Customer Reviews

Warrior of Rome - Part Two - King of Kings

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the first installment of this series I gave a 4 Stars because although I found Prof. Sidebottom work an excellent historical fiction, I also considered the plot very predictable.

At the beginning of this second volume I consolidated my former opinion - great details, a consummate Historian who is a good writer, but the story in itself was very straightforward: the bad guys were filled with hubris, arrogance and somewhat stupid; the good guys (although not good in a "modern" humanist, jewish-christian way of thinking - which shows that the author can really immerse himself in classical paradigms) are wiser, kinder, more humane.

And then the plot unfolds and suddenly everything makes sense. Congratulations Professor Sidebottom, this was a great story. It's almost impossible to stop reading this epic.

Great characters, including some secondary ones like Ballista's Wife and her powerful political acumen, the loyal Irish (Hybernian) bodyguard or the leader of the frumentarii and his hidden ambitions.

The Sassanid Persians are the terrible menace, led by a great king - Shapur. I hope that in the third volume, more Persian characters get the same development that the author gave the Romans.

Usually in Historical fiction (and most fiction), few look at the cover image for long after buying the book (although its an efficient marketing tool); but I must commend Larry Rostant and its exceptional cover, not only his technical quality, historical accuracy (almost perfect), and the rising sun that's all for Mazdaists - the illustrator really captured the essence of the book.

Good maps, index of characters (NEEDED), historical notes and very complete glossary helps the reader to understand the period, the places and the events.

Highly recommended, waiting for the third in the series - Lion of the Sun.

I like Sidebottom's work. The characters are interesting and well written, definitely individuals. I enjoyed the first installment and this was a worthy follow-up. For me, these rank with the best of Cornwell's writing, with the first installment being slightly better than this second book. I await and will purchase the third.

Professor Sidebottom continues his series of detailed military historical novels set in the Roman Empire of the third century.

His hero, Ballista, is starting to grow on me as an acceptable Richard Sharpe of antiquity.

The gore, the language and the battle scenes will not be those of gentle disposition or easily disturbed stomaches.

I liked Sidebottom's first book, "A Fire In The East," just fine. It told a simple story well and contained literally hundreds of fascinating embellishments that put you right there in the 2nd century in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. It ended where "King of Kings" picks up, with our protagonist Ballista on the run from his misfortunes at the hands of the Sassanids and their "King of Kings," Shapur.

This second volume is not as unified thematically, with Ballista wandering hither and yon, dodging assassination attempts and serving in several viscerally exciting battles along the way. It also ends in cliffhanger fashion, but the closing here is almost arbitrary, as if the words TO BE CONTINUED need to added. So: don't read this if you haven't read the first book in the series, and don't read it if you don't intend to read the last 400 pages in the third (and presumably final) volume when they emerge in a year or so.

Plotting and characterization are weak overall, but Sidebottom's historical acumen and descriptive powers mostly make up for it. Historical fiction fans will enjoy-- it's fun to see the Christians characterized as "atheists" throughout and see the jousting between various ethnicities, nations, religions, and classes in a time so very different from our own.

This book shipped very fast and was in great condition. I have just started reading it, so I can't rate too much of the story, but I enjoyed Warrior of Rome Part One. And Part Two is a great read so far.

This is another excellent historical novel about the late Roman Empire that picks up the story from "Fire in the East".

This continues the story of Ballista, the fictional Roman (barbarian) general, from that point in time to the battle at Edessa, and the defeat of Valerian by the Sassanid Persians. That event is told in some detail at the end of the book with the story hanging until the next book (actually probably the one after the next).

What makes this an excellent book in my opinion are the following: (1) the character development of Ballista, Maximus, Demetrius and Calcagus and other characters are introduced: Aurelian (who becomes emperor of Rome ten years after this story ends) and Julia (Ballista's wife); and (2) the insight on the political machinations that were central to the Roman Empire.

A little bit about the last point - the politial machinations of the Roman Empire - (1) there are frumentaris, essentially a group of internal spies checking on the political appointees and snitching on them, often lying in order to move forward themselves; (2) there are the people close to the emperor, who have his ear, who are not out to help the empire as much as help themselves and who are continually stabbing others in the back. At one point in the story, Ballista is told to go to Ephesus to persecute Christians. The individual who convinces the emperor to assign him this task recognizes that he will not pursue it adequately and fail. Of course, that happens, and Ballista loses favor to the emperor and becomes an outcast.

(As I read these events, I couldn't help but draw analogies to the current corporate environment in some large corporations where there are internal snitches and senior executives both weasels who are out to screw others and out for themselves more than the company. And, where good people are screwed because of an unhealthy corporate culture. The similarities were uncanny - and we have supposedly come all these years with democracy and everything...)

There is ,of course, the battles and fighting which is probably the main reason that most people read these books, as two campaigns are shared, one which Ballista leads which is successful (although the internal politicians make him into a failure to the emperor) and one which is unsuccessful at the end when the emperor is taken captive. I won't provide the details for these final events although there are many history books today that do in a paragraph only. This book fills in the details that aren't provided while keeping true to the facts that are known.

