Gordon Doherty Male, 35, Married. United Kingdom

A very good read this. The author clearly has a genuine love of the historical setting and this shone through in some of the detail. The narrative was smooth and the characters likeable and I found the chemistry between Vespasian and Magnus humorous and memorable.
There were some issues with flat dialogue early on, where a lot of backstory seemed to be conveyed through unrealistic sounding conversations, but overall this was a tiny blip on an enjoyable journey.

Well worth a read for hist fic fans

If I ever forget what good storytelling is, then I can safely turn to David Gemmell for a sterling reminder.

Sword in the Storm exhibits all the traits that made me love his style (have read Troy series, Lion of Macedon series, Stones of Power series) and in particular the very real-feeling portrayal of Connovar, the flawed hero. Every character has a touch of this, no archetypal villains or infallible good guys in this story, and the people of the Roman/Kelt-like world only become tainted as good or bad because of their choices and actions.

Sword in the Storm is the first in the Rigante series and it's a safe bet that I'll be reading the rest after this masterpiece.

If you're a historical fiction fan, don't let the fantasy aspect put you off. This book is a must read.

Ironroot is the first of this author's work I have tried, and what can I say? It's dark, tense, pacy, delightfully twisty and evocative and I found myself being sucked into the Roman-like world in which it is set.

From the poetic and vivid opening chapter I was hooked and then only sleep or work could pull me away from my kindle as it wound its way around the lands of the Empire, following a tight-knit trio of characters as they bonded in the face of espionage and skulduggery. Indeed the characters really grew on me as the story unfolded, so much so that I was parrying every sword-blow with Varro and his entourage before long!

The 'hook' factor has left me wanting to explore the world of the 'Tales of the Empire' series, so I'll definitely be reading more of this series and the author's other works.

The thing I loved about this book is that is both Epic in scale but also highly detailed.
The author paints a vivid scene of despair and hopelessness, with the 'dirt-eaters' (the early farmers of bronze age mesopotamia) who live in rudimentary settlements, accepting their role as sword-fodder for the warbands who still roam the country hunting for food and pillaging for treasure.
I felt engaged really quickly with the protagonist, Eskkar, as he struggled against his own demons and against the stubborn townsfolk who resisted his pleas to make a stand against the raiders. But Eskkar is not alone, he has a slave girl, Trella, who is as cunning and calm as Eskkar is bold and aggressive. The pair dovetail really nicely without ever coming across as infallible.
The story builds neatly, taking you on the adventure and builds towards a hectic and unforgettable ending.

A must for hist fic fans.

I found this was the kind of history book that delivers fact with the readability of fiction. The facts were well conveyed and plentiful but it was the author's narrative that took me along on Emperor Heraclius' ascension to the purple of Byzantium and subsequent epic wars.

The author's argument that Heraclius' wars with the burgeoning Arabian peoples, recently united by Islam, were in effect the first of the crusades is compelling, highlighting Christianity's firm grip on the hearts of the Byzantine people and the emperor's use of this devotion.

The difficulties the empire faced in his time are laid bare in the text and this serves to magnify the intriguing mix of shrewdness and at times almost classical heroism in Heraclius' actions.

Well worth a read (though hard to get a hold of).

This second book in Norwich's trilogy eloquently takes the reader through Byzantium's tangled and complex high period. The journey is intriguing, at times hair-raising (most memorably the desperate and sorry end of Michael V: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_V) and beautifully written throughout.

The author writes with an obvious passion, critical eye and at times a dry wit as he takes the reader over the years starting with the crowning of Charlemagne, through the phases of Iconoclasm and then the Great Schism between the eastern and western churches then on past the pivotal Battle of Manzikert. All through this the Byzantine imperial families are ever restless, making both sound and ludicrous tactical and political decisions that see the empire's borders continue to change in an almost fluid fashion. As I turned the last page I felt just as hooked as I ever have been on any work of fiction.

A fine piece.

The author tells the story of the death throes of Byzantium with a vivid narrative. The army is barely more than a rag-tag militia supplemented by mercenaries supplied by neighbouring states almost in pity at the state of the once-great empire; the navy is virtually non-existant, with rotting hulks of vessells too expensive to maintain lying semi-submerged in the Golden Horn. All that stands between the Ottoman armies and the end of Byzantium are the decrepit walls of Constantinople and a few spirited individuals who refuse to let the imperial flame be extinguished. Indeed, the description of Emperor Palaeologus fighting alongside the peasants on the city walls is as evocative an image as I can remember.

