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Review
"Historical fiction has never been more visceral and engaging than Ben Kane's debut novel The Forgotten Legion."
- James Rollins, author of The Last Oracle
"I thoroughly enjoyed The Forgotten Legion -- so much so that I stayed up until 2am to finish it. Where others play in the rarefied world of senators, legates and upper class merchants, Kane delves into the grim underbelly of slavery, prostitution and gladiatorial carnage; a place where life is cheap and the thirst of the conquerors for the blood of the conquered knows no bounds. Here, we smell the grime, lie on the cold floors, face death daily with little to live for beyond the faint spark of hope that one day there might be revenge. His creation of the Etruscan Haruspex is fantastic -- a man of a defeated nation who can yet give hope, and does so, to both Roman and captive alike... and the conclusion leaves us waiting for the sequel."
- Manda Scott, author of the 'Boudica' novels
- James Rollins, author of The Last Oracle
"I thoroughly enjoyed The Forgotten Legion -- so much so that I stayed up until 2am to finish it. Where others play in the rarefied world of senators, legates and upper class merchants, Kane delves into the grim underbelly of slavery, prostitution and gladiatorial carnage; a place where life is cheap and the thirst of the conquerors for the blood of the conquered knows no bounds. Here, we smell the grime, lie on the cold floors, face death daily with little to live for beyond the faint spark of hope that one day there might be revenge. His creation of the Etruscan Haruspex is fantastic -- a man of a defeated nation who can yet give hope, and does so, to both Roman and captive alike... and the conclusion leaves us waiting for the sequel."
- Manda Scott, author of the 'Boudica' novels
Book Description
The Forgotten Legion - fighting for honour, freedom and revenge
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
First of all I have to declare an interest (and a concern) here. Ben Kane and I are colleagues in the historical fiction genre, and friends to boot. He's recently reviewed my first book and been kind enough to make some positive comments - and I suppose the praise of our peers always means a lot to any professional - and I therefore approach this review in the interesting situation that if I take a positive view of 'The Forgotten Legion' it can 'only be' as an act of mutual back scratching. Indeed I thought long and hard before setting finger to keyboard at all on the subject, but decided that not to comment on Ben's debut novel would just be counter productive, given the way I reacted to his work. So...
Ben often says that 'The Forgotten Legion' would be a better book were he to write it now, and think we can all say the same about our early work. We mature as writers, learn what works best and become more skilled at plot and characterisation (you can either write dialogue or you can't, and no amount of literary study will change that in my opinion). So if Ben were to re-write TFL he might produce a more 'polished' work, but might also run the risk of losing the energy that I found in the book, that sheer sense of 'what if...' that has a fan of alternate history like me stroking his chin and thinking.
Ben holds a sizeable audience in the palm of his hand, and it's easy to see why. The risk with historical fiction is that we tend to know more or less what's coming. We know that Crassus makes a right old mess of his war with the Parthians and ends up with a gut full of molten gold, but Ben, like all really good historical fiction writers, manages to get the reader, even those with a good idea of what's coming, to read on regardless, fascinated by the detail he provides and hooked by the plot elements woven around the bare details that most of us know. The plot provokes the reader to read on, and find out what's going to happen to the captives once the dreadful defeat at Carrhae has played out, whether Romulus and Fabiola really are Caesar's illigitimate children from a rape years before, and how this will all come together in future volumes. Alongside the plot lines, Ben's characterisation crafts real people, scarred by experience and circumstance and with strengths to be exploited and weaknesses to be coped with, characters the reader will happily follow along the story's arc with a genuine sense of concern for their well being.
Lastly, and critically for me, Ben really does his research, and when he's going off piste in terms of what we know as historical fact he tells the reader so in order to be clear as to what's based on the record and what isn't. He clearly has a long and successful career in front of him, and I can only see his work going from strength to strength as his powers develop. Well done Mr Kane, and thanks for making it easy for me to solve my dilemma by providing me with so much entertainment.
Oh yes, and silk to 'arrow proof' shields, eh Ben? *quietly tucks the fact away for future use...*
Ben often says that 'The Forgotten Legion' would be a better book were he to write it now, and think we can all say the same about our early work. We mature as writers, learn what works best and become more skilled at plot and characterisation (you can either write dialogue or you can't, and no amount of literary study will change that in my opinion). So if Ben were to re-write TFL he might produce a more 'polished' work, but might also run the risk of losing the energy that I found in the book, that sheer sense of 'what if...' that has a fan of alternate history like me stroking his chin and thinking.
