[Tiglath Ashur 02] • The Blood Star

Shot through with dark, exotic lyricism, Guild's majestic historical epic cuts a wide swath through ancient Assyria, Egypt, Phoenicia, Sicily, Greece. Its narrator-hero, Tiglath Ashur, seen before in The Assyrian , is banished from Nineveh by his hated half-brother, the Assyrian king, partly due to a misunderstanding that is not cleared up until long after the brothers are reconciled. Fleeing the king's assassins, Tiglath encounters formulaic elements of the adventure novel--sudden perils, gory battles, omens, spicy lovemaking.