Soldier of rome

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Come on, Mace, it's fine for heroes to have flaws.

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The weak sections of the book are the I'm a little torn about this book. Where it's strong, it's really strong. Where it's weak, it's weak. It's strength is the knowledge and description of the Roman military. This includes the structure of the infantry, the equipment, the battles, and a slight gloss on the politics of the higher command. Mace clearly knows his Roman history and lavishes attention on those subjects, which is great.

The weak sections of the book are the depth of the characters and the prose. The protagonist is a young army volunteer who wants to avenge the death of his brother, who died at the hands of the German troops in the early imperial era of Rome. That sentence is pretty much what you know about him on page 15 or page of this book. He and his fellow legionaries are by and large good soldiers who do the right thing, try hard, and respond to motivational speeches that are often heavy with cliches. I enjoyed this book because I enjoy reading about the history of ancient Rome.

I suspect this book will find its proper readership. If you can enjoy reading about shields and swords and formations I can you will enjoy this book. If you like complex characters with changing motivations, you probably won't like this book as much. For what it wants to be, it is a great success. Just don't go into it with expectations that outstrip the book's ambition. I don't usually listen to audio books, except when I take a trip.

I listened to Soldier of Rome and I found the narrater did a wonderful job. His narration kept me riveted to the story of the Roman Legions, one of my favorite subjects. I have yet to read or in this case listen to a James Mace book and not come away impressed with how good a writer he is.

I purchased the two books in the series and after listening and enjoying the 1st book, I look forward to listening to the 2nd book. Unlimited Historical Fiction Adventure. One person found this helpful. The reality of ancient war,still linked to much modern war, BUT, here, javelins, swords, ancient ballistae, and charging horses, [Roman Aux. Included are fairly good views of daily life of the Roman Legionnaire, including food stuffs, and seeking "frontier love".

I've read all four books several times over the past few years. I wasn't too upset with the grammar like some of the other reviewers were maybe I had the revised edition that one of them mentioned. My biggest problem with the book was that it reminded my of a book report that some high school kid was trying to pad so he could stretch it to the required 10 pages. Two sentence explanations of why a character did or said something that took two words to relate were common.

Instances of repetitive narrative were also a bit too frequent. The story itself was pretty good. It was certainly more believable than Gorden Doherty's "Legion", but quite frankly, I didn't think it was as well written. If you're interested in this sort of book, I'd suggest Peake's "Marching With Caesar" series over this. None of the first three books in that series had the unfinished, unedited, almost amateurish feel of "Soldier of Rome the Legionary. Hopefully some of the problems with this first book of a series aren't present in the later ones.

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Amazon Second Chance Pass it on, trade it in, give it a second life. To ask other readers questions about Soldier of Rome , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Aug 07, Sensitivemuse rated it really liked it.

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No fancy schmancy romantic war ideas, no going back to a tear stained love interest who was waiting for him to come back home or silly sappy love drama to make you cringe, etc etc you get the hint. This is full on brutal war descriptions, with the emphasis on brotherhood and fighting together against all odds. The author did a really good job with his homework in making this book as historically accurate as possible, even providing footnotes, and where he got them from.

I liked the amount of historical detail put into this book so every little moment was easily pictured, and descriptions of Roman military tactics, their weapons, and how they fought was well written. The plot was simple, and although it has been done before, it still served as a good basic story to introduce Artorius to the reader. His development as a soldier was well done, although one could only assume the worst as it seemed that Artorius just got more angrier throughout the novel. The other characters in the book served as just supporting cast, although I wish there was more to them - although some had distinct personalities Valens with his women, Magnus and his Northern ancestry I wish there was just more development with them as I wanted to know more about these other characters too.

It is a brutal book, battle scenes are written with extreme detail and the amount of violence is high. Although realistic because war is never something to be taken lightly, the sheer brutality of it described in this book may deter the readers from reading this. I thought it was very well done, and I want to keep reading the rest of this series. I greatly recommend this to others who are fond of military history, or who love a good book about Ancient Rome.

Jun 10, Liviu rated it it was amazing Shelves: This is a self-published novel full of typos and written in a pedestrian style, but it captures perfectly the soldier life in the roman legions under Augustus as far as we know it from historical records. Add to that interesting characters, superb battle scenes and a very nuanced and most likely closer to truth portrait of Tiberius than in Robert Graves and the classical historians and the book gets five stars from me and I am in for the series as long as it keeps delivering similar novels.

Nov 15, Heavensent1 rated it liked it. The Legions were being rallied to go take care of some Barbarian upheavals and while marching through Teutoburger Wald, the betrayal of Arminius is released and almost all of the men are destroyed. However, a few of them managed to fight their way to freedom while watching and hearing Soldier of Rome: However, a few of them managed to fight their way to freedom while watching and hearing the fighting of their comrades and the murders of their families as they desparately try to overcome the dangerous surroundings in which they were lead.

