King of the World: The Life of Cyrus the Great is a history of the famed Persian emperor whose life nevertheless remains shrouded in mystery. Although this is undoubtedly a solid resource for research purposes, it makes for a ponderous read for anyone simply looking to learn more about the ancient world.

Cyrus the Great has to be one of the most magnanimous rulers ever to grace history and yet as the author of this book puts it there is not much of a written record about him at all! However, using the limited sources at his disposal, Matt Waters manages to put together an interesting picture of the monarch who not only was the leader of the powerful Achaemid (Persian) empire and brought nations together under his rule but was also, according to the Bible, the king who allowed the Israelites to go back and rebuild Jerusalem, after years of servitude under Babylon kings. We also get a glimpse of how Cyrus operated as a ruler- from building his army to his governing policies. The author also mentions that in all of the sources (however limited and bias), there is nothing negative mentioned about Cyrus as a person and Alexander the Great, who ruled a few centuries later was so impressed by Cyrus that he tried to emulate Cyrus in all aspects of his own rule.

Michael Page does a great job of narrating this non-ficton work which does comprise of ancient Persian and Greek terminology. I thought I would have a difficult time following the text but was pleasantly surprised. The only drawback was that I could not refer to the maps, diagrams and pictures which are included in the physical book but could only be mentioned verbally in the audiobook.

My thanks to NetGalley, the audiobook publisher Highbridge Audio and the author for the audio Arc of the book.

I listened to the audio version. As such, I did not have access to figures and illustrations that may have been available in a print book.
I enjoy history, and this is a time period and individual about which I am not familiar. I enjoyed learning about both from this work on nonfiction. It is approachable for the non-historian. Since I had little prior knowledge of the subject, I cannot critique the author's accuracy, though it is certainly well-presented, interesting, and seems well researched. I found the biblical references interesting, as they provide context for those who are familiar with biblical stories. However, this work does not focus on religion. The author included useful appendices which were also interesting to listen to in the audio format.
I would recommend this book to people who are interested in ancient history and history in general. This is also a useful reference for people involved in Bible study.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the description about the book, it sounded really interesting to me, as I generally like reading about the history of the Middle East region. I had never heard of Cyrus the Great before, so I was interested to read about his life and legacy. The first part of the book was a little tedious, with a lot of references to dates and people, which I found to be overwhelming. I couldn't keep straight who everyone was, how they related to Cyrus, etc. I think that part of the problem was that I was listening to an audiobook rather than print version. It might have been easier to follow in black and white, especially because in print version you can go back and look at it again, take notes, etc.

When the book shifted into actual stories about Cyrus, it got better. If I remember correctly, the book mentions that the author has spent a lot of time compiling and researching the subject matter of this book, and it really shows. I think that the author was enthusiastic to put all his knowledge down on the page, but that in some aspects this came off less like storytelling and more like a university class history lesson. Not that there is anything wrong with a history lesson per se, but when reading books, I like to have a feel more of being told a story. This is why I couldn't give more than 3 stars, as this book dragged for me in some places.

That being said, I think that anyone who is interested in the ancient history of the region will enjoy this book for the wealth of knowledge that it imparts. It was definitely very educational.

Lastly, with respect to the audiobook version I have two comments to make. While I enjoyed the lyrical voice of the narrator, there was a lot of references to illustrations, maps, pictures, etc. which obviously cannot be seen while listening to the audiobook. Therefore, it might be nice to read the paper or ebook version in order to get the benefit of this aspect of the book as well.

The narrator was fantastic and the history and story telling behind this was awesome. I absolutely learnt alot.

Definitely a book I'd like to get for my father.

This was a fantastic book. I learnt so much from reading it. Which is something I really look out for when choosing non fiction books. I always go for new and exciting books that I know little about to learn from them. This really excites me. I listened to the audiobook and just loved the narrator Michael Page. He was such a perfect fit for this book had that wonderful history voice you tend to expect. His tone and pitch was wonderful, I could just close my eyes and imagine I was there watching it all happen. 

