ARRSE - Parthian Dawn by Peter Darman

'Parthian Dawn' is the second novel in what will hopefully be a long series by Peter Darman. I reviewed the first, The Parthian, (review here : A-Y) last year - giving it 5 mushroom heads and saying that I would be 'first in the metaphorical queue for further instalments'. Well, as luck would have it, Auld-Yin (the Godfather of the Book reviews section) remembered this and sent me the next in the series.

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This book carries on where the first left off - Prince Parcorus is back in his homeland, now made a King with his very own kingdom. His time in Italy, fighting alongside Spartacus, has clearly paid dividends as he puts his foes to the sword with alarming regularity. Juggling a double enemy of the dastardly Romans and the treacherous rival Parthian kings, this book again bowls along at a cracking pace.

I described this book before as a Roman 'Sharpe' - obviously prescient, this is quickly turning out to be an excellent judgement. My only concern is that, as each book covers several years of Parcorus' life, we may run out of realistic life span before too long! There is sufficient military detail in the book to make the reader feel that Darman has done his homework well whilst recognising that this is a work of fiction based on an ancient civilisation away from the epicentre of the Roman empire.

I'll give this another 5 mushroom heads, particularly so as the Kindle ebook only costs £2.06 on Amazon. Hopefully A-Y will remember me when the next novel comes out - my Kindle is waiting!

C_C