A top read that flows like fiction.

The idea is simple and intriguing: what if the Roman Empire had survived and remained dominant throughout not only Europe, but the rest of the world up to the present day?

This posed lots of questions for me and it was a must read from this point of view. However, the Roman world in Romanitas seems to be a very lightweight veneer on an otherwise fairly run of the mill thriller/espionage tale. Perhaps it was unrealistic to expect that such a world would look anything like the Roman empire of antiquity, but while reading I didn't feel like the book was transporting me to anywhere other than today's world with a few tweaks.

This is a decent story - it's just that it promises more than it delivers.

Vivid and beautifully written, Luka and the Fire of Life was an eye-opener for me. It drew me in within a few pages as it blew away the usual constraints of reality. The tale follows the classic quest pattern, littered with mythology and old gods, but amusingly blended with elements of modern popular culture. It made me wonder and it made me chuckle.

The only possible negative I could offer is that it is maybe over-written for what is intended as a child's book (not sure what age range it is aimed at, so maybe I'm off the mark with this)?

This is an enjoyable tale once it gets going. I'm a big fan of the later, less-than-invincible Roman Empire, and this is set in just that era, with Dux Ballista being sent with a weak straggle of poorly-trained legionaries and auxilliaries to defend a sand-swept city far to the east against the entire might of Sassanid army. The whole setting of a seige from the inside really gets you onside with the protagonists.

Harry Sidebottom has went to extreme lengths to ensure that the minutae of life in this time period were described to a tee, embellishing Ballista's time in Arete vividly.

The only down sides to the story were that there was maybe a lack of pace for the first two-thirds of the book. I was looking forward to the clash between the Sassanids and the Romans, but it took a long time to come and maybe this slackened the tension of the seige. Also, there were possibly a handful too many characters, but in saying that, the author handily provided a character glossary at the back - it's just that sometimes it interrupted the flow of the story when you had to work out who was doing what.

I'll be trying the next in the series, as I feel there is a lot more depth to be mined from the character of Ballista, escpecially the dark nightmare that haunts him - I love that side of a character!

David Gemmell again demonstrates why he is the master of the flawed and tragic hero with this tale.

'Dark Prince' will convert any reader who is unsure of the fantasy genre. Indeed, 'Lion of Macedon' was the first David Gemmell book I had read, and being three-quarters historical fiction, one-quarter fantasy, it led me gently away from my usual haunts of historical fiction.

After that I was only to happy to let 'Dark prince' pull away all my preconceptions of how a story should unravel, as Parmenion and Alexander descend into a world where nothing is impossible. Oddly, 'Dark Prince' took me back to my childhood readings of 'The Chronicles of Narnia' in this respect (although DP is certainly a darker tale).

A must read in my opinion. What a writer that man was...

While part 1 of this trilogy ticked a lot of boxes for me (the end of the Roman Empire, epic adventure, a dash of fantasy/mysticism) and left me eager for part 2, 'The Gathering of the Storm' failed to hit the mark for me.

The scale of this book felt very limited in comparison to the first part, both geographically and temporally. It follows Attila, in his homeland, stamping out usurpers and mustering support from his clansmen. The character of Attila just felt completely different (not just older and wiser) to the boyhood equivalent in part 1, and a lot of the loose ends from part 1 are never touched upon throughout this book.

Also, technically speaking the narrative used a heck of a lot of adjectives - to the extent that it really detracted from the story in places.

I think it's a shame after such a captivating start to the trilogy and I can only hope part 3 saves the day.

An atmospheric, dark and at times bleak tale of men surviving the aftermath of the Trojan War.

The story pivots around Diomedes of Argos and his retinue as they find that they cannot return to their Greek dominion and are forced to sail west. The author dramatises the collapse of the Bronze Age Aegean world well as the various city states attempt to recover from the ten years of the Trojan War. A picture of inescapable destruction is painted with the Dorian Greeks pouring south to devastate the old seats of power which are themselves tangled in treachery and power struggles.

I almost felt part of the Diomedes' crew as they escaped from this turmoil and into the misty and eerily quiet world to the west.

However, I found the last third of the tale capped the mood of the story appropriately, but left me feeling flat - like the climactic end I wanted never quite materialised.

Not my favourite from Mr Manfredi but a decent read nonetheless.