Ben holds a sizeable audience in the palm of his hand, and it's easy to see why. The risk with historical fiction is that we tend to know more or less what's coming. We know that Crassus makes a right old mess of his war with the Parthians and ends up with a gut full of molten gold, but Ben, like all really good historical fiction writers, manages to get the reader, even those with a good idea of what's coming, to read on regardless, fascinated by the detail he provides and hooked by the plot elements woven around the bare details that most of us know. The plot provokes the reader to read on, and find out what's going to happen to the captives once the dreadful defeat at Carrhae has played out, whether Romulus and Fabiola really are Caesar's illigitimate children from a rape years before, and how this will all come together in future volumes. Alongside the plot lines, Ben's characterisation crafts real people, scarred by experience and circumstance and with strengths to be exploited and weaknesses to be coped with, characters the reader will happily follow along the story's arc with a genuine sense of concern for their well being.
Lastly, and critically for me, Ben really does his research, and when he's going off piste in terms of what we know as historical fact he tells the reader so in order to be clear as to what's based on the record and what isn't. He clearly has a long and successful career in front of him, and I can only see his work going from strength to strength as his powers develop. Well done Mr Kane, and thanks for making it easy for me to solve my dilemma by providing me with so much entertainment.
Oh yes, and silk to 'arrow proof' shields, eh Ben? *quietly tucks the fact away for future use...*
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
Republican Rome's underbelly exposed.
Ben Kane's novel 'The Lost Legion' is a gripping novel set in ancient Rome. Kane writes about the last days of the Roman Republic but with an unusual approach. He chooses his main characters from people on the margins of Roman society, those who inhabit the underbelly of the Republic and provide the essential services to keep the wealthy in a life of luxury. This means that the society they describe is almost as much of a mystery to them as it to the reader of two thousand years later.
Kane opens the book by giving us Tarquinius, a character from the long-conquered Etruscan society, moves swiftly to introduce Brennus a giant of a Gaul and then to Romulus and Fabiola, slave siblings who are sold into two of the most awful worlds of Rome, the brothel and the circus.
Kane chooses to develop different streams of his novel, never an easy task but one which he manages with skill. I never felt I had to go back to re-read what was happening to one of the characters even when there had been a gap since I had last read about them.
I particularly liked his portrayal of the clever, beautiful Fabiola. Many epic historical novels tend to side-line female characters but Fabiola is not a woman content to be side-lined by anybody, (including, I suspect, the author.) I look forward to seeing how she will develop.
Kane seems to me to be historically accurate, adept at capturing the essence of Romans such as Caesar, Crassus and Brutus. This dedication to authenticity led to one of my few niggles. He uses the accurate Roman words for weapons, almost all of the time. This gave me pause; I'd rather he dispensed with the Latin and said swords and shields for ease of reading. Because of his accuracy I was also somewhat surprised to hear Romulus described as a teenager and wondered whether Alexander's soldiers would have been as fair of skin and hair as Kane suggests.
These tiny niggles apart, I loved this book. I have bought the next one in the series and look forward to branching out to his book about Hannibal.
Martin Lake
The Lost King: Resistance
Wasteland (The Lost King)
Ben Kane's novel 'The Lost Legion' is a gripping novel set in ancient Rome. Kane writes about the last days of the Roman Republic but with an unusual approach. He chooses his main characters from people on the margins of Roman society, those who inhabit the underbelly of the Republic and provide the essential services to keep the wealthy in a life of luxury. This means that the society they describe is almost as much of a mystery to them as it to the reader of two thousand years later.
Kane opens the book by giving us Tarquinius, a character from the long-conquered Etruscan society, moves swiftly to introduce Brennus a giant of a Gaul and then to Romulus and Fabiola, slave siblings who are sold into two of the most awful worlds of Rome, the brothel and the circus.
Kane chooses to develop different streams of his novel, never an easy task but one which he manages with skill. I never felt I had to go back to re-read what was happening to one of the characters even when there had been a gap since I had last read about them.
I particularly liked his portrayal of the clever, beautiful Fabiola. Many epic historical novels tend to side-line female characters but Fabiola is not a woman content to be side-lined by anybody, (including, I suspect, the author.) I look forward to seeing how she will develop.
