From Kirkus Reviews
Sequel to the 11th-century historical fantasy Shards of Empire (1996). The First Crusade is under way: A mixed force of Normans, Franks, and other northerners under Bohemond has assembled, intending to attack the Holy Land and wrest Jerusalem from the Turks. To Byzantine Emperor Alexius, however, surrounded by enemies, the Crusaders are just as threatening as the Turks themselves, so he engages linguist and warrior Theodoulos, adoptive son of his old friend and rival Leo Ducas, to accompany the Crusaders and report back. Alexius also appoints Binah, Leo's magic-powered adoptive daughter, to be a companion for his fiercely ambitious daughter Anna. Along the way, Theodoulos finds his own magic powers awakening (like his sister, he's the offspring of a goddess), and almost against his will he begins to like the barbarous but good-hearted northerners. As the Crusaders draw ever nearer to Jerusalem, Binah teaches Anna magic, while the latter schemes and plots and prepares herself to seize the throne when the opportunity presents itself. Though Shwartz's sympathies and interests manifestly lie with Anna, much of the book is simply a fictionalized account of the First Crusade. The upshot is schizophrenic and only moderately engaging. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Book Description
The center of the greatest empire in the world, the seat of Christianity, Byzantium is a revered city. Marked by gargantuan monuments to God, the most royal of princes, and the most affluent citizens, Byzantium cannot possibly ever fall. Now under siege by Islam, the Byzantine Empire must look to Christians from the West for help in winning back Jerusalem, the most hallowed of cities. The Byzantines must prevent the disintegration of their empire while protecting the faith of many, but at what expense?

From the Publisher
"Susan Shwartz is a sorceress surely without peer, weaving her spells of entrapment to the wonder of all." --Dennis L. McKiernan

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Once Byzantium was the meeting place of East and West, the Holy City where subtle princes, rich merchants, and scheming priests built great monuments to the glory of God and their own ambition. But now, after centuries of power, the Imperial throne is in danger. The forces of Islam have attacked the Empire's borders from the East: they have captured Jerusalem, Christianity's holiest city, and all seems lost. From the West have come Jerusalem's saviors - the armies of Franks, Normans, and other Christians - who are willing to die to reclaim Jerusalem for Christ's faithful. For the people who stand in the midst of this momentous upheaval, the arrival of the Crusaders sounds as a warning klaxon. For Leo Ducas, a man who was once a hairsbreadth away from assuming the Imperial throne but who has rejected that life, they represent hope and danger in equal measure. For his wife, Asherah, the beautiful and haunting Jewess who saved Leo's life so long ago, the barbarians are nothing but the murderers of her people. And for Binah, their bewitching daughter, a woman who holds the world's power in her grasp, they are but pawns in her own mysterious game. They will all play a dangerous game to save their homeland, from infidel and barbarian Christian both...and the things done in their various gods' names may condemn an entire generation.

SYNOPSIS

The tides of history are swelling and converging on Byzantium. It is the time of the first crusade and Alexis the Byzantine Emperor is threatened by the emerging Turks and Islam to the south and invading Christian Crusaders from the North.

FROM THE CRITICS

VOYA - Dr. Ruth Cox

Shwartz's detailed description of the First Crusade is as elaborate as a royal cape that Alexius I Comnenus, the Emperor of Byzantium, might have worn. The glory and the gore of the battles are so vividly real that one can almost smell the blood and hear the screams of the dying men. Christians are portrayed as both devout and devious. The beautiful Jewess Asherah and her family add a depth to the book, as well as a fantastical element. Asherah is a sorceress and her two adopted children are demi-gods. Theo fears his powers, but Binah coolly plies her goddess wile. While the Norman Bohemond cuts a bloody path of destruction through the Holy Land, Alexius's daughter Anna deviously prepares to rule the empire after her father's death, knowing full well that her brother Ioannes has been named next emperor. After Alexius's death, Anna attempts to assassinate her brother, but fails, and is sent to a convent. Years later, a still young and beautiful Binah comes to the convent to adopt a "mindless and soulless" baby recently left with the nuns. Through this child, Binah gives the aged Anna a second chance at life. Using her immortal powers, Binah transfers Anna's mind and soul into the infant's body. Leaving Anna's body lying on the floor, Binah walks out of the convent with a fully aware infant in her arms. This carefully crafted novel brings the First Crusade to life, but the length and minute attention to historical detail suggest that this novel is for the adult reader with a strong interest in the Crusades. VOYA Codes: 3Q 2P S (Readable without serious defects, For the YA with a special interest in the subject, Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).

Kirkus Reviews

Sequel to the 11th-century historical fantasy Shards of Empire (1996). The First Crusade is under way: A mixed force of Normans, Franks, and other northerners under Bohemond has assembled, intending to attack the Holy Land and wrest Jerusalem from the Turks. To Byzantine Emperor Alexius, however, surrounded by enemies, the Crusaders are just as threatening as the Turks themselves, so he engages linguist and warrior Theodoulos, adoptive son of his old friend and rival Leo Ducas, to accompany the Crusaders and report back. Alexius also appoints Binah, Leo's magic-powered adoptive daughter, to be a companion for his fiercely ambitious daughter Anna. Along the way, Theodoulos finds his own magic powers awakening (like his sister, he's the offspring of a goddess), and almost against his will he begins to like the barbarous but good-hearted northerners. As the Crusaders draw ever nearer to Jerusalem, Binah teaches Anna magic, while the latter schemes and plots and prepares herself to seize the throne when the opportunity presents itself.

Though Shwartz's sympathies and interests manifestly lie with Anna, much of the book is simply a fictionalized account of the First Crusade. The upshot is schizophrenic and only moderately engaging.