’t really belong but it’s interesting to see anyway. There is something in the collective consciousness that enables these stories to resonate with each subsequent generation, allowing ancient wisdom to put out new roots in fresh soil. When Croesus consults the oracles about whether to go to war with Persia, it is a deliberate political calculation to favor Delphi, propped up by a rumor spread by Croesus's most trusted slave Isocrates about how they knew that Croesus was butchering a turtle and a lamb on a certain night -- a "story. Power is transient, fleeting when compared with the vast sea of history, yet rulers are prepared to condemn thousands to misery in the hope of gaining more and more of it.

It is, instead, a book that examines deep, sometimes philosophical issues such as the lust for power, wealth, happiness, immortality and freedom. I can't claim any expert knowledge on the historical accuracy and I suspect Leach occasionally allows a few modern perspectives to infiltrate the minds of his characters, but for me that is forgivable.

It’s a debut novel that the author clearly worked very hard on, it covers a little-explored figure of history and legend, and I can positively see the pride and ambition oozing from the pages in the philosophical themes… but it fell flat for me.

As a big fan of all manner of historical fiction I would highly recommend this book both for its writing but also how it explores a period not often seen in the genre. Leach weaves a beautiful narrative and brings the excesses of ancient Lydia to life with his expressive writing style.His subsequent relations with the Greeks were not unfriendly; he contributed to the rebuilding of the Artemisium at *Ephesus (Hdt. Although some customs seem strange to us now, we're fully on board with them while immersed in the story fo Croesus. The ancient world is so distant from us that at times it feels like fantasy - kings, gods, sacrifices, oracles, mountains of gold, lost cities, myth. It is a beautiful comparison between someone who believes he is all powerful coming up against a true giant of a man who will make his mark on history. Only Isocrates, Croesus' slave, and his wife appear to be invented for the novel, and they add a level of novelty for the reader who knows his Herodotus.