Thursday 9 July 2009

HISTORICAL FICTION: Warrior of Rome: Fire in the East - Harry Sidebottom


BOOK BLURB:

The year is AD 255 – the Roman Imperium is stretched to breaking point, its authority and might challenged along every border. The greatest threat lies in Persia to the east, where the massing forces of the Sassanid Empire loom with fiery menace. There the isolated Roman citadel of Arete awaits inevitable invasion. One man is sent to marshal the defences and shore up crumbling walls. A man whose name itself means war: a man called Ballista. Alone, Ballista is called to muster the forces and the courage to stand first and to stand hard against the greatest enemy ever to confront the Imperium. This is part one of Warrior of Rome: an epic of empire, of heroes, of treachery, of courage, and most of all, a story of brutal bloody warfare.


REVIEW:

As a huge fan of novels associated with Ancient Rome, I can pretty much be guaranteed to pick up any novel associated with it. So when this landed it was pretty much ripped out of the packaging in a few minutes (hey I'm not allowed a gladius), and quickly started devouring the content. Firstly it should probably be known that Harry has a doctorate in ancient studies so you can pretty much vouch for the authenticity of the content within, secondly add to the mix an ability to spin a yarn on the scale of Josephus and you pretty much have a solid offering. Within this tale you have assassin's, spies, warfare (both naval as well as seige) and a protagonist to span the ages. Its well written, its incredibly detailed and above all it was pretty damn hard to put down. However on a word of warning, if you don't like strong language it might not be the right book for you, other than that word of warning for readers, Harry will have caused a sleepless nights as well as a lot of tired workers.

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