Feeling shame and degradation, the few remaining survivors return to their keep and are surprised to be welcomed with open arms and asked to return to their places of honour amongst the Legionnaires. Six years later, the whole of Rome is ready for its revenge on the Teutoburger Wald massacre, and none more so than Artorius, who was nine at the time his brother, Metellus was killed during the raid. Artorius has vowed from that day that he would do all that he could to be the best Legionnaire there is in order to exact the punishment the Germanic warriors and their families deserve.

With skill and strength, Artorius continues to prove his worth and exact his revenge, rising amongst his comrades thru the ranks. His skill on the battlefield cannot be matched and his focus is true, oftentimes his guilt racks him for the suffering he has caused; he reminds himself of the atrocities the Germans had done to his own kind and his vigor is renewed. I would give this a three and a half stars out of five. I thought it was decently written however, there seemed to lack something, in which I am unable to pinpoint, but something was lacking in the descriptions of the battles, which were too short in some instances, and the interaction with the characters.

I enjoyed Artorius and most of the Legionnaires, it was very interesting to read what life could have been like for those who have made war their life. The training involved seemed intense and vigorous and the nights cold and lonely. The reason to exact revenge was believable and you could feel for some of the warriors as they reminisced about that day in history. I thought Tiberius and Germanicus were well written and they added a flavourful appeal to the story, giving us a look at all sides of the Roman campaigns, from the Ceasar down to the lowliest military rank.

I enjoyed the descriptions of the military ranks and the author was kind enough to include a glossary of terms, for those who need to be refreshed as to each of the attributes found within the Roman Legions. As well, we are given historical time lines in order to either further research what you have read or to keep track of where the story is compared to our own history of the times.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good military read from an ancient band of warriors who have amassed themselves in our mainstream, reminding us of the valour and bravery of the men of old. There are many graphic battle scenes so it is not for the weak of heart, the swearing involved is of modern terms and bothered me a little, not that I was there to know, but I don't think they used the terms of today back in A.

I would've liked to have seen the true expletives that they would have used instead of today's modern slang. I believe that James Mace has a decent backbone in which to continue with this series and I look forward to reading more! Jun 21, Pepca rated it liked it Shelves: The main quality of this book is in its historical accuracy fictionalised into a well-told story. James Mace combines his military expertise with historical facts to present an evidently thoroughly researched subject in an appealing way. The Legionary is a book about Roman defeat and retaliation in Teutoburger forest, but most of all it is a presentation of what the author calls the Roman war machine — a Roman legion as a whole and a legionary as an individual — the key element f The main quality of this book is in its historical accuracy fictionalised into a well-told story.

The Legionary is a book about Roman defeat and retaliation in Teutoburger forest, but most of all it is a presentation of what the author calls the Roman war machine — a Roman legion as a whole and a legionary as an individual — the key element for the supremacy of the ancient Rome in the then known world.

The life of the legionaries, from training to everyday life during peace, war, and festivities is presented in details, as we follow the story of Artorius from his boyhood to becoming an accomplished member of a legion. I have mixed feelings about Artorius as a character. He is a complex character in the true sense of the word, making the reader hate him, love him, admire him, despise him, and sympathise with him. The loss of his older brother in Teutoburger Wald and consequential death of their mother when he was a young boy affects Artorius with grave sadness which develops into a burning vindictiveness.

He grows up with one goal only — to join the legion and avenge his brother. However, his growing-up starts anew when he begins the training of a legionary. Soon he learns that any accomplishment depends not only on his abilities but primarily on working together with his colleagues.

I see a Roman legion, as presented in this book, as a perfect example of a society bringing together the importance of an individual and of a community. Great accomplishments and progress of the civilization are possible only when people can thrive as individuals while they contribute their effort to the joint goals of the community.

Artorius soon learns to put the common goals first in order to achieve his own goal. His blind vindictiveness is contrasted by a necessity to follow orders and by empathy for the innocent people. A conflict between ethics and executing orders is raised in this book, too, but as in life it has no conclusive solution. Nevertheless, James Mace puts it very well: James Mace does not spare the reader with violence and atrocities of warfare. The cruelties from both sides are equally represented, as well as the viewpoints upon the same things from the Romans and the Germanic tribes, the common soldiers and their leaders.

There is a lot of specific terminology, which makes the book somewhat slow to read. The glossary the author includes at the beginning of the book is very helpful to clear some confusion while reading. Apart from this and a very few grammatical errors and typos, Soldier of Rome: The Legionary is a good book with quite a straightforward, but capturing plotline.

