The Last King of Lydia

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I didn’t know the subtleties and complexities of their lives, I often had no idea what characters were thinking, and the philosophy felt ham-handed and straining too hard for my attention. This book is both a look at the history of the final days of and empire, and a small story about one man. It is only when Croesus has truly lost everything that he reflects on the words of the seer and how painfully true they have proved to be. In some ways Cyrus can be seen as the inventor of the concept of leaving people alone to worship as they please: “permissively plural,” as Cyrus’s theory is jokingly described by a slave in the novel.

Regular readers of this blog will know I tend to only review books I have enjoyed and think other people will enjoy as well. The prose is quite simple but there are some really beautiful and poetic descriptions of life that lift it above the ordinary. Meeting just Croesus, his immediate family, and one or two advisors felt unrealistic and implausible.On the surface, the book is an enjoyable adventure set in an ancient world, but the message of the book goes much deeper. Leach puts these words in the mouth of a 5th Century BC ruler, yet I’m not sure I’ve read a more apposite phrase to sum up what’s wrong with modern society. The second half of the book then covers how Croesus handles the humiliation of losing everything he held dear and the loss of status.

It is heart-wrenching to read about his reflections on his short life, as he marched to death, fighting for his country. Croesus is master of his own destiny and it is only his thoughtless behavior that will bring about his downfall. He does some dreadful things, but is at times oddly innocent, at least in how he thinks about the world. Equally, it often feels like the author is using the philosophical element to push a certain moral on the reader when, let's be honest, we *know* that wealth isn't everything (although it does help if you have at least some money so you don't starve).The conversation that the two have, where Croesus seeks to unravel the truth and Harpagus is surprisingly frank about his past, was one of my favorite parts in the book. It was a fascinating read, a great story very well told, and makes me keen to read more about the ancient world. I'm never totally sure whether Croesus was a real historical figure or more legendary, although the conflict with the Persians clearly was real, so that does ground the novel in at least some reality. It may only be April but this astonishing debut book from Tim Leach is without doubt my book of 2013.

He is entirely isolated from real life and the necessities of rule, living like a pampered and passive child with his servants and commanders taking the role of parents. Ancient mythology seems to be enjoying a surge in popularity of late, with a plethora of books, movies and games based on these ancient legends and fabled heroes. Every now and then I will get a book that is so good that I’m almost too scared to review it in case readers think I have been paid by the author or publisher. I cringed with second-hand embarrassment when Croesus, after taking a look at the army he had assembled, turned to his general and said something on the lines of "What now? The friendship developed between Croesus-Isocrates-Maia after the fall of Lydia did not convince me as well.We follow Croesus through the great siege of Babylon, where he doesn’t really belong but it’s interesting to see anyway. His subsequent fate soon became the theme of legend: he is cast or casts himself on a pyre, but is miraculously saved by Apollo and translated to the land of the *Hyperboreans or becomes the friend and counsellor of Cyrus. Leach weaves a beautiful narrative and brings the excesses of ancient Lydia to life with his expressive writing style. I think, if I’ve interpreted correctly, Leach suggests that life itself, the long stretch of days, might gain one or both of those but then again might not. We watch as greed and power lead him to gamble his vast wealth and his very kingship in a confrontation with Persia.