Showing results for "Siege" in Literature & Fiction

AD 270. Rome has ruled Syria for over three centuries. But now the weakened empire faces a desperate threat: Queen Zenobia of Palmyra has turned her Roman-trained army against her former masters, and the once invincible legions have been crushed. Arabia, Palestine and Egypt have fallen, and now Antioch, Syria's capital, stands exposed. Cassius Corbulo is a young intelligence agent fresh from officer training. He has been assigned the menial task of rounding up wounded legionaries....

India, 1857 - the year of the Great Mutiny, when Muslim soldiers turned in bloody rebellion on their British overlords. This time of convulsion is the subject of The Siege of Krishnapur, widely considered to the one of the finest British novels of the last 50 years. A witty and individual take on the many traditions and follies of Empire, it is also a gripping account of survival under siege, illuminating how extreme conditions can influence and affect people's behaviour and the human spirit.

The invasion has come and Nemesis stands ready. He's been adjusting to his newfound relationships, but unwelcome guests on his doorstep are souring his mood. If he has to choose between annoying relatives and blood-thirsty orcs, Nemesis might just let in the orcs. Anything's better than Jaden. Harper has given him a reason not to fly off, yet the black dragon still contemplates the worth of his homeland. If it weren't for the love of his beautiful rider, he might just leave it all behind. For now, Nemesis is bracing himself for the fight of his life.

The zombie illness has shattered civilization. The survivors, who have found tenuous safety in Texas, defend their fort against the walking dead and living bandits. The people of Ashley Oaks are stunned to discover that the vice president of the United States is alive and commanding the remnants of the US military. And what’s left of the US government has plans for this group of determined survivors.

In the north, the collapsed section of the Wall is defended only by the decimated remains of 2 PARA. Even reinforced by Jameson and the exhausted Royal Marines of One Troop, it's a doomed delaying action at best - and the last choke point in the entire ZA faces an incoming tide of dead stretching to the ends of the Earth. Meanwhile, hunkered down at CentCom, the unified ranks of our heroes, led by Ali and Fick, work furiously to fortify and reinforce what will be humanity's final fallback position - forever.

The war for the fate of mankind blazes on. Though the outer defences have fallen, the walls of the Palace itself remain inviolate as Rogal Dorn, the Praetorian of Terra himself, uses every known stratagem and ploy to keep Horus' vast armies at bay. In Perturabo, the Traitor siegebreaker, Dorn faces an adversary worthy of his skill. A terrible, grinding attrition ensues. The crucial battle for the Lion's Gate spaceport is at the heart of this conflict. With it in their possession, the Traitors can land their most devastating weapons on Terran soil. Dorn knows it must not fall.

The mercenaries set an explosive scheme in motion to blow this bad dream to smithereens. But in chapter five of The Boy in the Iron Box, they soon find that even the best-laid plans can backfire. With the morale of the team fraying, Liev makes a vow. He’s not going to leave anyone behind until the last stand is seen through to its cold and bitter end. On this night, it’s Liev who lies in wait to face everything he’s feared. It’s nothing like he expected.

Terra is besieged. The outcome of the war lies on a knife edge. The Warmaster Horus’ bloody seven-year crusade has led to this – the cradle of humanity, where he is to kill his father, the Emperor. With the war at this critical juncture, Sanguinius, primarch of the loyalist Blood Angels, braves the horrors of the Warmaster’s flagship, The Vengeful Spirit, with a single purpose in mind – to slay his brother Horus, decapitate the Heresy once and for all, and stop the forces of Chaos from taking Terra.

The Great Angel, Sanguinius, lies slain at his brother's hand. Terra burns as reality itself unravels, and the greatest bastion of civilisation teeters on the brink of annihilation. Desperate defenders gather, banding against the rabid traitor hordes. The Hollow Mountain, host to the pilgrims of Euphrati Keeler, is one of the last redoubts held by the Dark Angels while the unclean host of Typhus lays siege. Malcador the Sigillite sits ablaze on the Golden Throne, trying to buy his master more time. But time is running out...

