- Hardcover: 432 pages
- Publisher: Michael Joseph; First Edition edition (3 July 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0718153294
- ISBN-13: 978-0718153298
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.4 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 76,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Warrior of Rome I: Fire in the East
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More About the Author
Product Description
Professor Mary Beard, Chair of Classics, University of Cambridge
In the third century AD the Roman empire was beginning its melt-down. It was horrible and violent. Harry Sidebottom's epic tale starts with a chilling assassination and goes on, and up, from there.
Timothy Severin, author of The Viking Trilogy
Harry Sidebottom works on Rome's third century the magic that Patrick O'Brian applied to Nelson's navy. He has the touch of an exceptionally gifted story teller, drawing on prodigious learning.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
63 of 67 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Other comments on this book have suggested it stands out from the competition because it is set during the decline of Rome. For me it stands out because it moves away from the common soldier and lower ends of society which is the perspecive used in other novels of this kind. The hero is a German favourite of the Emperor who is tasked to lead the defence of a town on the border of Roman-Sassanid territory.
The book divides into 3 parts - the journey to Arete, the preparations for the seige, and the seige itself. The novel contains naval warfare, spies, assassins, and a few twists and turns as well. Some story threads are left, presumably to be concluded in later books.
If you enjoy the Scarrow series of 'Eagle' books, Iggulden, or Jackson's Caligula you will enjoy this.
The book divides into 3 parts - the journey to Arete, the preparations for the seige, and the seige itself. The novel contains naval warfare, spies, assassins, and a few twists and turns as well. Some story threads are left, presumably to be concluded in later books.
If you enjoy the Scarrow series of 'Eagle' books, Iggulden, or Jackson's Caligula you will enjoy this.
66 of 72 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have always been a keen reader of historical novels, especially covering the Roman to medieval periods. Warrior of Rome by Harry Sidebottom is set in the third century AD, when the Roman Empire had passed it's zenith and follows the character of Ballista, a northern barbarian in the service of the empire, who is sent to defend a border city against a threat from the east. As you would expect from a Fellow of Archaeology and Classical Art at the University of Oxford, this book has been carefully researched and is well written. Set on the borders of the Roman Empire, the story unfolds with irresistible momentum, bringing to life a violent and turbulent period. The characters are skilfully developed against a backdrop of everyday and political life in the period, heightened by the portrayal of exceptionally vivid scenes of siege warfare.
This is an exciting novel by a promising new author, which interweaves history and adventure to recreate a cracking good read in the style and class of Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell. I found it difficult to put down. Now I can't wait for the next book in this promising series.
This is an exciting novel by a promising new author, which interweaves history and adventure to recreate a cracking good read in the style and class of Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell. I found it difficult to put down. Now I can't wait for the next book in this promising series.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
For a novel about the Roman world to succeed, in my opinion, it needs to combine historical accuracy, authority even, with an immediacy that snaps me out of the 21st century. I need to believe that the lives and events I am reading about could have existed, even if I know that they didn't. It needn't take much to throw a reader out of a historical novel but when the author is Harry Sidebottom the reader - and the characters- are in safe hands.
Harry Sidebottom is a Lecturer of Ancient History at the University of Oxford. By definition, that should mean that he knows his stuff. And indeed he does but it's the way that he carries this expertise that makes his Warrior of Rome series (or at least the quarter of it that I've read) so believable and readable. It helps, of course, that the series takes place during a difficult time in Roman history, the troubled third century, when more than one emperor was attempting to hold sway at the same time. The action also takes place in the mysterious east, in Syria, on the edges of the retreating empire. On both counts, Fire in the East is different from many other Roman military novels.
Fire in the East introduces us to Ballista, the long-haired barbarian from the north, an Angle, who has risen from dubious origins (to say the least) to be a commander of the Roman army. His mission is to fortify the city of Arete in Syria and hold it against the Persian King of Kings at all cost. Ballista has to dig in, win the favour of the mixed community within the city, and use all his wit, guile and courage to protect Arete from the thousands of soldiers and hoards camped around the city's walls.
With Ballista is his familia, gathered from across the empire, including Greeks and Spaniards. Not all are free, some are slaves, notably his bodyguard Maximus and his secretary Demetrius, but Ballista drinks with them all and will embrace them before battle. However, as Ballista is painfully aware, friendships are secondary when compared to the urgency of saving the city and its inhabitants.
This is a hugely exciting novel, carefully structured and paced, as we follow very closely Ballista's strategies to defend Arete and then his courage in facing the enemy, so much greater in number. You can almost feel the arrows fly past your cheek or the artillery smash stone and men at your feet. Ballista is an enormously likeable young man and the reader's feelings are intensified by the moments of vulnerability - for his past, his wife and child - that he lets slip to us yet to no-one else. He is mocked by the Romans in the city and yet the Romans are outnumbered in Arete by its eastern population and soon it's Ballista's name they chant. But the Angle can never forget that there are traitors around him and that his death may come just as easily, maybe even easier, from an act of betrayal as from an arrow or sword during battle.
