Thursday 9 June 2011

HISTORICAL FICTION REVIEW: Hannibal: Enemy of Rome - Ben Kane

Release Date: 09/06/11

SYNOPSIS:

In the First Punic War, the Roman legions defeated and humiliated Carthage, their only serious rival for power in the Mediterranean. Now a brilliant young Carthaginian general, called Hannibal, is out for revenge. Caught up in the maelstrom are two young boys, Hanno, the son of a distinguished soldier and confidant of Hannibal, and Quintus, son of a Roman equestrian and landowner. A disastrous adventure will see Hanno sold into slavery and bought by Quintus' father. Although an unexpected friendship springs up between the two boys - and with Quintus' sister, Aurelia - the fortunes of the two warring empires once again separates them. They find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict and an alliance forged through slavery will be played out to its stunning conclusion in battle.


REVIEW:

With the conclusion of Ben’s Forgotten Legion trilogy, it was always going to be interesting to see what he’d tackle next. After all when you’ve marched the legions across to the East and backed the soldiers to the hilt in an unfamiliar land then there are only so many other places you can go.

Thankfully for us, Ben takes the reader into the Second Punic War and whilst the outcome is never in doubt in hindsight, at the time it was a case of whose empire would fall which Ben does a cracking job of bringing to the fore to the reader. Add to this some great characters, a wonderful understanding of combat which when blended with cracking pace and decent dialogue will more than satisfy the reader. In conclusion, Ben’s writing has improved with each successive title and its going to be interesting to see into which arena he throws himself for the next brutal and bloody round.

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