For this reason and the two key items provided above, I highly recommend this book. It provides an interesting insight into the Roman Empire and made me more interested in the characters.

I can't wait until his next book on Ballista, Maximus, Aurelian, etc is available in the US.

In the first installment of this series I gave a 4 Stars because although I found Prof. Sidebottom work an excellent historical fiction, I also considered the plot very predictable.

At the beginning of this second volume I consolidated my former opinion - great details, a consummate Historian who is a good writer, but the story in itself was very straightforward: the bad guys were filled with hubris, arrogance and somewhat stupid; the good guys (although not good in a "modern" humanist, jewish-christian way of thinking - which shows that the author can really immerse himself in classical paradigms) are wiser, kinder, humane.

And then the plot unfolds and suddenly everything makes sense. Congratulations Professor Sidebottom, this was a great story. It's almost impossible to stop reading this epic.

Great characters, including some secondary ones like Ballista's Wife and her powerful political acumen, the loyal Irish (Hybernian) bodyguard or the leader of the frumentarii and his hidden ambitions.

The Sassanid Persians are the terrible menace, led by a great king - Shapur. I hope that in the third volume, more Persian characters get the same development that the author gave the Romans.

Usually in Historical fiction (and most fiction), few look at the cover image for long after buying the book (although its an efficient marketing tool); but I must commend Larry Rostant and its exceptional cover, not only his technical quality, historical accuracy (almost perfect), and the rising sun that's all for Mazdaists - the illustrator really captured the essence of the book.

Good maps, index of characters (NEEDED), historical notes and very complete glossary helps the reader to understand the period, the places and the events.

Highly recommended, waiting for the third.

This was a briliiant book. I recommend you buy the previous book Fires in the East, before you get this. This is a better the book of the 2.
As well as being a brilliant insight into roman history, it has a nice plot. The main down side is slower than it could be and there is a lot of latin/greek terms to get your head around. The nice thing is it ends on a major cliffhanger. This is a very enjoyable book and a must buy.

If there's one thing the Romans had a talent for, even more than oratory and regicide (et tu Brute and all that), it was for getting on the wrong side of history's Samuel L Jackson types. Hannibal of Carthage, Attila the Hun, and the Sassanid Persian Shah-an-Shah, the King of Kings.

The last was for centuries perhaps Rome's most dangerous enemy. The Sassanid Persians were the only regional "superpower" that could fight the Romans on anything like equal terms. It's this conflict that forms the focus for Harry Sidebottom's "Warrior of Rome" series, and provides the best bits of the second installment, "King of Kings".

The first novel, "Fire in the East", was hugely fun. Mr Sidebottom teaches classical history at Oxford University, allowing him to bring tremendous depth to the subject. His fist novel was vivid, detailed, richly imagined and with a clear narrative focus that drove the action like a circus charioteer. Ballista, former barbarian hostage and now Roman general, is sent to defend the city of Arete from a Persian invasion. He travels to the city, readies the defences, then leads his men in a desperate but hopeless resistance.

"King of Kings" suffers from a lack of similar story arc. Here, you feel Mr Sidebottom is mainly playing for time, shuffling the pieces on the board in order to set up a cliffhanger ending. This leaves his characters at loose ends for prolonged periods. We pick up with Ballista as he flees the fallen city. He becomes a general again, fights a battle, gets sent to persecute Christians in the Anatolian city of Ephesus, quits and gets called back to the colors again. While "Fire in the East" built nicely from the first sparks to the final conflaguration, "King of Kings" gutters in the breezy subplots, never building much heat until the final few chapters.

To constructively fill the time, Mr Sidebottom recycles a number of old enemies, as well as the "whodunnit" device of the first book. There, Ballista faced a traitor in the city, here, a string of assassination attempts. Mr Sidebottom's portrayal of Christians also echoes the less than heroic role they played in "Fire in the East". More orthodoxly religious readers may find his squabbling, fanatical Christians a little disrespectful.

Still, if it's Romans red in tooth and claw you're after, Mr Sidebottom is your man. Ballista isn't shy about spilling a little claret, as he carves his way through assorted assassins, rioters, pirates and Persians. The setting remains richly detailed and imagined, giving you an enjoyable peek at Roman life. Mr Sidebottom's scholarship shows in other ways too, such as the winks he throws to readers who know their Roman history. When Ballista's chum Aurelian gets on the wrong horse, for example, it's more than mere accident.

With so many enemies, it was inevitable that the Roman Empire would end badly. See Decline and Fall Of, Sack Of, etcetera. Let's hope the "Warrior of Rome" series avoids the same fate in the final novel, "Lion of the Sun".

Didn't think this was as good as his first in this series.
It got a bit bogged down in intrigue and detail for me, sort of left you feeling 'is that it' somehow.

It did have some good stuff in it so maybe being over critical, held my attention and kept rattling along, some good twists and detail.

Well done, but could do better.