Customer Reviews

Soldier of Rome: The Sacrovir Revolt: A Novel of the Twentieth Legion During the Rebellion of Sacrovir and Florus

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I give this book 3 stars

Like many others, I eagerly awaited the sequal to the first book. In many ways I was disappointed because the story took a step back from the action intense first book that dealt with the massacre at Germany and Rome's campaign of retribution, followed by the Triumph of Rome.

This book I think was effected by the overall conflict of a rebellion that just isn't a page turning conflict to get excited about. There were also too many instances of 'shop-talk' when the main character was taken aside by his Centurion or other officer. Though I understand this happens irl situations in the military where officers take soldiers aside like this, in the story it really slowed down the pace of the story. I also felt the tournament could have been done a lot better and felt more like page fillers in the story when the focus during the body should have been the revolt. The tournament still could have taken place at the end of the story which would have given the second book a similar ending to the first.

I do hope there are more books in this series and will continue to read them.

I was very happy with the second Soldier of Rome installment. The Author has created a historic but human look at Roman soldiers and their world. He tells the story of men, young and old that face many of the same challenges that our service men around the world face now. Protect your brother on either shoulder in the heat of battle. In the first book, (I'm told a second edition has corrected the gramatical errors that went largely unnoticed in the first edition) large scale battles and mayhem kept me turning pages. In the second book of the series we learn more about the day to day life and politics of the Legion. Still plenty of action, but character development fills out the individual soldiers of the Twentieth. I look forward to the next book, (coming out soon I hear!) not only see the saga continued but to appreciate the growth of an outstanding young Author. I highly recommend these books.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that James Mace had done a follow-up to his previous book, "Soldier of Rome: The Legionary." Like most people I had never even heard of the rebellion of Sacrovir and Florus, so it came as another surprise to see that this book too is based on actual events. Most historical novels from this era seem to focus on Julius Caesar, or events in Britain (i.e. Boudicca's rebellion). These topics have been done to death, so I'm glad to see this author pursuing other historical events that most of us probably have never heard of before. Just because a war doesn't have a hundred different books written about it doesn't make it any less brutal or tragic to those who had to take part in it. The events surrounding the sons of the Gallic nobility is especially devastating.

One thing about this book is that it does not have as many large-scale battles as the first book. In my opinion this is a good thing, because now we are able to see more character development rather than just bouncing from one blood-bath to the next. And while the characters do grow and mature, I had to be reminded periodically that Artorius is still pretty young in this book (twenty-two, I think). The "Legion Champion" tournament could have been given some more detail, but it was still a nice addition to the story.

Overall I am glad to see Mr. Mace has elected to continue the story of Artorius and his fellow legionaries. While "The Legionary" could very well have been a stand-alone book had he elected not to write a sequel, "The Sacrovir Revolt" makes it plain that there will be more books to follow as it does leave the reader hanging a little bit at the end. I look forward to the next one.

Historical accuracy and an exciting storyline make this book one you can't put down. Mace has taken care to ensure the reader has a real "Legion" experience while reading this book. He also took care to fix the editing issues there were present in The Legionary. There were still some editing issues, but much easier to read than last time. This book really expands on his first work and keeps you wanting to read "just one more chapter" before putting it down. BRAVO Mr Mace!

I have read the first book and really enjoyed it. The characters sound like real soldiers. James Mace, the author, is a soldier himself so he really knows how to write for soldiers. I would highly recommend this book for lovers of Historical fiction in Roman times. I have read a lot of different authors and it was great to find James Mace on Amazon. Look forward to the next book.

This is another good book that provides some perspective on what it was like to be a soldier of Rome and what life in the Roman Empire was like. The bottom line is life was hard, cruel and brutal. If you weren't of the patrician class (essentially the huge landowners and senators of Rome), being a Roman soldier was probably the best life because it provided a way to become a patrician. The book follows the perspective of the best sources on this, e.g. Goldsworthy so it appears to have a level of accuracy.

Being a barbarian or slave, however, was not a good place to be. Working in the mines (a living death) or death by crucifixion are covered in this book to highlight the brutality. And, the Roman soldiers appear to get some pleasure in slaying their enemies. It was a brutal and cruel time, and this book provides that perspective.

Two issues with this book make it hard for me to give it the best evaluation. (1) The grammatical errors continue - for example, "through" in place of "throw", "our" in place of "are" and too many words in some instances that make it hard to follow what is written. (2) There are no maps. The author uses Roman names for towns and it is hard to follow what is going on. With his first book, I used the map in Goldsworthy's book, "In the Name of Rome". For this book, I looked up the locations afterwards and found them in a book by Burns - "Barbarians within the Gates of Rome". However, this should not be necessary.

In spite of these issues, I do recommend this book. The story is fast paced and provides a good perspective of Rome in the 1st Century AD - giving more details to good basic sources.

Soldier of Rome: The Sacrovir by James Mace

A snapshot of the life of the Roman Legionnaire is the most succinct description of this book although as this is the second book the common Legionnaire has been promoted.
Artorius continues to mature both in body and intellect. This story chronicles a revolt in Gaul. The revolt is motivated more by personal greed and revenge than subjugation of a populace. Once again Mace makes the common soldier of Rome a believable being. Looking at James Mace's web site, you see he has immersed him historically in the Roman time.
Once again I liked the fact that Mace was not one sided in his approach. I thought he showed both the frustration of some of the Gallic nobles and the acceptance of others. In particular I liked the parent child conflict in regards to participating in the revolt. The cruelty of the slave trade is presented in graphic detail.
As in the first book, anyone fascinated by military history will love this book. Historic fiction fans, in general, will also enjoy the book.
I recommend the book.

Follow the career of a Roman soldier from his inspiration to join the Legions through his early days as a soldier. This series concentrates on the individual soldiers, especially the main character, Artorius, not just the usual historical-fiction which centers around the major historical persons of the time. I highly recommend this book and the entire series to anyone interested in either/both ancient Roman fiction and fiction which centers around the common soldier. This series is anything but "more of the same..."

This is the second book of the series. I definitely enjoys both. The author gives great insight into the organization of the Roman Legion,
as well as developing a very good story line. I recommend this series to everyone who enjoys stories of the Roman Legion.

Another historical hit for James Mace. Our main character Artorius is back to show how the troops viewed the death of Germanicus and how it effected them, to how it changed the Emperor and the politics. While Rome is recovering from the shell shock of this news, the legions head back into Germany to make sure that everything is peaceful. While there they hear the stirrings of an uprising. While this book only has one large battle scene it is a very good one, and there's lots of the expected violence from the first novel from crucifixtions to a gladiator type competition between the legions. Much like the first book I enjoy getting both side of the battle and the thoughts and feelings of those involved. War is always a much higher price then loosing ones life and the effect on the families and the area is evedent in this novel. This will be an author to follow.