Product Description

In 3157 B.C., at the eastern edge of the great southern desert in Mesopotamia, men are at war. Roaming bandits desperate for food, water, women, and slaves ravage vulnerable town. Yet one thing eludes them: gold. A rogue named Ariamus has joined forces with Korthac, a fierce bandit who saved his life, and together they set their sights on the impenetrable walled city of Akkad, ruled by the former barbarian Eskkar and his enchanting wife Trella. Korthac devises a brilliant plan to conquer the city from within. Slipping into Akkad in disguise, he will gradually win the trust of Trella. While Eskkar is away, bringing other towns into his burgeoning empire, Korthac and Ariamus will strike, wreaking havoc on the city in a way it never expects. Told with rich historical detail and full of violence, sex, passion, and battles reminiscent of the best of Bernard Cornwell, "The Road to Empire" is a marvelous trip into the past.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40503 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 704 pages

From the Back Cover
At the dawn of history, a warrior king has defeated a vast barbarian army in Mesopotamia and established the world’s first city.

But Esskar knows that Akkad cannot survive unless the violent gangs who roam the desert edge intent on bloodshed, rape and pillage are vanquished. Leaving Trella, his beautiful wife, in charge of the city he sallies out to mop up his remaining enemies and consolidate his conquest.

But he has left the door open to the greatest threat of all. An Egyptian general has somehow crossed the desert with the remains of his army and enough gold to buy every mercenary to his cause. He will take Akkad and Trella. And Esskar will be left outside with only his wits and a handful of men to win back the city, his wife and their unborn son.

Praise for Dawn of Empire:

'A brilliant fast-paced epic, brining an entire people back to roaring life. Superb.' Conn Iggulden

‘Beautifully imagined and researched adventure, with terrific action’ Diana Gabaldon

About the Author
Born and raised in New York, Sam Barone attended Manhattan College, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1965, with a major in Psychology. After a hitch in the Marine Corps, he became a software developer and manager. After spending nearly 30 years in the software development game, he retired in 1999 to start working on his second career: writing.

Customer Reviews

Entertaining hack and slash historical fiction
This is a sequel, but I read it without having read the first novel and it did not stop my enjoyment of this.
Ruler of Akkad is out sorting local bandits with his young but astute wife in charge of things when sneaky Egyptian Korthac sneaks in and stages a bold take-over.
This is a very well written historical novel which is fast moving and fun. Violent at times with the odd bit of rape and pillage chucked in, this is a great read. Characters are well defined and, surprisingly, there are some very strong female characters all of whom help as the story whip along at a pace.
Mr Barone sits well amongst those who write this kind of stuff and will be one to watch.

Enjoyable sequel to Dawn of Empire
I recently bought and read both Dawn of Empire and Empire Rising after finding them recommended by Amazon and was not at all disappointed. This is a great follow up book to Dawn of Empire, again well written and difficult to put down. The characters from Dawn of Empire are also vividly fleshed out in this sequel helping to bring to life the Bronze Age. Like Bernard Cornwell, Barone's battle scenes are very well decribed and the subject has been researched thoroughly.

Really enjoyed this book and am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. Although written by a new author, it is difficult to believe that these books are not more popular than they are.

An amazing read,even better than the first.
This is the second in what promises to be an amazing historical series.Sam Barone has vividly brought back to life a world and a time lost to history, his story is brilliantly written and the characters vivid and the back drops are second to none. The reader can through the author experience what it would have been like at the time of the birth of civilization, when some small villages were being transformed into towns and then walled cities like Akkad who had thousands of people living there. We also see what people of vision and power could achieve through intelligence and force of arms in not just building countries and empires but laws that would benefit all of their people and new way to communicate like through the written word or with mathematics. This also brought clashes and wars between these people of vision who sort more land, wealth and power and would do anything to achieve their goals.

In this latest chapter in Barone's series we see Eskkar traveling the lands bringing other villages and towns under Akkads influence. While away his pregnant wife Trella must rule in his place but unknown to her a new threat is on the horizon. Korthac is an Egyptian warlord on the run after his armies are destroyed while fighting for the throne, with the last of his loyal men he crosses the desert where he find the newly made city of Akkad, fresh from their victory against the horse tribes, Korthac senses an opportunity to realize his own dreams of empire. The only thing stand in his way is the pregnant wife of the ruler of Akkad, but will she be enough to save their civilization and if not will Eskker arrive in time to save the day?

If you like your Historical Fiction then both of Barones books are for you, they're action packed thrill rides that will leave you wanting more.