Before the Romans. Before the Parthians. Before Alexander the Great. There were the Persians.

In the fertile land of ancient Persia a rising leader, Cyrus, challenges the power of the mighty Median Empire to forge a new world from the ashes of the old. Among the countless warriors who gather beneath the banner of Cyrus, one name would rise from obscurity to become both feared and revered across Persia and beyond: Kian Mihran.

The son of a slave born into a noble household, the brutal murder of his betrothed at the hands of wandering Sarmatians burns away the man he had been. What remains is a warrior driven by grief, hardened by vengeance and sharpened by ordeal. As Cyrus forges his army to elevate Persia above all others, Kian becomes the sword of his king, a leader who has an instinct for war, a ruthless courage and a loyalty that never wavers.

Set amid the sweeping rise of the Persian Empire in the sixth century BC, this epic tale of war, love and sorcery brings to life a forgotten world where history and myth collide, and where one man’s quest for revenge will change the fate of kings and empires.

‘Lion of Persia’ is the first volume in the Satrap series, which tells the story of Kian Mihran who rises in the ranks of the army of Cyrus the Great, the warrior king who founded the Persian Empire in the sixth century BC. A map of ancient Persia and the surrounding kingdoms and empires at this time is available to download for free from the maps page of my website: https://peterdarman.com.