I’m a fan of historical fiction and had a craving for something from Ancient Rome. I had already read the first several of Simon Scarrow’s Macro and Cato series and wanted to try something new when I saw that Hoopla had this series and decided to give it a shot.
The first book Fire in the East was fantastic. It was so different than I was expecting, the main character Ballista was a Germanic Angle who through luck and charisma rises to the rank of equestrian in the empire and is sent to build siege works to defend an outpost in Syria against the Sassanid Persians. What follows is an indepth and incredibly well researched story of a siege seen from the eyes of a barbarian in his adopted army as multiple religions and cultures intertwine clash.
The second and third books, King of Kings and Lion of the Sun follow Ballista and his “familia” as the events from the first book pan out and see Ballista rise and fall in glory and position as the wars between Rome and Persians in this so called “chaos era” of Roman history come to a head.
I found all of this super interesting and I love Sidebottom’s scholarly, almost academic or textbook at times approach to the history. I don’t even mind his *frequent* use of Latin and Greek language that force the reader to check the glossary more than is probably necessary.
However, I just finished reading book 4 The Caspian Gates, and it was a slog. It opens with a rather exciting depiction of an earthquake but then the characters seem to have very little to do, none of which has much to do with establishing a new arc or expanding the rather satisfying ending of the first three novels. In fact, Ballista and crew don’t even reach their intended destination that is established early on in the book until 66% of the way through the novel! (Thanks hoopla for letting me know the exact point when something important finally happens.)
From there the mission Ballista is on wraps up incredibly quickly and feels almost like a side quest. Ballista himself is mostly listless and his only real character growth is that he becomes more comfortable cheating on his wife. Then, he receives a new “mandata” and is sent off to a new location with a new quest and it’s over.
There are another 4 books in this series! Does it get better, is it worth it to soldier on? It really feels like it’s running out of steam and Sidebottom finished the story he wanted to tell and is just writing historical fiction travelogues of places he thought were neat. I’d love to hear others opinions on this series.
by KidGrundle