The story moves around Arete, its different communities and religions. A range of characters are given leave to give their perspective on events. We know, for instance, that there are spies here and, as the novel progresses, part of the game is to guess who might be one of these `corn men'. The city itself is also a character, with its walls, towers, mines and tombs. The desert around it, with the mighty river flowing through it, is vividly presented.
Played off against the action of the siege we have the drama inside Ballista's head. Amongst his nightmares and dreams is the growing awareness that Rome is a long way away.
Harry Sidebottom is a Lecturer of Ancient History at the University of Oxford. By definition, that should mean that he knows his stuff. And indeed he does but it's the way that he carries this expertise that makes his Warrior of Rome series (or at least the quarter of it that I've read) so believable and readable. It helps, of course, that the series takes place during a difficult time in Roman history, the troubled third century, when more than one emperor was attempting to hold sway at the same time. The action also takes place in the mysterious east, in Syria, on the edges of the retreating empire. On both counts, Fire in the East is different from many other Roman military novels.
Fire in the East introduces us to Ballista, the long-haired barbarian from the north, an Angle, who has risen from dubious origins (to say the least) to be a commander of the Roman army. His mission is to fortify the city of Arete in Syria and hold it against the Persian King of Kings at all cost. Ballista has to dig in, win the favour of the mixed community within the city, and use all his wit, guile and courage to protect Arete from the thousands of soldiers and hoards camped around the city's walls.
With Ballista is his familia, gathered from across the empire, including Greeks and Spaniards. Not all are free, some are slaves, notably his bodyguard Maximus and his secretary Demetrius, but Ballista drinks with them all and will embrace them before battle. However, as Ballista is painfully aware, friendships are secondary when compared to the urgency of saving the city and its inhabitants.
This is a hugely exciting novel, carefully structured and paced, as we follow very closely Ballista's strategies to defend Arete and then his courage in facing the enemy, so much greater in number. You can almost feel the arrows fly past your cheek or the artillery smash stone and men at your feet. Ballista is an enormously likeable young man and the reader's feelings are intensified by the moments of vulnerability - for his past, his wife and child - that he lets slip to us yet to no-one else. He is mocked by the Romans in the city and yet the Romans are outnumbered in Arete by its eastern population and soon it's Ballista's name they chant. But the Angle can never forget that there are traitors around him and that his death may come just as easily, maybe even easier, from an act of betrayal as from an arrow or sword during battle.
The story moves around Arete, its different communities and religions. A range of characters are given leave to give their perspective on events. We know, for instance, that there are spies here and, as the novel progresses, part of the game is to guess who might be one of these `corn men'. The city itself is also a character, with its walls, towers, mines and tombs. The desert around it, with the mighty river flowing through it, is vividly presented.
Played off against the action of the siege we have the drama inside Ballista's head. Amongst his nightmares and dreams is the growing awareness that Rome is a long way away.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Sidebottom's main gem, so far...
This book, which I bought from Amazon in 2008 but failed to review at the time, is, I believe, Harry Sidebottom's best so far. Read more
Published 2 months ago by JPS
I persevered and finally got to the end
Oh dear! This book didn't grab me at all, and it really was an effort to get to the end. I don't often bother to write reviews, but I found my experience of this so out of kilter... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Pamanti
Fascinating details
A well-constructed historical thriller from a period that is not usually covered. The precise details of the siege especially develop a claustrophobic and tense atmosphered that... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Toller
A Scholar and a Poet
The author is a Classical Historian at Oxford so I began this book with some trepidation. Now I have nothing wrong with Historians writing fiction, but I find that their works tend... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Stuart McCunn
Not the best
A bit slow, too much unnecessary detail, unless you like that sort of thing. Could have been half as long and told the same stroy.
Published 7 months ago by Peter Smith
A great read!
This is a great read that would have earned 5* if it were not for the rather disappointing ending. I also thought the side plot involving the saboteurs did not seem as good as the... Read more
Published 8 months ago by M. Gleadall
Brutal, intellectual and incredibly satisfying.
This is the first if four parts and so far I'd have to say the best (I've only read 1,2 and most of the third though. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Timothy Cooper
Oh Dear it's tedious
I was rather disappointed with this. I heard the author on the radio and thought it would be just my sort of book but I was so wrong. There are loads of characters. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Ms. J. A. Russell
For such an odd time zone surprisingly good
This is really not a time zone of Rome one would find on the history channel or from school, it is more only discussed in academic circles. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Michael
A little disappointed
The background for the story is fantastic, however the plot and flow is very jagged in places.
It is almost as though it never went through the editing process. Read more
It is almost as though it never went through the editing process. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Ploggus
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