Perhaps not what I originally expected, this is the story of Charles Masson ie. James Lewis, a deserter from the East India Company Army. The beginning read like a novel and got you hooked with the discovery of artifacts at Bagram but quickly followed into the politics and history of the region. Alexandria under the mountains has still not been found but I expecred more seeking and less politics. Still a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the history of Afghanistan and/or the East India Company workings during that time period.
#NetGalley#TheKing'sShadow

I am a complete sucker for this type of book - I love biographies in general, and ones that tell you incredibly cool stories are the best kind - and this is one of those. There were a lot of details, and admittedly some of them I could have skipped, but I haven't heard of Charles Masson, and I'm very glad I now have.

Imagine travelling to a part of the world where no one from your country has ever been before. Now imagine being hunted as a military deserter meaning that you need to let go of all of the past while keeping an eye out for those who might want to do you harm.

Edmund Richardson has put together an extremely thorough, well-researched biography of Charles Masson one of the west's first visitors to the area since Marco Polo and Masson's one obsession Alexander the Great. In the pursuit of Alexander's footsteps and the location of Alexandria of the east, an area believed to be full of riches and historical significance.

This book is best digested slowly over several weeks of reading in order to obtain the greatest appreciation for the depth of the material and you will likely find that you return to earlier readings to re-read passages that you may have not given as much consideration at the first glance.

Masson's love of the area and its peoples are evident in the writing. The fact that he had so many obstacles constantly standing in his way only serves as a testimony of his dedication to the Afghanistan / Pakistan region.

Richardson's well-crafted text paints a fulsome picture of the beauty and spice of the area's geographical, sociological, and religious landscape. I highly recommend you pick up this book if you want to understand life in the 1800s. This book benefits from the added surprise of espionage and global intrigue to add some additional interest above what could have been simply an academic review of Masson's life.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for an advance copy upon which this review is based. I have received no other benefit nor asked to base my review upon any consideration for its outcome.

This was a prenominal biography. The writing was riveting, a bit like a mystery and adventure novel. I learned a tremendous amount about Afghanistan in the 1800s and about Alexander the Great. I could see recommending this book to middle grade or high school students interested in archeology or like topics. There is a bit of gore (it does discuss war), but I think that most kids could handle it.

Again, really pleased I read this book. Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the free e-arc

I just couldn't get into this book, I tried. The British East India Company punishes those who try to leave severely. This is the story of a man who left and went in search of the lost city of Alexandria. He changes his name and lives by his wits and friends he meets along the way.

This book is impeccable with historical references! It was a very different read then what I am used to so it took me a little longer to get into it. The history buff in me loved reading about Alexander the Great through the eyes of Charles Masson who I never heard of until I read this book!

This was a different style of book for me and it did take me quite awhile to read it. I sometimes got bogged down in the details but it was an interesting read about a culture and time that I know very little about. The main character led an incredible life made even more incredible by the fact that it's all based on fact. I gave this four stars and not five mostly due to my own inexperience with this type of novel but I'd definitely glad I spent time with it. Thanks so much to NetGalley for allowing me to read this novel for free in exchange for an honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58878194-the-king-s-shadow

A great book for history lovers! I read it all in one sitting. I had never heard of Charles Masson and the description of the book intrigued me right away.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an Arc of The King’s Shadow.

The King's Shadow by Edmund Richardson is an enthralling and engrossing read with a great plot and characters! Well worth the read

Think espionage, secrets hidden for decades, a lost city, extreme violence, government interference. A real life Indiana Jones tale set in Afghanistan. Well researched and superbly written, a tale to rival the Carter expedition to unearth King Tut. I read this book in one sitting, I could not put it down.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this copy in exchange for my unpaid, honest review.

Private James Lewis had a really rough life.

This retelling of an epic, non-fiction adventure begins with the very ordinary Private James Lewis, British East India Company Army, deserting on July 4, 1827. He was just 27 years old.

Lewis enlisted in the army of the British East India Company in 1821 at age 21 to escape London’s fetid cesspool of a collapsing economy and chaos.

His employer, the British East India Company (hereinafter “The Company”), started as an actual “trading company,” but progressed rapidly on to deposing rulers. grabbing land, and dealing opium. Greed and avarice prevailed. It was the most powerful entity in India with a huge army, spies, and drug dealers to hold it in power.

