Product Description

This work is set in August, in 1098. After countless battles and sieges, the surviving soldiers of the first crusade are at last within reach of their ultimate goal: Jerusalem. But rivalries fester and new enemies are massing against them in the Holy Land. Demetrios Askiates, the Emperor's spy, has had enough of the crusade's violence and hypocrisy. He longs to return home. But when a routine diplomatic mission leads to a deadly ambush, he realises he has been snared in the vast power struggles which underlie the crusade. The only way out now leads through the Holy City. From the plague-bound city of Antioch to the heart of Muslim Egypt, Demetrios must accompany the army of warlords and fanatics to the very gates of Jerusalem where the crusade climaxes in an apocalypse of pillage, bloodshed and slaughter.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36410 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 240 pages

From the Publisher
A powerful novel of intrigue, sacrifice, savagery and holy war, by the author of the Mosaic of Shadows and Knights of the Cross.

From the Author
Mosaic of Shadows, Knights of the Cross and Siege of Heaven
form a trilogy that follows Demetrios Askiates, a Byzantine Greek, from his
first encounter with the First Crusade at Constantinople through to the
crusade's dramatic climax at Jerusalem. It's one of the great military
adventures of human history, an amazing story; it's also a savagely brutal
affair whose echoes only seem to get louder as they resonate down to the
present.

At a time when the Middle East is as violently contested as ever, it seemed
important to me to look at one of the most famous - or notorious - clashes
between East and West. There are a lot of misconceptions about the First
Crusade at the moment, with everyone from Dan Brown to Osama Bin Laden
muddying the waters. In much the same way as Bernard Cornwell stripped
back the Arthurian legend with his Winter King trilogy, I wanted to take
the Crusade back to its factual origins and portray it as I think it must
have been: desperate, chaotic and bloody.

To find out more about the books, and to contact me directly, please visit
tom-harper.co.uk

From the Back Cover
August, 1098. After countless battles and sieges, the surviving soldiers of the first crusade are at last within reach of their ultimate goal: Jerusalem. But rivalries fester and new enemies are massing against them in the Holy Land.

Demetrios Askiates, the Emperor's spy, has had enough of the crusade's violence and hypocrisy. He longs to return home. But when a routine diplomatic mission leads to a deadly ambush, he realises he has been snared in the vast power struggles which underlie the crusade. The only way out now leads through the Holy City.

From the plague-bound city of Antioch to the heart of Muslim Egypt, Demetrios must accompany the army of warlords and fanatics to the very gates of Jerusalem where the crusade climaxes in an apocalypse of pillage, bloodshed and slaughter.

Customer Reviews

A Savage and Brutal War
Tom Harper is a pseudonym of Edwin Thomas who grew up in West Germany, Belgium and America before returning to England to study history at Oxford university. Siege of Heaven is an extremely powerful novel of holy war and the savagery that comes with it. It is also about intrigue and sacrifice and is a must read for anyone interested in the period of history that encompasses the 11th century. It is about a period of history that I enjoy reading about very much, but even if I am slightly biased I believe that the book is a really good read for anyone interested in historical murder mysteries.

The year is 1098, the crusaders are secure in Antioch, but not without suffering great hardship and loss of men. They have defeated and destroyed Kerbogha's army, but the climate is taking almost as many men as the fighting and internal quarrels consume the princes, Raymond and Bohemond are constantly at one anothers throats over who should have what from the conquered city and with Adhemar dead there is no one to keep the peace . . .

Demetrios Askiates yearns for his family, but the only way home is through the holy city of Jerusalem. However with the princes deadlocked Demetrios enlists the help of Peter Bartholomew, the visionary priest and finder of the holy lance. When Peter rouses the peasants who form the bulk of the crusaders, the princes are forced to listen and the crusade can at last set out.

The grand finale of Harper's crusade trilogy!!
Wow what a ride this trilogy has been, from the attempted assassinations in Constantinople to the siege of Antioch to this last brutal and unforgiving book. Siege Of Heaven is all about the political backbiting of the nobles who command the Army Of God, their greed for wealth, glory and power and their eventual siege of the holy city of Jerusalem. We have a close look at what it would have been like for the ordinary soldier or civilian who filled with their religious fervor carry on through plague, war and starvation all to stand before the walls of Jerusalem and when there they commit the most brutal acts all in the name of god.

As for are main characters, Demetrios is back to his old job as the finder of mysteries, this time searching for lost religious idols. Along the way he has to survive several assassination attempts on his life and coming to the walls of Jerusalem he must save the people he loves most from the mindless savagery of the crusading forces. As always at his side are his friends the barbarian Siguld and hid lover Anna, Siguld as always is in the think of battle always watching Demetrios back while Anna tries to save as many innocent lives as possible. Will they all survive the war to end all war? Or will they be forgotten in the dust of history?

This is a good end to a very good series, it's dark and brutal, the reader can almost see the walls of Jerusalem, hear the cry of battle and smell the burning of innocents, this is a series that will make you sit up and think. Have a thousand years really changed anything? Sadly I think not!

Brutal
The third and best entry in Harper's Crusade novels is a powerful indictment of religious fanaticism and the horror of war. Gripping, evocative and utterly relentless - this only loses a star due the skewed view of the Crusaders as bad and the Islamist almost as good guys (when in actuality each was as bad as the other).

Still a compelling read and another promising work from one of Britain's best young novelists.