This book provides one of the best presentations of Roman military I have ever read. I recommend it to anyone interested in history of ancient Rome, especially in the structure and functioning of its legions, if you can bear graphic descriptions of violence. Jul 16, Valorie rated it liked it. Varus, give me back my legions! Anyone who knows anything about Roman history has heard those words.

Just the same, anyone who knows anything about Roman history can pick out the important names and places on the back cover alone: The Legionary is about what takes place after the defeat Varus, give me back my legions! The Legionary is about what takes place after the defeat at the Teutoburger Wald forest when Rome sets itself up for a retaliatory measure against the Germanic people, led by the heavily applauded Germanicus.

James Mace is not a Roman historian, or an historian by training at all. Rather, he is a military man with an avid passion for Roman history. While historians know to be cautious around the world of enthusiasts who usually do not understand issues such as historiography and source creditability, I have always tried to be more fair minded than that.

I liked that in the front of the book is a glossary of Roman military ranks, which is a godsend to any and all who know nothing more about the Roman military than the centurion helmet. I cannot wait to start pulling out all of my books about Rome and checking against them.

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I will admit that I too know little about the Roman military in the age of Empire. My experience is with the military structure of the Republic via historians such as Livy and Plutarch, and of Late Antiquity thanks the volumes of respected historians who study the endlessly to either prove or disprove that the Roman military was a dysfunctional machine by the end of the s. The complicated structure of the Roman military during its height makes my head spin. Republican that I am, I wonder where the Consuls are and then remember this is a couple centuries after the Punic Wars. So you see, simply having a glossary of ranks and jobs really assisted me in what I read.

You know what else impressed me? That when I flipped back to the end of the book I saw a bibliography. Very few writers who dive into historical fiction bother to give proper credit to sources or reveal where they received their historian information. Perhaps they feel as fiction writers they do not have to disclose their sources or give credit where credit is due, but I am a stuffy nonfictionists who feels that things should be credited. I only wish he had elaborated on it and revealed more of the histories he read to recreate his Roman world, and not only cited Tacitus.

The story begins with the disastrous battle of the Teutoburger Wald, which Rome mourns as military men plan and seek revenge. Loss is not something the Roman military takes lightly, after all. And enemies must be punished or annihilated. The rest of the story takes us through the early stages of retribution and then battle.

A young Roman named Artorius has a personal vendetta since his brother was killed in the forest. Led by the young Germanicus, the Romans reenter battle against the Germans who pretended to be allies only to betray them. It becomes an epic battle between the forces of Germanicus, fighting for Rome, and Arminius, who is fighting to preserve his own land and his own people.

The book was very exciting. I just dig them. But this book was more than the overtly masculine posturing of male valor, and went beyond the tedious technicalities that bog down a lot of historical writing of the military nature where military maneuvers are described in long and diagram-free detail. I did wish that there was more Roman context in it. Hidden beneath the surface are important Roman values, norms of respect and rank, and military training. I was also a bit confused about the naming of the characters in the book.

But again, this could just be me, as a Republican, understanding Republican conventions of prenomen, nomen, cognomen, etc, as well as what the difference between Claudius and Clodius is.

I wanted to be fully involved in not only what it meant to be a soldier, but what it meant to be a ROMAN soldier. One of the most fascinating things about the Romans is how they were. I wish there was more about this, which would place the reader more securely in the Roman world and therefore create a more realistic story. Also, unfortunately, the book needs a good editor. There were many words misspelled and even a mistake on the back cover book description. That alone could cause a lot of people to disregard the book and never give it a chance.

It is clear, though, that Mace truly does love the Roman military and has put more research into them than your average person or even hobby historical enthusiast. It was a good and worthwhile read, I think, and puts me one book closer to my ultimate goal of reading every fiction book I can find set the era of the Romans Nov 04, Mary rated it it was amazing.

One small spoiler to point out deviation from historical record The first book in James Mace's Artorian Chronicles opens during the dramatic final moments of the disastrous ambush in Teutoburger Vald when Germanic tribes under the leadership of one-time Roman auxiliary officer, Arminius, wipe out the 17th, 18th and 19th legions of the first Roman emperor Augustus. A few desperate survivors struggle through boggy marshes trying to rejoin their unit and defend their last few brethren from sac Note: A few desperate survivors struggle through boggy marshes trying to rejoin their unit and defend their last few brethren from sacrifice to the barbarian's blood thirsty gods.

The scene changes and we meet a young Roman boy named Artorius who lives happily on his father's farm near Ostia. His father, once a Primus Pilus in the legions, was grievously wounded and forced to retire. But, he takes pride in his older son, Mettelus, who serves with the legions in Germania. Artorius, too, is fiercely proud of his older brother and dreams of joining the legions one day himself. Then word arrives that Mettelus died heroically saving his Centurion at Teutoburger Vald. Artorius is crushed and vows to take revenge on the Germanic barbarians that took his brother's life. He trains diligently to strengthen his body so he will be ready to join the legions when he assumes his manly toga.

