Darien : Empire of Salt Book I Iggulden C. F. (2018)

Darien is the first book in The Empire of Salt, an epic fantasy series. The city lies at the heart of a dying empire, where twelve families race for a throne soon to be left vacant by murder or civil war. Six strangers arrive in the fevered, hungry city: an orphan and an old swordsman, a hunter and a pitiless killer, a young thief and a cynical chancer. As the sun sinks, the city knows no sleep. Long-dormant passions awaken, fortunes are won and lost, lives are staked and claimed, and a story long waiting to be told catches fire.