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A review by scheu
Hannibal's Children by John Maddox Roberts
3.0
Instead of trouncing Hannibal and the Carthaginians (and eradicating them completely), the Romans are defeated, but given the option of leaving Rome and Italy to find a new home in Noricum (Austria, more or less). Over a hundred years later, no living Roman has seen the ocean, and Rome itself is empty.
Doesn't that sound great? I thought so. It still sounded great when the Romans thriving in Noricum go south again. Gradually, but inexorably, the plot and the writing became pretty lousy, and I was treated to an array of really obvious dea ex machinae (?) whose absence would have maybe earned this book another star.
The good news is that I want to read better Roman fiction (hello, Colleen McCullough) and finally get through the Iliad. Thanks, Mr. Roberts!
Doesn't that sound great? I thought so. It still sounded great when the Romans thriving in Noricum go south again. Gradually, but inexorably, the plot and the writing became pretty lousy, and I was treated to an array of really obvious dea ex machinae (?) whose absence would have maybe earned this book another star.
The good news is that I want to read better Roman fiction (hello, Colleen McCullough) and finally get through the Iliad. Thanks, Mr. Roberts!