Phaedrus grew up in a Greek legion and was raised to fight for the homeland he has never seen and to obey his commander’s orders at all costs. But when he rescues a baby from a fire in the palace of Thebes, his commander’s orders lose their meaning: Phaedrus is forced to abandon the blue-eyed boy in a temple and keep the baby’s existence a secret.

Years later, after a strange encounter that resulted in the death of his battalion, Phaedros has become a drill master for young soldiers. He struggles with panic attacks and flashbacks, and he’s not the only one: all around him, his fellow veterans are losing their minds.

Phaedrus’s danger of madness is not his only problem: his life is entangled with the young crown prince of Thebes, who wishes to escape the marriage his mother, the queen, has chosen for him. When the prince disappears, Phaedrus begins to search for him – a search that leads him to a blue-eyed sorcerer named Dionysus, whose guidance is as wise as the events surrounding him are strange. In Dionysus’ company, Phaedrus witnesses sudden outbreaks of turmoil and unrest, and wherever Dionysus goes, rumors circulate of a new god, sired by Zeus but lost in a fire.

In The Hymn to DionysusBestselling author Natasha Pulley takes us to an ancient empire on the brink of collapse to tell a deeply gripping story about a man who needs a god to remind him how to be human.