After a stint in the Thar Desert and almost dying, Lewis emerged as Charles Masson. Found by an American adventurer and deserter-hunter Josiah Harlan, Masson was signed on to Harlan’s expedition into Afghanistan in the role of soldier and dressed again in his Bengal Artillery uniform. Harlan knew who Masson really was but decided he needed him more than The Company needed to execute him. With Harlan’s group, he soon decided to strike out on his own, threat or not of being revealed. He traveled through Afghanistan and went in search of one of the lost cities known as Alexandria under the Mountains. (There were several cities named “Alexandria” founded by Alexander the Great in a none too subtle show of narcissism and ability to confuse historians.)

Masson, although very poor, managed to live by the kindness of strangers. He went on to make numerous friends which was both a blessing and a curse. He seemed to get along with many people from various walks of life, possibly as they came to know him as a rather odd coin and antiquity collecting loner. He paid people for the objects he collected and also went to the appropriate government people to obtain permission to excavate areas for whatever he could find. He didn’t hide his findings either; the son of the Khan in Kabul would enthusiastically go through his statues, pottery, and coins with him. Masson’s behavior was in marked contrast to that of the men of The Company who simply conquered and stole anything and everything they wanted.

Masson’s identity caught up with him. Due to the manipulations of an officer of The Company, Masson was blackmailed into spying in Kabul for The Company. This lost many of Masson’s friends, much to his great regret. He hated spying for any reason and it drove him deeply into depression and drink. The manuscript he produced and sent on to London in about 1840 was an anti-Company diatribe (rightly, I’m sure) that was deemed un-publishable at that time.

Masson finally was pardoned for his desertion but he never knew if it was a pardon that could be revoked. This ate away at his psyche. During his spying, he was confined to the Kabul area which nearly drove him mad. At last he took a chance and declared he was done with them; then, he was captured along with a mentally ill lieutenant and held in prison first by the Afghanis and then by The Company. He would have starved to death were it not for the assistance of another decent officer.

Why do I summarize the book? To offer evidence that Masson knew what he was doing as far as antiquities in Afghanistan were concerned. He didn’t have experience or training as an archeologist, but he had a passion to know more about Alexander the Great in that part of the world. We can thank him for the items he did recover for later generations to see; he used shovels and pick axes but at least he didn’t use dynamite, as some explorers did.

This book was absolutely fascinating and well worth reading. I can now see a couple of new areas of history for me to explore. I would like to thank Edmund Richardson, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. I did not receive anything for this reiew.

There are some true stories that are stranger and more colorful than anything fiction can create. The King's Shadow by Edmund Richardson is one of those stories. Both richly detailed and intensely researched, Richardson tells the true-life tale of explorer and archeologist Charles Masson, a man few have heard about but who indelibly left his mark on the world. With an in-depth look at India and Afghanistan in the early-mid 1800's, the author introduces readers to a time and place that no longer exist as well as leads the unsuspecting on a wild-ride into history. While searching for what would become a lifelong obsession, the lost city of Alexandria, Masson lived with beggars and thieves, holy men and princes. He experienced great joy and staggering violence perpetuated by his own people and those of the nation he came to love deeply. With deft prose and an excellent narrative, this is a book that will thrill the heart of the treasure hunter, truth seeker and historian in all of us.

An interesting read. I had never heard of Charles Mason and while Afghanistan has been in the forefront of the news for the past twenty years I wasn’t really aware of the tangled history of the country, The irony is that if you were able to go back in time and ask Mason his opinion on the current situation he probably would not have been totally shocked about the situation with the Taliban.

I was really intrigued by the premise of this book, I found the content to be really interesting and fascinating. It's definitely a must-read for lovers of history.

It is challenging to read this book as a biography because the subject’s experiences are so vastly removed from anything I have done.
. . . His daring. . .
. . . His desperation. . .
. . .his inventiveness. . .
. . . His dreams, and
His obsession. He is hard to identify with in any way, and impossible to like. But, it is also difficult not to admire his daring and pluck.
This life is definitely one of adventure that many readers will enjoy vicariously sharing.