Bøger af Scott Oden

Hasdrabal Barca is a killer. As captain of Pharaoh's border guard, the fearsome Medjay, he stands between the rich heartland of the Nile and the countless foes who would see the proud and ancient land of Egypt brought to its knees. Hasdrabal Barca is a murderer. Haunted by a crime of passion, its memory has eaten away all but the last slender thread of his humanity. Rage drives him; a berserk fury few men can fathom - and fewer can withstand. He is the Beast at the Gate, Pharaoh's vengeance. Hasdrabal Barca is a hero. For when one of Egypt's most celebrated generals, a Greek mercenary called Phanes, defects to the Persians, it triggers a savage war that will tax Barca's ferocious skills, and his humanity, to the limit. From the political wasteland of Palestine, to the searing deserts east of the Nile, to the streets of ancient Memphis, Barca and Phanes play a desperate game of cat-and-mouse - a game culminating in the bloodiest battle of Egypt's history. "Profound and tragic . . . Oden's masterful story of bloody battles, political intrigues, betrayal and romance offers a gripping portrait of the collapse of an empire." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Oden weaves a story of intrigue, political corruption, treachery, and loyalty as seen though the eyes of a multitude of intriguing characters. The ultimate message is one of courage, love, duty, and abiding honor." -Library Journal

Against history's greatest conqueror, one man will stand alone ... When Alexander of Macedon crossed the Hellespont in the spring of 334 BC, he came ravenous for Glory, desperate for the immortality that was his birthright. At the Granicus River, he smashed an army devised by the formidable satraps of Asia Minor. Even so, Alexander's road to conquest was not clear. For among the myriads of the enemy stood the one man Alexander feared: a mercenary, a seasoned commander on both land and sea who knew the secret to defeating the Macedonians - Memnon of Rhodes. But Memnon was no common mercenary. In his youth, he had led a revolution and suffered exile as his punishment; a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, and a mediator, he had tasted tragedy as well as triumph. To his fellow Greeks he was a traitor, but to the Great King of Persia Memnon was the only man he could trust to stave off the destruction of his empire. For Memnon of Rhodes fought for something deeper than Glory or gold. He fought for loyalty, for honor, for duty; he fought for the love of Barsine, grand-daughter of kings and a woman of remarkable beauty and grace. Most of all, he fought for the promise of peace. Praised for its "vivid conjecture, deft plotting, and graceful prose" (Publisher's Weekly), MEMNON is the epic story of one man - a man nearly forgotten by history - whose duty to his family outweighed that of his heritage; a tale of love and loss, set against the sweeping panorama of war. "An eloquent and captivating historical thriller." - Publisher's Weekly

As the Black Death rampages across Europe, two creatures of the Elder World clash over the rotting corpse of Christendom in Scott Oden's third book in the Grimnir SeriesSkrælingr. Orcnéas. Fomoraig. He is Grimnir . . .For over a century, he has tracked the dragon, Níðhöggr -- the Malice-Striker -- from the shores of Lake Vänern, across the Baltic Sea, through Russia, and down into the Mediterranean; he has hounded the wyrm from Old Muscovy to Messina. And finally, to the Eternal City -- to Rome, itself.And in Rome, on a cold November night in 1347 AD, on the ruined steps of Old St. Peter's basilica, Grimnir's saga comes crashing to an end. A crossbow bolt, loosed in terror, slays him out of hand. It is a mundane finale to a life spent hip-deep in bloodshed and slaughter, surrounded by steel and savagery and the sorcery of the Elder World.But Death is just the beginning . . .Now, on the grim and misty isle of Nástrond, under the shadows of Yggðrasil, Grimnir is plunged headlong into the twisted Valhalla that is the afterlife of his people. Here, bloody in-fighting, schemes and betrayals are the order of the day. Grimnir is forced to contend with a cabal of witches, with giants and trolls who have never felt the light of Miðgarðr's moon, and with his own rapacious kin as he journeys beyond the shores of Nástrond to find answers. And with every death, Grimnir unravels another thread of a monstrous secret woven at the dawn of time -- one that will turn him from the pawn of unknown gods into the most powerful being in the Nine Worlds. And the most hunted.For he, alone, holds the key to Ragnarök and the Doom of Odin . . .

For Dubhlinn is set to be the site of a reckoning-the Old Ways versus the New-and Grimnir, the last of his kind left to plague mankind, must choose: stand with the Christian King of Ireland and see his vengeance done or stand against him and see it slip away?

It is the middle of the 12th century . Egypt bleeds - and the scent draws her enemies in: the swaggering Shirkuh, who serves the Sultan of Damascus, and Amalric, king of Jerusalem, whose greed is insatiable and whose Crusader knights are hungry for a fight. Yet all is not lost.

He fought for the love of Barsine, a woman of remarkable beauty and grace, but most of all, he fought for the promise of peace. Through the deathbed recollections of a mysterious woman, the life of Memnon unfolds with brilliant clarity.

From the political wastelands of Palestine and the searing deserts east of the Nile to the streets of the ancient city of Memphis, Barca and Phanes play a desperate and brutal game of cat-and-mouse that culminates in the bloodiest battle of Egypt's history.