King of Kings: Warrior of Rome: Book 2

Perhaps the greatest strength and weakness of both this book and others of this series is Dr. Sidebottom's impressive dedication to historical authenticity. It immensely refreshing to read the story of a historical character who doesn't look at the era in which he is living through the eyes of a modern reader. We see in this book the casual brutality of the Roman Empire, and though Marcus Clodius Ballista frowns on some of its excesses, he does so in a way that would be historically plausible (As a northern Barbarian he occasionally looks down on the decadence and treachery of the Romans). For the most part Sidebottom avoids the annoying habit present in so much historical fiction of making the heroes wholly good and the villains wholly bad. Some of the antagonists in this particular volume do seem a little cartoonishly evil, but for the most part the characters are complex people who occasionally do good things for bad reasons and bad things for good reasons.

I was particularly impressed with his depiction of the persecutions of Christians. Sidebottom resists the modern temptation to be dismissive and cynical about historical Christianity, while also not shying away from the fact that these were utterly uncompromising people who could be very difficult to deal with. It's this almost obsessive attention to detail that makes these books so much fun to read. As someone who gets really annoyed by the slightest historical inaccuracy, I have found nothing at all to upset me in this book.

But this level of detail has some drawbacks. Every chapter begins with a very long description of the surroundings, recent events, and the thoughts going through the character's mind. It usually takes two or three pages for anything at all to happen. I don't generally mind information dumps every now and then, but when the formula becomes as rigid as it is in this series it can seriously bog the story down. This is the only problem I've had with this book or any in the series, but it's a big enough problem that I almost gave up on the first book because of it and it has showed no signs of changing.

If Dr. Sidebottom could just work on the rhythm of his stories, they would be nearly perfect.

This 2nd book is every bit as good as the first. It is a must for anyone interested in ancient Rome, the ancient near east, ancient Roman warfare and/or ancient Persian warfare. That is not to say this is just a war book - the early persecution of Christians is portrayed in an important part of the book, and there is a wonderful description of Roman chariot racing. Best of all though is the Woden-born Ballista. He is not only likeable, he is believable.

If you liked the first book you won't be disappointed by the 2nd.

I am currently reading 1st book in this series. I read 12 books in a row by Simon Scarrow before this one, so it took a few chapters to warm up to Sidebottom's writing style. I will read the whole series. Good action & imagination.

Fun book. Writing was better than in the first of the series, seems Sidebottom is improving his game. Plot was a little less clear that the first book. Characters more developed, and the tour around the time and place was even better than the last book, which was already pretty good.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

husband loves the series

I was not blown away by the first book and if I hadn't bought this at the same time would probably not bothered with the ongoing tales of Ballista. The author seems to try too hard to prove he is a 'proper' historian so we are given too much detail and this is not balanced out with well paced plots or interesting characterisations. This was true of the first book and the author has not changed his style here. So if you loved the first, more of the same here, if you found the first flawed, well this is too.

Ballista was never supposed to have survived the events of the first book, and Emperor Valerian is not quite sure what to do with him flipping between favour and distrust. And that is the central theme, Ballista gets sent off to do stuff, comes back, gets sent off again. With dull interludes involving father son bonding and assassins.

There is a lot better than this out there so I will not waste my time on any further adventures of Ballista (even though this book does end of a cliff-hanger).

Well written, fire in the east( the first book in the series) was a little slow to start, where this volume starts to bring the whole story together a little faster, and gets into the action a little quicker.

I am quite fond of Historical novels. When they are written by someone who knows whereof he speaks, that makes them even better to me. The Warrior of Rome series has a great deal of fighting, intrigue, romance, and life in general. If you like History and want to learn a bit about Imperial Rome, these are a fun and painless way to do that.

Good read. Anxious to start the next in the series.

Continues the Ballista saga. Interesting historical fiction, well developed characters, good extras like maps, etc.