Customer Reviews

The Last King: Rome's Greatest Enemy

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I hadn't heard of King Mithradates the Great of Pontus so, from an educational standpoint, THE LAST KING was worth reading. Mithradates suffered some of the worst luck imaginable in that three of Rome's greatest generals commanded armies against him. Still, with determination and intelligence, he managed to be quite a thorn in Rome's side for many years. This is basically the story Mr. Ford tells. As history, this is an easy lesson to absorb but as fiction it is not up to the caliber of good historical fiction because, mainly, the characters and dialogue are comic bookish. Despite King Mithradates's son being the protagonist and the story viewpoint being from the Pontusian side, I still rooted for stodgy, efficient Rome. In other words, Mr. Ford gave me little reason to care for those people. But the story moves fairly quickly and several of the the battle scenes are very well written. Three Roman legions out of five.

It took me quite some time to get around to reading this book as I was put off a little by the Connan the Barbarian style dust jacket.But it is an exellent historical novel, one I just hated to put down. Action packed, fast moving and shown through the eyes of the civilizations opposing Rome. A must read!

I enjoyed this book, and am glad I read it. That being said, I didn't think it stood up to Ford's prior two books. Though I applaud the effort to tell the story of Mithridates, and in fact the story of Rome from the outside looking in. The middle of the book seemed to get redundant at times, Mithridates builds an army, Mithridates loses his army, Mithridates bulds another army. He is described as Rome's greatest enemy, yet the book never really presents him as much more than a minor thorn in the empire's side. However, if you enjoy historical fiction of Ancient Rome and Greece, you will more than likely enjoy this book. The end of the book left me satisfied that Ford succeeded in what he set out to do. Perhaps, if Mithridates efforts appear somewhat redundant it's because they were. The Roman Empire was not always glorious, and there were men whom, while not always successful, did wage all in defiance. The Last King, while not "The Ten Thousand", or Pressfield's "Gates of Fire" was still more entertaining than anything I could have seen on television or on a movie screen.

I am such a history nerd and I did enjoy Mr. Ford's book, but the novel as a novel is a little dry at times. The book's narrator is the King's bastard son. Mr. Ford wants a narrator that is involved in the very thick of historical events. A mere soldier wouldn't have access to the strategy and meetings that take place during a major war. The problem is that the son is more a commentator than a participant. At times his descriptions of battles sound like a sports announcer at a PGA event. The characters in the novel lack any real depth, or conflicts in emotion. In the first few chapters, you learn the major characters, they are all assigned basic personalities, and then almost no one changes.

As a history lesson, the book is very strong. One learns of King Mithridates VI, an Asian King, who wishes to challenge the greatest superpower of classical times, the Roman Empire. King Mithridates has been somewhat forgotten by history. The great "remembered" enemies of Rome are Hannible, Sparticus, and Attila the Hun. I learned a great deal about this forgotten enemy. A man more vilified by the Ancient Romans than a certain Saddam Hussein of today's headlines.

We also learn why Mithridates engages in one of history's first recorded examples of "ethnic cleansing", known as the Asiatic Vespers or Night of the Vespers. According to the author, Mithridates massacres eighty thousand Romans living in Asia Minor, not out of anger or rage, but in a coldly calculated decision in order to consolidate power over his newly conquered dominions.

I recommend this book to any fans of historical fiction.

Michael Curtis Ford, along with Steven Pressfield, is among our finest contemporary story tellers about the Graeco-Roman world during the latter half of the First Millenium B. C. I haven't read Ford's novel on the Greek general Xenophon, but have no doubt that it is as riveting as "The Last King: Rome's Greatest Enemy". I've been familiar with the saga of Hellenicized Persian King Mithradates Eupator of Pontus for years, finding remarkable how he managed to hold off Rome for decades, inspite of devastating defeats which would have caused lesser men to sue for peace with Rome.

Here Ford recounts this remarkable tale, told from the unique perspective of Pharnaces, Mithradates' bastard son, who seeks to emulate his father's success on the battlefield and earn both his love and trust. Through Pharnaces' eyes, we see the successive rise and fall - and back again, not once, but several times - of Mithridates' military fortunes, as he fights against leading Roman politicians and generals such as Lucullus, Sulla and Pompey. Indeed, this novel's emphasis is on Mithradates' life and battles, and there are hardly any intrigues mentioned inside the Pontian royal court. We also see how Mithradates sought to create a "New Greece" in Asia Minor as a cultural alternative to the Roman Republic's rapidly expanding empire, paying homage not only to Alexander the Great, butalso to Mithradates' own royal Persian ancestors, most notably Cyrus the Great and his son, Darius I.

My only complaint is one voiced by one of the editorial reviewers; namely that much of the speech, especialy those by the Romans, is cast in a contemporary 21st Century light. But I suppose that it was the author's intent to show how tersely worded the Romans were, and will grant him at least that bit of artistic license. Maybe more questionable is depicting Mithradates almost as a human equivalent of Heracles (Hercules), who endures successfully in both body and spirit, while witnessing his armies being slaughtered by the Romans (And yet I did not find this objectionable, recognizing it as artistic license employed by the writer, though others may.). Still, despite these flaws, I strongly recommend this novel as among the finest of its kind.

"I don't know why Harvard even bothered showing up -- they barely even won!" C. Montgomery Burns, to Waylon Smithers after Burns' alma mater, Yale, loses a football game to Harvard.

All kidding aside, Michael Curtis Ford's re-imagining of King Mithridates is a well-researched, well-written novel that offers many intriguing theories and images on the long-ruling Pontic monarch. From convincing descriptions of varied landscapes to fully realized characters to some horrifying battle scenes, Ford has done himself proud -- this is a very entertaining read in many respects.

