With the scrupulous eye of an historian, the author reveals a city caught in a life and death struggle, targeted for conquest by the world’s most powerful man. In Queen of Cities, Andrew Novo evokes an age of armored heroes and high-walled cities, of Machiavellian mistresses and scheming politicians, of religious conflict and the clash of empires. The Turkish sultan, Mehmed, brilliant, and ambitious, has declared war on Constantinople. The stone, silk and steel of the 15th century come to life in an epic drama that reverberates in our own time.ġ453 – An army is marching. This is an age of armored heroes and high-walled cities, of Machiavellian mistresses and scheming politicians, of religious conflict and the clash of empires. The Turkish sultan Mehmed has declared war on Constantinople. For these reasons it felt that Novo was more interested in relating the history of Constantinople than telling a great story.Queen of Cities (318 pages) is a historical fiction novel by Andrew Novo. This is most clearly seen in Novo’s portrayal of Sultan Mehmed as unreasonable and sexually depraved while Emperor Constantine is conciliatory and self-sacrificing. In addition, Novo’s representation of the Christians as mostly pious and well-meaning and the Muslims as moral hypocrites driven only by political ambition, characterizations based in part on contemporary Christian accounts of the siege, felt biased. This made it hard to care about the fate of any one character. However, I found the constant switching of perspective unsettling, especially when many of the characters were used in just one short vignette and not throughout the entire narrative. In these ways Novo’s storytelling skills shine. Finally, Novo’s amazing details of the weaponry and war tactics employed in the siege are impressive. Novo also skillfully shows how fractures on the Christian side were far more damaging to Constantinople than its crumbling ancient walls. Several times I found myself caught up in the hopes of the losing side. Novo does an excellent job maintaining suspense though most readers may already know the outcome of the siege. And though each side believes God to be on their side, the fate of Constantinople will be determined by the secret dealings of politicians, the skill of generals, and the bravery of common soldiers and citizens.

The year is 1453 and the army of Turkish Sultan Mehmed is camped outside the walls of Constantinople while the Emperor Constantine and his Christian allies desperately try to fight back against the siege.

Queen of Cities by Andrew Novo