The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. The author’s name “Elizabeth E. Wein” is written at the top in blue caps. The title “The Lion Hunter” is written in slightly larger yellow caps below this, on the left side of the cover. At the bottom of the cover, in small white caps, text reads “The mark of Solomon part I of II”. The background shows a painting of a man walking a juvenile lion through sand dunes at night. /end]

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Content Warning:

• Injury
• Animal Attack- TBC
• Death Threats
• Past Traumatic Experiences
• Quarantining
• Confinement- TBC

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Summary:

It is the sixth century in Aksum, Africa. Young Telemakos, King Arthur’s half-Ethiopian grandson, is still recovering from his ordeal as a government spy in the far desert, trying to learn who was breaking the Emperor’s plague quarantine. Before he is fully himself again, tragedy and menace strike, and he finds himself sent, with his baby sister, Athena, to live with Abreha, the ruler of Himyar, a longtime enemy of the Aksumites, now perhaps a friend. His aunt Goewin, Arthur’s daughter, warns him that Abreha is a man to be wary of, someone to watch carefully. Telemakos promises he will be mindful, but he does not realize that Goewin’s warnings are not enough to protect him. The Sunbird (“Intense, absorbing, and luminously written”, Kirkus Reviews, starred review) was the first book about Telemakos. The Lion Hunter continues his story, to be quickly followed by The Empty Kingdom, a two-book sequence called The Mark of Solomon.

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Notes:

This is the fourth book in the The Lion Hunters series. This is the first book in the The Mark of Solomon duology. I have read that The Mark of Solomon was originally 1 large book split into two, with The Empty Kingdom continuning immediately after this story.

There is an ebook. There is a kindle edition.

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Archivist Comments:

I keep seeing people positively comparing this series to the work of Megan Whalen Turner.

The main complaint I’ve seen about this book is in relation to its cliffhanger and the fact that it is part of a duology. People have said that the story doesn’t make sense/end until the second book and so neither can really be read as a standalone.

Apparently, an author’s note at the end of this book clarifies that this story is less historical fiction and more historical based fantasy, with some creative liberty used regarding elements of the setting and the Arthurian myth it includes.

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