Shepherd

The Shepherd immerses readers in a brutal, vividly realized Bronze Age world where survival, loyalty, and moral choices are tested at every turn—a story that lingers long after the last page. A shepherd boy’s visions may save an empire—if the army doesn’t destroy him first. On the edge of a forgotten war, village children still chase fireflies and whisper about heroes. Among them is Pan, a shy young shepherd whose only worries are his flock, his little sister Beocca, and the stories told by the village elder. But when the thunder of marching feet shatters his world, Pan is torn from the hills and dragged into the ranks of a vast invading army. Under the iron command of General Ballista, the Great Army pushes through deadly mountain passes into a suffocating jungle where nothing is as it seems. Ambush lurks in the trees, war elephants shake the earth, and fear stalks even seasoned veterans like Yusri and Grieves, who cling to dark humor and fragile camaraderie to stay sane. Among brutal officers, hard-bitten scouts like Captain Matrius, and a commander whose justice can be as terrifying as the enemy, Pan’s strange bond with his sheep and the land becomes the only compass in a campaign spinning toward disaster. As the noose tightens around the army, a single shepherd boy finds himself at the center of a struggle between ambition and survival, mercy and cruelty, innocence and the grinding machinery of war. To live, Pan must decide who he can trust—and what he’s willing to become—while the jungle closes in and the gods remain silent. Perfect for readers who crave gritty, character-driven war epics, this novel is for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield’s Gates of Fire**, and Joe Abercrombie’s** First Law trilogy. March with the Great Army, follow the shepherd into the jungle, and discover how far a single spark of innocence can burn in the heart of war.