James Heneage

Luke Magoris has moved from Mistra to Venice to oversee the Magoris Bank but when he dies in mysterious circumstances his grandson Siward has to take over the ailing bank. The more profitable trading company has been left to Luke's missing grandson, child of Giovanni and the beautiful Cleope, but when it is discovered that he is actually one of the Sultan's chief Janissaries and that the Islamic forces are targeting Constantinople family, honour and the soul of the Roman Empire all combine.

This is the fourth in Heneage's series about the Varangian Guard and the decline and fall of the Roman Empire based in Constantinople. I enjoyed the third book in the series and wanted to read more simply because the setting is unusual. There are many historical novels set in Western Europe covering the 15th/16th centuries, but this is the first that I have read focused on Eastern Europe and war between the Turkish Empire and the remnants of the old Orthodox church. This book has all the elects of a good action novel but with a hefty dose of politics and a little (heavy-handed) romance. Heneage is a strong story-teller and whilst characters are lightly drawn there is enough to make it a deeper book than might otherwise be expected.… (mehr)

Mistra is part of the empire of Byzantium but is a state in the Pelepponese. This makes it a prize coveted by the Ottomans and the Venetian empire. At the turn of the fifteenth century the eastern mediterranean is in turmoil and the state of Mistra is prospering under the management of Luke Magoris and the Varangians. As Magoris tries to manipulate the Papacy he makes enemies in Italy which lead to the loss of money from Mistra and Venice seizes its chance. Majoris tries to rectify the situation both through trade with China and also through the gold trade in Africa.

I haven't read the first two parts of this story and I found it really difficult to pick up the different strands at the start. However by halfway through I was completely engrossed in a tale which encompassed lots of areas of history I didn't know about and had a very engaging plot. I am tempted to get hold of the two other books now.… (mehr)

A word of warning before I get into my flow: this book is marketed as a potential stand-alone novel, but it will make much more sense if you have read the previous three books in the Mistra Chronicles (Rise of Empires) series. I have not read these and consequently found myself floundering at first. Once I found my feet, however, I thought there was much to enjoy in this novel which takes us into rarely-mined historical fiction territory. Novels set in the 15th century rarely make it further east than Venice and, indeed, we do spend some time in Venice here. But much of the novel unfolds at Monemvasia and Mistra in the Peloponnese: two tiny outposts of the fading Byzantine Empire, standing proud against the looming armies of the Ottoman Turks. The true decline and fall of the Roman Empire is at hand, and it will be bound up with the story of two courageous men and the woman who is loved by both of them...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2017/06/02/by-blood-divided-james-heneage/… (mehr)