Full Review

I've been a Conn Iggulden fan for years. I loved his Emperor series about Julius Caesar and his Conqueror series about Genghis Khan, so I picked up Lion expecting another all-nighter. It's the first book in his Golden Age series, a historical epic set in ancient Greece. I read about two-thirds of it, and for the first time ever I gave up on one of his books.

Plot: Lion is set in Athens during the Greco-Persian wars, with plenty of attention to true events. It follows a young Athenian growing up amid war at sea, ambitious families and city politics. The first half moves along nicely, with battles, rivalries and the feeling that the whole of Greece is at stake. Then, about halfway through, the story turns to the main character setting up his own theatre company, and that is where it lost me.

Characters: Iggulden has a real knack for characters, and the early ones felt like real people with real motives. The love interest was starting to get interesting, then she faded into the background and I was left wondering where that thread had gone. That may pick up again later in the book, but I didn't finish, so I won't know. My bigger problem was the second half, when a whole new cast of theatre characters arrived just as I'd got to know the first lot. I couldn't keep track of them, and I didn't care enough to try.

Pace: The first half flew by. Once the theatre storyline took over, it dragged for me, and I couldn't see where it was going.

Setting: His style is very immersive. The scenes feel authentic, and he clearly knows the period inside out. The cliff scene stuck with me most: you can feel the height, the risk and the young man's mix of drive and sheer naivety all at once.

The scene that got me: That cliff scene. It showed who the main character is better than any speech could. He's got ambition and guts, but he's also still green, and that combination is what made me care about him in the first half.

The Ending: I can't tell you, because I didn't get there. I've put it down for now, but I'll probably go back to it, so watch this space.

What annoyed me: The switch to the theatre company. It killed the flow of the story, brought in too many new characters at once, and the love interest I'd just started to care about seemed to disappear.

Notes

Series Information: Book 1 of 2 in the Golden Age series.

Brief Author Details: Conn Iggulden is a former English teacher and one of the UK's best-known historical novelists. He's best known for the Emperor and Conqueror series. Lion takes him from Rome and the Mongol steppes to ancient Athens.

Overall I would rate 'Lion' a 3.5 out of 5. It's quite a low score from me for an Iggulden. It gets the stars for the strong first half and his writing, but it loses them for the theatre storyline that stopped me finishing.

Final Thoughts: If you love Iggulden or ancient Greece, give it a go. You might get on with the theatre storyline better than I did. If you're new to him, start with the Emperor series instead, which is still one of my favourite all-nighter reads.

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