The main stumbling block of "The Last King" is that the image of Mithridates -- a physical marvel with a visionary intellect and courage to boot -- may be accurate, but the Romans are simply given too little credit. Some of this may be due to Ford's choice of narrator, Mithridates' [...]son Pharnaces, who has no love for Rome and adores dear old dad. But things get a bit comical as Pharnaces describes Mithridates' genius and the various attributes of the Pontic army -- and the numerous shortcomings of the Romans -- and the Romans keep beating Mithridates!

Every victory for Mithridates is magnified, and every loss has an explanation. It's like reading the sports page from the schoool paper where they write about their own team's defeat -- even though we lost, we're better than the team that beat us. While I appreciate the effort to tell the losing side, here, it would have been better had Pharnaces been a little more objective in his narration -- it gets a bit comical after Roman victories get rationalized so often.

For fans of historical fiction, pick up this book -- it's a worthy read, particularly if you're a fan of the Roman world. It is a bit of fun to read a description of Sulla as a maggot-ridden despot!

All in all, a well-written yet slightly off-balance read, but definitely worth the time.

At the end of the day, if I REALLY want to read a book about how LIFE REALLY IS (as opposed to those "airplane books" (read 'em on the plane, leave 'em on the plane) by Grisham, Dan Brown, Ludlum, ad nauseam), I read something by Steven Pressfield, or Victor Davis Hansen, or Bernard Cromwell. Of the writers in this gendre, I like Michael Curtis Ford the best. Of course, the others are wonderful--it is just that HE is MIRACULOUS! Within the first 10 or 20 pages of one of his novels, you have achieved the "willing suspension of disbelief" that Socrates said was the essential element of great writing--you realyy feel that you are THERE---that the characters are living, breathing people that you know as well as our own friends.

I can't wait for him to write more.

In first century BC, the Roman Senate declared King Mithridates Eupator VI of Pontus (on the Black Sea) as its greatest enemy. Rome had turned Pontus into a satellite state when Mithridates' mother ruled. When he became the monarch, his country was totally reliant on Rome. Instead of bowing like his mom, he launches campaigns often brutal to throw Rome out of his country and the rest of Asia Minor. Over the next four decades starting at home, Mithridates ruled and warred. First he exploited the weaknesses of his mother ultimately overthrowing her; then he challenged the puppeteers of the Roman Republic using anything in his genocidal arsenal to make a point. Finally after forty years of battles, retreats, and more war, he met final defeat at the hands of General Pompey. Even then he refused to bow having his men execute him instead of allowing the Romans to parade him as a trophy.

This is a fabulous historical fiction novel that provides deep insight into the Ancient Roman world through one of its toughest enemies. Many readers like this reviewer probably never heard of Mithridates before, but he obviously proved to be a dangerous long term threat to the Romans. Though the depth in which Michael Curtis Ford provides military tactics seems overwhelming to the lay-person, it also furbishes a sense of how brilliant Rome's Greatest Enemy truly was. The tactics also lead to fantastic descriptions of the battles as the audience get a first hand account (narrated by the lead protagonist's son) of life in the BC Roman Empire from the perspective of those who wanted out from the glory.

Mithridates Eupator VI, was the king of Pontus and one of Rome's most formidable and successful enemies.
In a time when husbands and sons were killed by other members of the royal family to gain or maintain political power, Mithridates, as a teenager, went into hiding with his friends in the harsh mountains and canyons of his homeland to ensure his survival. At the ripe age of 21, he claimed his birthright to the throne of Pontus, only to find it nearly bankrupt and deeply indebted to Rome as a result of his mother's questionable administration. He married his sister Laodice to produce offspring, and sired Pharnaces (the book's narrator) with his favorite concubine. Mithridates was ambitious, and sought to expand his kingdom, to restore the lost glory of Greece. This brought him into direct conflict with the mighty Roman Empire. Mithridates employed his exceptional military skills to defeat or frustrate a number of Roman generals (including Sulla, Lucullus and Pompey) in ceaseless battles over a span of nearly 40 years.

"The Last King" is as brilliant and engrossing as Ford's first two books, "The Ten Thousand" and "Gods and Legions".
I am impressed at how Ford transports you into the first century world as seen through the eyes of one of Rome's greatest enemies. The detail to the physical world, the colorful inhabitants, the tangled realm of royal politics, and the furious action of ancient warfare, were so natural that you wouldn't care whether this or that was historically accurate or the product of creative license; you would simply enjoy it.
For example, in one scene, Mithridates returns to the throne city of Sinope astride a magnificent golden horse. The beast was so magical that it could turn its own turd into something precious - a golden nugget.

This book is a superlative piece of literature - a must-read, a must-purchase.
Ford's eloquent storytelling and mastery of ancient military history give this book a solid five-star rating.

Although I loved the discription of the battle of Chaeronea and of course the decent of Nike, Goddess of Victory, at Pergamum, I was a little disappointed in this book. Please dont get me wrong, I had great fun reading this but I do not believe I will be recommending it to anyone.

This book was handicapped by a lack of character development. Was there ever fear or love in the lives of these characters?

How is it possible for Mithridates to be so massive and powerful at aged 70 to singularly carve his way through hoards of Scythians?

The story line was also quite jumpy. At one point Mithridates is 21 and seemingly 15 pages later he is in his late 40s.

In that I never felt like I was there with the main characters or emotionally invested in their success or failure was also a drag.