It was obviously that the author had a lot of experience in the subject and was very well researched as it just flowed brilliantly and became a real page turner.  

Why didn't it get that 5th star? Well honest answer I do not know it just felt right to give it 4 . There was nothing that annoyed me or put me off it just felt like ot was its place. I definitely recommend it to all history fans and those like me who just love to learn new parts of world history. I will definitely be looking out for more brilliant books by this author and narrator. 

So much praise goes out to the author, narrator and publishers for creating this very fascinating and educational history book that really did teach me so many wonderful things.

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble ,kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/king-of-the-world-the-life-of-cyrus-the-great-by-matt-waters-highbridge-audio-4-stars either under my name or ladyreading365

Cyrus the Great was not a person I was highly familiar with. There are several different versions about the origins of Cyrus, but no one can dispute his kingship. He was a king of kings, and the information that was presented in this book was very easy to follow.

I found myself wanting to get a paper version of this book so that I could highlight and take notes. I have read on Cyrus in passing, lectured on him briefly in World Civilizations, but have never come across something so in-depth, encompassing his life and military career.

I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to more from this author.

In <i>King of the World</i>, Matt Waters compiles all that is known about Cyrus the Great and his empire. At first, I was surprised to learn that relatively little is known about Cyrus the Great, considering how much of the world he ruled. However, after contemplation, it wasn’t surprising that much of what would have been known about him has been lost in the 2500 years since he lived.

I appreciated the way Waters laid out the book and that he let us know where conflicting details arose, rather than picking just one side to show to us. While listening to the audiobook, I could tell that I was missing out on many illustrations, pictures, and maps by not having the physical copy of the book, so I would probably recommend checking out that version of the book instead. Nevertheless, Michael Page did a wonderful job narrating the audiobook.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

This work is an account of Cyrus the Great’s life and his reign of a sprawling empire during the 500s BCE. While not much is known about his life, Matt Waters compiled available information concerning Cyrus in this work. Sources utilized included Greek biographies, archaeology, ancient art, and even the Bible. Waters draws on these and provides context to form a narrative surrounding this powerful leader of the Persian Empire.

Waters did an excellent job at compiling what little information is available about this topic. While the work centered around Cyrus, much of it focused on topics that were adjacent to Cyrus, such as the preceding and following rulers, Alexander the Great, and context information about the few sources that directly mention Cyrus. While this may make the work feel like it was lacking concrete information concerning Cyrus, that’s simply because this information doesn’t currently exist. I think the author excelled at providing meaningful supplemental information while still bringing it all back to his main focus.

I greatly appreciated that details concerning the sources and the specific translations of texts that were utilized were included throughout the work. The author was also very clear about the scope of this work in that it is considered more of a general history for the public. Questions that have been posed by academics concerning Cyrus and his rule were also included, which situated this work within the broader academic context (well done!). Discussions concerning the accuracy of primary sources, especially when it comes to Greek texts, were included throughout the work, reminding the reader that primary documents often contain exaggerations and downright fiction.

This is a dense work, but not an unapproachable one. I think it would be an amazing source to include in any sort of high school or college course related to ancient history. I listened to the audiobook and greatly enjoyed the narrator, but the physical copy of the work includes many images (maps, photos of artifacts and art, etc.) that would be a wonderful supplement to the text. One last thing – I highly recommend refreshing yourself on the definitions of the words “extant” and “nascent.” I haven’t heard them used that much since grad school! Overall, a great and informative read on this topic that I highly recommend.

I received a complimentary copy of this work through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was good, if a little sparse. There's not too much to go on with Cyrus, so I appreciated the author consolidating sources, but I don't think it was told in a very compelling manner, very matter-of-fact. The narration was good!

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for the audio copy in exchange for an honest review!