The day finally arrives for Artorius to enlist. His father has signed the necessary documents and written a letter of introduction. Artorius reports to the recruiting station in Ostia and soon finds himself on the way to Germania. As Artorius undergoes training in basic weapons usage and close combat, the reader has the opportunity to learn about the proper handling and deployment of a pilum Roman javelin , the movements to overcome the longer barabarian swords with the short, stabbing gladius and how the scutum, the distinctive rectangular shield, is maneuvered to batter an opponent or slice an enemy with its edge.

Artorius is also given instruction in the operation of siege weapons like the onager, a type of Roman catapult, and scorpion, a kind of automated cross bow. Artorius discovers that a childhood friend, Pontius Pilate, is one of the legion's artillery officers. I thought that this was interesting as there is little information about Pilate's early military career.

Mace vividly describes life as a legionary recruit, including their daily chores like cooking a breakfast of wheat cakes and bacon, as well as daily visits to the bath house. Artorius makes friends of the other seven men in his tent and meets his instructors, centurions and commanding officers, so we also learn about their pasts, their motivations and any ambitions they may have.

Mace does an outstanding job of characterization and clearly his own military experience has given him insight into the development of comradery within a fighting unit. But, his comrades and training officers are concerned about his anger over his brother's death and desire for revenge. This becomes apparent during the first raid on a Germanic village when Artorius wounds a barbarian then, rather than giving the man a quick death, grinds a flaming torch into his face.

As the novel progresses, Artorius' legendary commander, Germanicus, leads the army of the Rhine on a vicious campaign of revenge against the Cherusci, the tribe of the traitor Arminius, as well as their allied tribes. This campaign historically occurred between 14 and 16 CE. Mace handles the battle sequences very well and you hear, see and smell combat from the viewpoint of those fighting in the front ranks, both Roman and German.

Artorius also helps recover the remains of the earlier Varian disaster, tracing the final struggle described by a surviving Centurion to his brother, giving his brother proper burial and releasing his shade to eternal rest. The final battle at Idistaviso on the banks of the Weser River was not only riveting but an excellent description of Roman battle tactics employing infantry, cavalry and both types of Roman artillery.

Although Tacitus gives us a general outline of the battle, Mace filled in the details quite expertly. Finally, Artorius' desire for revenge is more than sated as the legions slaughter thousands 10,, according to Tacitus.

Mace has obviously done extensive research in preparation for this novel and rarely deviates from the historical record. One exception I noticed was Artorius kills Arminius' uncle, Inguiomerus, in the final battle of Idistaviso and garners his first silver torq for valor. But, both Arminius and Inguiomerus escaped the battle of Idistaviso. Tacitus says, "As for Inguiomerus, who flew hither and thither over the battlefield, it was fortune rather than courage which forsook him. However, as I read Tacitus further I found that Inguiomerus could not have been killed, because Tacitus tells us he later deserted Arminius in a war with Maroboduus, king of the Marcomanni.

The strength of the two nations, the valour of their chiefs were equal. But the title of king rendered Maroboduus hated among his countrymen, while Arminius was regarded with favour as the champion of freedom. With this addition he [Arminius] must have had an overwhelming superiority, had not Inguiomerus deserted with a troop of his dependants to Maroboduus, simply for the reason that the aged uncle scorned to obey a brother's youthful son. I recommend this novel not only for entertainment but as an excellent introduction to what life was like for a common soldier in the legions so many other novels are written from the command perspective instead , I also definitely look forward to reading the other books in this series.

That is actually a pretty tall order in itself as James Mace is such a prolific author he has penned twelve books since publishing The Legionary in and only retired from a full-time career in the U. Army National Guard just three years ago. Although he has now branched out into writing books about the Napoleonic Wars and the Anglo-Zulu War of , he has not abandoned ancient Rome entirely and just released book 2 of a new trilogy about the Roman-Jewish War of 66 to 73 CE.

Aug 19, Steve rated it really liked it. An entertaining, educational and historically accurate read. I enjoyed the detailed, accurate and realistic descriptions of the life of a legionnaire, military tactics and battle sequences. There was some character development, but at the end the characters were left simple when more complexity and not rounding off the character arc would have been interesting.

Everything in the story was very realistic and believable without any obvious exaggeration which can take away from similar stories. Som An entertaining, educational and historically accurate read. Some of the scenes were hard to read due to their graphicness, but this added to the depth and realism of the novel and was not gratuitous. I finished the novel looking forward to the sequel.

Historical to a point All those years of studying Latin as a youth filled me with stories of Ancient Rome. The past 3o years of archaeology have focused to a liege extent on the life of ordinary Romans.

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