Shards of empire

Susan Shwartz

Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 1996 - Fiction - 383 pages

After centuries of power and tyranny, the Byzantine Empire is falling. Fierce Turkish armies attack the empire's borders from without; treacherous aristocratic intrigues attack its heart from within.
Young Leo Ducas, heir to a noble family, goes to battle to serve his emperor and his God. But even on the battlefield, Leo's worst enemies are not the Turks, but his own treasonous kinsmen.
Shattered and scarred, Leo returns to Byzantium in disgrace. There he finds only dissension and madness. His cousins are in exile, his parents dishonored. When the holiest of churches proves no sanctuary against the evil magics that brought down an emperor, Leo flees to the borders of the empire.
On the caravan routes and in the crude hermitages, Leo sees wonders and magics that no Christian man has a right to behold. Among the ruins of empires older than Byzantium, he encounters plots and conspiracies even more insidious than those he has fought before ... and finds a beautiful Jewess who may hold the key that will unite all the peoples of Asia Minor.

What people are saying

Review: Shards of Empire

User Review  - Judi - Goodreads

Really hard read and hard to follow - ended up skimming the second half of the book. Plot is good and interesting but I don't like books that I have to concentrate too hard to understand.

Review: Shards of Empire

User Review  - Michael G - Goodreads

I was drawn in to buy this book by the beautiful cover, but did not regret it once I started reading. The setting is the mid Byzantine Empire, around the time of the disastrous Battle of Manzikert ...

About the author

Susan Shwartz is the author of such acclaimed novels as "The Grail of Hearts", "Shards of Empire", and "Hostile Takeover". She lives in Forest Hills, New York.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Shards of empire
• Author: Susan Shwartz
• Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 1996
• ISBN: 0312857160, 9780312857165
• Length: 383 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Fantasy / General; Fiction / Historical