The Siege (Agent of Rome) [Hardcover]

A thoroughly engrossing read. A young inexperienced "centurian" is tasked with defending a fort, with its vital food and water supplies. When he arrives the remaining legionaries are dishevelled, indisciplined, and few in number. With the aid of a few senior ranks he begins to restore military order and prepares for the impending enemy onslaught. They are heavily outnumbered and eventually battle commences - I won't spoil the story by describing the battle.
However, the writing style is engaging, character build is thorough, and the majority of the book covers only a few days. I found the storyline compelling, with a few sub-plots that enhanced the whole.
Not usually drawn to historical novels I am really pleased that I decided to read Agent of Rome The Siege, and recommend it to all,

When ever you get a new / debut author in a genre its potentially a mixed blessing, could this be a new giant of the genre? could he/ she be a turkey? There are the subtle parts of a new writer, like will they be a writer of explosive action, or slow burn deep facts, or a mix of them both?

With so many authors out there turning out great books it then means its down to the marketing and the cover artists to draw the eye and make you pick up the book and read the back cover.

With Siege of Rome the cover is fantastic, giving the reader the impression of action, pace, and history, Some excellent back cover blurb to really rope the reader in, so i was hooked and ready to part with my cash...was it a good idea?

Yes is the simple answer, the cover is actually slightly deceiving as the book is not just an all out action thriller, it is a well paced well thought out story with a great plot, with a complex multi faceted hero in the guise of Cassius Corbulo, It also good to see a less written about section of the Roman world by going east to the parts that are more ancient than even Rome, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Palmyra, all names far older than Rome.

With this fantastic background Nick brown has woven his great ability as a writer of time and location, blending the history with an ability to take the reader right to the location and when you couple that with his great characterisation, people who are living breathing soldiers, with more than cut and slash on their minds, people who have families and a past, who have fears and problems and unlike a lot of writers Nick lets you know this and lets you meet your hero at his best and worst so you know every facet of his character. Making this book so much more than a swords and sandals gory war story.

I highly recommend you part with some cash and buy this book

(Parm)

Synopsis (from back of book)

270 AD

Rome has ruled Syria for over three centuries. But now the weakened empire faces a desperate threat: Queen Zenobia of Palmyra has turned her Roman-trained army against her former masters and the once invincible legions have been crushed. Arabia, Palestine and Egypt have fallen and now Antioch, Syria's capital, stands exposed.

Cassius Corbulo is a young intelligence agent fresh from officer training. He has been assigned the menial task of rounding up wounded legionaries but then urgent new orders arrive. He is the only ranking Roman officer left in the line of the Palmyran advance. He must take command of the fort of Alauran, the last stronghold still in Roman hands, and hold it against the enemy until reinforcements arrive.

What Cassius finds at Alauran would daunt the most seasoned veteran, let alone a nineteen year old with no experience of war. A mere scattering of divided and demoralised legionaries remain, backed up by some fractious Syrian auxiliaries and a drunken Praetorian Guardsman. With the Palmyrans just days away, Cassius must somehow find the discipline, resourcefulness and courage to organise the garrison, save Alauran and secure Rome's eastern frontier...

This is another great debut novel and one of the reasons why I enjoy this 'topic' so much, its vast and covers literally hundreds and in this case thousands of years. I won't go into the story too much just in case you want to read it or are reading it at the moment. However, long story short, its about a siege!

What Nick Brown accomplishes so well is that he gave himself very few options or parameters to expand the story because not long after the first page, the siege actually begins and the characters except those carrying out the siege of the fort itself, are obviously confined within its walls.

That said at no time did I think 'he's ran out of steam, ideas or this is getting tedious'. The 'Agent' is a young Corn officer, Cassius aged 19 who is posted to the fort in order to defend it and its precious water supply with the present occupants who are a rag tag motley crew of veterans and auxiliaries.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Siege and its always great to have another Roman author's books to look forward too. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next part of the story that follows on from this and how Nick Brown develops the characters that survived the battle.