Empires of Bronze: Son of Ishtar

By: Gordon Doherty

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Four sons. One throne. A world on the precipice.

1315 BC: Tensions soar between the great powers of the Late Bronze Age. The Hittites stand toe-to-toe with Egypt, Assyria and Mycenaean Ahhiyawa, and war seems inevitable. More, the fierce Kaskan tribes—age-old enemies of the Hittites—amass at the northern borders.

When Prince Hattu is born, it should be a rare joyous moment for all the Hittite people. But when the Goddess Ishtar comes to King Mursili in a dream, she warns that the boy is no blessing, telling of a dark future where he will stain Mursili’s throne with blood and bring destruction upon the world.

Thus, Hattu endures a solitary boyhood in the shadow of his siblings, spurned by his father and shunned by the Hittite people. But when the Kaskans invade, Hattu is drawn into the fray. It is a savage journey in which he strives to show his worth and valour. Yet with his every step, the shadow of Ishtar’s prophecy darkens....

©2017 Gordon Doherty (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd

Bronze Age masterpiece

Fantastic tale from a time often forgotten and narrated by none other than Johnathan Keeble!!

Fantastic narrator, decent story

Empires of Bronze is a solid bit of historical fantasy, but struggles to rise beyond being just above average. Jonathan Keeble elevates the entire experience.

Fresh air for historical fiction.

Tired of generic Greco-Roman settings?
Want something fresh and rarely done?

Then BOY do I have a story for you. What we have here in Empire's of Bronze is a story that revolves around the ancient Hittite empire of bronze age Anatolia and revolves around the life of the Hittite prince Hattusili III (Hattu) as he comes of age in this violent and uncertain time. Enemies assail the Hittite empire on all sides even from within. And the very stability of the world cracks as we near the Collapse of the bronze age.

Solid characters with believable goals against the backdrop of a world on the brink of catastrophe makes for good coming of age story with plenty of war, intrigue, romance and suspense. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves history and action adventures all together.

Battle scenes are infused with the intensity appropriate to the drama.

I like the character development and the historical setting. Don’t miss the afterword that delineates the line between fact and fiction. The narrator is excellent!

Thunderous Heartbeats

This was an excellent title! The performance of the reader was stellar—his tone and intensity rose and fell to meet the pacing of the story.

As for the story itself, it was very compelling. The author has clearly done a great deal of research about the time period. Most of the anachronisms are minor and deliberate—an attempt to make the area and era more familiar to the reader. However, in the major points the author remains very true to what we know of the time.

The characters and conflicts are quite believable. The author did an excellent job in humanizing each character—even the heroic main character feels very, very human. There were no moments when I felt that the story dragged on or lulled. The actions scenes (of battle, of conflict, of skill) were often invigorating and tense. In some instances, I felt that the descriptions were a bit too brutal for my tastes, but undoubtedly combat in the bronze age would have been gruesome.

If you have any interest in the time period (or even classical/medieval era historical fiction) you ought to pick this one up!