On the 13th day of Secundus, the bombardment of Terra began. With the solar defences overcome through the devastating strength of the Traitor armada and the power of the warp, Horus launches his assault on the Throneworld in earnest. After withstanding a ferocious barrage of ordnance, an immense ground war commences outside the Palace, with every inch gained paid for in the lives of billions.

Montana Coggeshall is feeling the squeeze - and not just because of his new leather pants from the goddess Eona. His little safeholding in the ruthless world of Vuldranni is under siege. On both sides. At the front is Lord Caticorix, a grade-A Imperial flunkey if there ever was one. He's clearly ridiculous, but the army he brought with him might not be. Plus they're bent on blocking Coggeshall from getting any food or supplies from the outside world.

Humiliated in the ruins of Imperial Ithos, with the Exile Splinter stolen from their grasp by the ancient sphinx Kanderon Crux, Havath's Duarchs have assembled an army that dwarfs the entire population of Skyhold. Led by their Great Powers, monsters and mages individually capable of leveling a city, they pose a threat that even Kanderon, one of the mightiest of Great Powers, and her equally monstrous allies might be unable to stop. As the Havathi forces push closer and closer to Skyhold, Hugh and his friends train relentlessly, hoping to make a difference in the oncoming siege.

From a princess locked in a tower to a prisoner on death row. That's Anna at a glance. What more lives beneath the surface of a girl who does not have long to live?

Ultimate soldier. Ultimate mission. But can the SAS assault team rescue the hostages from the terrorist-held Iranian embassy? 30 April 1980: six well-armed terrorists seize the Iranian Embassy in London. Nineteen Iranian nationals and four British citizens are captured. Subsequent negotiations...

Immerse yourself in the gripping tales of legendary siege battles from around the globe. Written in 1908, this collection captures the daring exploits and resourcefulness of both besiegers and the besieged. While some language reflects the norms of the early 20th century, these lively narratives offer a fascinating glimpse into the art of war. Summary by David Wales.

In the Spring of 1857, with India on the brink of a violent and bloody mutiny, Krishnapur is a remote town on the vast North Indian plain. For the British there, life is orderly and genteel. Then the sepoys at the nearest military cantonment rise in revolt, and the British community retreats with shock into the Residency. They prepare to fight for their lives with what weapons they can muster. As food and ammunition grow short, the Residency, its defences battered by shot and shell and eroded by the rains, becomes ever more vulnerable.

Fifteenth Century Europe. Tom Swan is not a professional soldier. He's really a merchant and a scholar looking for remnants of Ancient Greece and Rome - temples, graves, pottery, fabulous animals, unicorn horns. But he also has a real talent for ending up in the midst of violence when he didn't mean to. Having used his wits to escape execution, he begins a series of adventures that take him to street duels in Italy, meetings with remarkable men - from Leonardo Da Vinci to Vlad Dracula - and from the intrigues of the War of the Roses to the fall of Constantinople.

Lady Iskra and her followers have survived the onslaught of demons, forged powerful alliances, and are finally ready to wreck righteous vengeance on the Ascendant Empire. Yet even as they begin their endgame, a new danger arises that threatens to annihilate everything in its path, heretic or no: Tharok, the greatest peril to humanity since Ogri the Destroyer.

When the family castle is besieged by an ancient enemy, Ursula rides for help to Aylmer, who has asked for her hand in marriage. Ursula admires and respects Aylmer, who is much older than she. He loves her dearly and promises to help lift the siege. Aylmer offers the services of Benedict de Huste, a young man with a tragic past whom Aylmer regards as an adopted son. Together Ursula and Benedict fight a double battle.

On the Outer Rim, the planet Lanteeb has no strategic value, no political power, and one enormous problem: It has been invaded by an emboldened Separatist Alliance. To find out why, Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi have snuck onto Lanteeb—and now look oblivion in the eye...