Blog Tour: Soldier of Rome: The Legionary by James Mace
Please join James Mace, author of Soldier of Rome: The Legionary, as he tours the blogosphere with Pump Up Your Book!
Reviewed by Caleb Shadis
In Soldier of Rome: The Legionary we meet a young man, Artorius, who joins the Legions in order be a part of the force sent to punish the German barbarians for the Teutoburger Wald massacre. They had wiped out three Roman Legions including the one his older brother had been attached to. We follow Artorius as he becomes a recruit, is trained to be a Legionary and finally marches with the army to exact vengeance upon the barbarian horde.
The Legionary takes place primarily as Tiberius takes over after the death of Caesar Augustus – an interesting and popular time for Roman historical fiction. While I’m not a Roman historian, what knowledge I do have about the time period matched with the facts Mace used in his stories. I believe he tried to be accurate in the details, especially when he described the Legions’ weapons and their use.
James Mace tells a good story; there are some gruesome moments, which is to be expected given the topic at hand. Mace has his favorites and you can expect them to come through mostly unscathed. All the bad things happen to others. This is not a dig against The Legionary (and my wife prefers stories that work like that!), but it reminded me of a Western , or even a David Eddings book, where you know the good guys are going to win. Not everyone prefers that kind of story. For my part, I did enjoy The Legionary and do plan to acquire at least the next one in the series if not all of them.
Rating: 3.5/5
Caleb is a software engineer and amature woodworker living in southern Minnesota. He has more hobbies than he has time or money for, and enjoys his quiet time reading.
Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Pump Up Your Book. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.
Category: Action & Adventure, Contemporary, Genre Fiction, Historical, Literature & Fiction, War
[...] great book for those interested in the Roman army or even in Rome in general.Rating: 3.5/5Check out our review of the first book in the Artorian Chronicles, The LegionaryCaleb is a software engineer and amature [...]
for readers of this genre, James’ research accuracy will be valuable and valued. this would be a struggle for myself to read, but i do know others who will be pleased to hear of it’s availability. thx for the headsup!
I don’t for gruesome either, whether it be a dark story or historical fiction like the above. I don’t to be so scared that I fear picking up the book!
I did read this year that scared me so much that I had dreams about it, Siberian Education: Growing up in a Criminal Underworld by Nicolai Linin. As per the author is a true picture of his country but after reading the first ten pages of the book, I vowed never to got to Transnistria. It is not recognized as a country except the country itself.
So, I will definitely not be adding this and similiar books to my wish list. Still haven’t gotten over the Tranistia one!!!
Carol Wong
Thanks for the review. There are very few books that both my husband and I will both read. And I have to say that I really enjoy when we both read the same book. We are both so busy in the day to day, that this gives us something to make time for each other and talk about. I think this would be on of those books. I am OK with some gore and we both love Ancient Rome. I think I will have to put this on my wishlist!
I am coming across so many historical books set in ancient history lately it seems. I’m with Colleen I love historical fiction but I do read them in small doses and in between genres, too much and it can be predictable to me. The cover does speak for itself, a warrior who is perhaps barbaric and savage which reflects his nature and the times. The review confirmed my initial thoughts on the book. Unfortunately the extent of my interest doesn’t extend beyond gaining some facts on Roman history.
While I love historical fiction I am not a huge fan of this type. Gruesome battle scenes and weaponry isn’t really my scene. This does sound like a really good book, however, for people who do like this sort of thing, so I will definitely be passing the recommendation on. Thanks for the review!