Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant read - (and some answers to a few criticisms), 12 Dec 2008
This book is a fantastic read for anyone; whether with prior knowledge of the second punic war or not. The characters are brilliantly portrayed with an engaging plot line sensitive to the original works of the ancient authors themselves. The battle scenes are described in much detail. Due to the descriptions of the battles and the odd sex scene, be wary of what age person you buy this book for.
Although some events may have been slightly changed and peoples personal motives are given when no historian can ever truly know the intentions of someone living 2,000+ years ago. This is where the fiction part comes in. To get the reader to know the people involved in events the author has to make decisions as to which motive serves the book best and I felt Mr. Durham did that exceptionally well. What impressed me most, however, was the sense that the author was on one side or the other. The objectivity of the book is a breath of fresh air in historical fiction, with neither side being portrayed as a "baddy" or "goody".
I am not a huge fan of interference of fictional charcters into main plot lines so was glad when the fictional charcters of Imco and Aradna did not alter events by their own actions. i found the story between the two of them very moving and felt it was a worthwhile addition to the book.
I cannot praise the fluency of the author enough. Although a mammoth length, at no point does it get over bearing. Concidering even Livy (one of the main sources) was pretty much writing historcal fiction when he wrote his works on the war, i felt as though Mr. Durham handled his sources very delicately and did them great justice in a great novel.
I feel that one of the neagative reviews seems to not ultimately be about the book at all but about some of the views of Mr. Durham. The genocide of the third punic war is irrelovant to the book. I felt no political hidden agenda of the author in the slightest and was very impressed with the historical accuracy of the book. Also although predominantly a mercanary army, Hannibals crack troops were his Carthaginians which had also fought in spain with him.
I felt that the battles included were of importance to the story of the book. The title is Hannibal, therefore most of the action should be directly related to the title character. The battles of Scipio Africanus in Spain are of importance as they chart the rise of the man who would eventually defeat Hannibal. Whereas Syracuse, although a brilliant piece of commandership from Marcllus, does not directly effect Hannibal apart from the loss of a major city on Sicily.
I am glad the author stopped the book where he did. Although I love the conversation recorded in the Periochae of Livy between Scipio and Hannibal ... the likelihood of it actually taking place are so remote and would take away from the book.
This is a fantastic book, and would thoroughly recommend it. Don't be put off by the odd negative review; whether Hannibal was black or not is of very little consequence ... the story is very well told and was engaging from start to finish. Superb.
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Insight into Ancient Warfare, 4 Aug 2006
I have not read any of Mr. Durham's previous books, but thank God for new authors, or at least new authors to me.
A new author and my favourite subject matter (ancient history), both in the factual format and also in this particular case, a good novel. I must have died and gone to heaven. This really is an excellent book written by someone who obviously has a 'feel' for the period in which the book takes place. He is able to capture the feel of being in the middle of a battle.
Hannibal is one of those names from the pages of history that is instantly recognisable. Isn't that the fellow who had something to do with elephants? Well yes, he certainly did. Hannibal and his men traversed the Alps on the backs of elephants. In this book that feat and many others are depicted in a brilliantly woven story of warfare, love and hatred and bubbling through it all the intense hatred that Hannibal and his people had for the Republic of Rome.
This was before the time of some of Rome's greatest leaders, Caesar, Augustus or Constantine. It was at a time before the might of the legions had crushed all who stood in their way. Would Rome be able to survive against such a formidable and determined foe . . .
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Definately not a history lesson!, 10 Jan 2007
Style 2/5
Plot 1/5
Readability 4/5
The style is very modern with a little too much swearing and sex in it for my liking. Some of the scenes are told in flash-back format, particularly some of the scenes between Hannibal and his father Hamilcar, which works very well.
The plot? The plot! In the bibliography at the end of the book the author lists some of the very best books ever written on the Punic Wars as his sources, most of which I own or have read. The author does admit to taking some liberties with some aspects of the story and this is definately an understatement! If I were to list them all I would probably be accused of being too picky - the war lasted 16 years not 5!
What really annoyed me was that the author seemed to waste a lot of time on his more fictitious characters at the expence of real events. The siege of Syracuse and the death of Archimedes are scenes which have the potential to be powerfully portrayed but weren't even mentioned in passing. Instead of finishing the story where he did, the author could have gone on that little bit further and included the scenes of Hannibal in the Carthaginian Senate assaulting one of the senators for suggesting carrying on the war, or slightly further again to when Hannibal is in service with the Seleucids and again comes face to face with Scipio Africanus. These are four of the most powerful and striking scenes of the war becasue of the insight they give us into the characters and the book is really let down because of their omission.
The way the 5 chapters are broken down into small bite-size scenes makes for an easy reading pace but all-in-all, a book that was potentially a breath-taking epic was in fact crushingly disappointing.
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