Kane seems to me to be historically accurate, adept at capturing the essence of Romans such as Caesar, Crassus and Brutus. This dedication to authenticity led to one of my few niggles. He uses the accurate Roman words for weapons, almost all of the time. This gave me pause; I'd rather he dispensed with the Latin and said swords and shields for ease of reading. Because of his accuracy I was also somewhat surprised to hear Romulus described as a teenager and wondered whether Alexander's soldiers would have been as fair of skin and hair as Kane suggests.
These tiny niggles apart, I loved this book. I have bought the next one in the series and look forward to branching out to his book about Hannibal.
Martin Lake
The Lost King: Resistance
Wasteland (The Lost King)
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A new title contender
A great debut title, is this the start of something exceptional? I hope so. This book more than many of the other new authors in the genre seems to have something different, a blend of the action of Scarrow, the pace and power of Anthony Riches and his own unique element a bit of mystery and myth that sets it apart.
As the Genre starts to get more and more crowded an author needs something unique and I think this series has it, it also has the power to make you love the people within the book, you want to read about them, you want to save them, you want to battle with them, you want to turn that page and rush to the next chapter, and then when you get to the end of the book you don't want to turn that last page and read the end, because you know it will be another year to wait before you meet again. And that's the sign of a great writer.
Im writing this having read book two so I know this isn't a flash in the pan, and im eagerly anticipating book 3 Road to Rome.
Keep up the great work Ben.
(Parm)
A great debut title, is this the start of something exceptional? I hope so. This book more than many of the other new authors in the genre seems to have something different, a blend of the action of Scarrow, the pace and power of Anthony Riches and his own unique element a bit of mystery and myth that sets it apart.
As the Genre starts to get more and more crowded an author needs something unique and I think this series has it, it also has the power to make you love the people within the book, you want to read about them, you want to save them, you want to battle with them, you want to turn that page and rush to the next chapter, and then when you get to the end of the book you don't want to turn that last page and read the end, because you know it will be another year to wait before you meet again. And that's the sign of a great writer.
Im writing this having read book two so I know this isn't a flash in the pan, and im eagerly anticipating book 3 Road to Rome.
Keep up the great work Ben.
(Parm)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
too long and too detailed
I picked this for a holiday read as I generally enjoy novels set in Roman times. I was sadly disappointed. The book was just far too long and far too detailed. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Katie Wightman
Ignore the One-star Trolls - This is a top-notch read...
I've decided that every time I see a so-called review which appears to be the work of some sad Troll, I'm going to post a 5 star review to restore some balance to the overall... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mike Mac
A thoroughly rivetting read
The Forgotten Legion series is one of the strongest series set in ancient Rome that has been produced to date. Read more
Published 3 months ago by SJATurney
Absorbing read
An unputdownable , great read, if you enjoy Historical fiction. I bought all 3 books in this series, and enjoyed them all, but to be honest this first book was the best. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Dr. John Lalor
Suddenly. . . nothing happened . . . . a lot
There are some enjoyable moments in this novel. But I have to agree with my fellow reviewers in that the novel is far too long and spends far too much time painting the characters'... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr. Thomas Hunter
A two handed cliff hanger
liked this book even if the period of the death of the roman republic now a novelists plundered garden
the two connected stories of the slave twins you want to triumph and... Read more
the two connected stories of the slave twins you want to triumph and... Read more
Published 8 months ago by mark1000
The Forgotten Legion
Excellent novel in a trilogy. Ben Kane has researched his work to the extent that its as if you're actually there in the ancient world as he describes every detail. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Steve
The Forgotten Legion (The Forgotten Legion Chronicles)
Brilliant start to a new trilogy by an author who has clearly done his homework.
Innovate storyline with plenty of action to keep you enthralled.
Well done Ben Kane.
Innovate storyline with plenty of action to keep you enthralled.
Well done Ben Kane.
Published 9 months ago by Mr. Michael J. Best
Forgotten Legion Best Remembered
This is a novel that can be very easily enjoyed, and the rhythm of flow, plot and historical fact all reach full throttle by the end of chapter 2, with most of the characters still... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mike Reed
Fantastic
I love roman fiction and this is amongst the best. Great characters, good plot, plenty of action, all in all as good as it gets. Its up there with scarrow.
Published 10 months ago by Surrey Hills
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