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Ship of Rome by John Stack

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EC2
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Ship of Rome by John Stack

Post by EC2 » Fri January 16th, 2009, 4:18 pm

From the back of the book:

"Atticus, captain of one of the ships of Rome's small coastal fleet, is from a Greek fishing family. Septimus, Legionary commander, reluctantly ordered aboard ship is from rome, born into a traditional army family. It could never be an easy alliance. But the arrival of a hostile fleet, larger, far more skilful and more powerful than any Atticus has encountered before, forces them to act together..... Atticus finds himself propelled into the middle of a political struggle that is completely foreign to him. Rome needs to build a navy fast, but the obstacles are many....The Carthaginian enemy are first class, experienced, and determined to control the seas. CAn Atticus and the fledgling Roman navy out-wit and out-fight their opponents?"

You know how historical adventure novels aimed at women are referred to as 'Bodice Rippers'? Not a handle I particularly like or endorse, but it has become synonymous with the genre. Well this is the equivalent for guys, except instead of romantic scenes, the author inserts fighting and macho stuff.
It's a very enjoyable adventure story which reminded me a little of those sprawling epic films of the 1950's that they often show on Sunday afternoons. Certainly the female characters have come straight from the film set without taking off their makeup and the few love scenes in the novel are cheesy, but won't frighten the horses. Women on the whole are incidental in this first episode of what looks like being a long running series.
The hero, Atticus, captain of the Aquila is a well realised, three dimensional creation, as is his best friend Septimus. The tensions between them are well set up. Atticus is of Greek extraction and treated with suspicion by his Roman associates, and this makes for interesting conflict as he doesn't always receive the recognition he deserves. Septimus, from an older lineage has issues with Atticus, even while they are friends and allies, and he is not best pleased when he suspects that Atticus is courting his widowed sister, the lucious Hadria.
Even if there are obvious heroes, There are no absolute villains of the piece as such, just guys you'd rather not cheer for. Motivations are explained and this gives the characters depth and allows you to see their side of matters. Scippio and Dulius are two wily politicians, creeping behind each other's backs to secure power in the senate, and their attitudes and ambitions impinge directly on Atticus and Septimus.
The setting of the Romans at Sea is a different one and makes a refreshing addition to the oevre.There are some exciting action set pieces, although a good editing and judicious cut back would have helped me not to skim pages on occasion. Sometimes it is fast-paced but it's fast pace that's running on the spot. However, there's no doubting that the author can write great action scenes and I'm sure he'll get better as he goes on.
I was pulled out of the story at times by all the quantifying of heights and poundage(wondering if they had such measurements back then) of men and even horses, but I guess it's more of a man thing (rather than describing what the dresses looked like!) - although amongst all this quantifying, the reader is never told when the novel is set, which is a bit disconcerting. The mention of adrenaline when adrenaline wasn't known in Roman times, dragged me out of the story too. Oh, and the old chestnut about the blade singing from the scabbard. That's straight out of the movies as well!
When it came to rating the book I had a dilemma. There were times when the writing was so raw and clunky that I almost wall-banged it, and other times when it was glued to my hand and I was desperate to know what was coming next. The quality is uneven, so I've averaged it out at three stars and a seven out of ten. I do think the author has real potential and I will read the next ones in the series - and that's the acid test isn't it, securing the readers. I certainly hope with the next one to be able to up the rating based on consistency and I look forward to reading more about Atticus and Septimus.
Well worth the read if you like action and adventure in the Roman period. I add the caveat that I don't know a lot about that time, so I may have missed things that might spoil it for readers more knowledgeable.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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Post by annis » Sat January 17th, 2009, 3:17 am

Thanks for the review EC- it's good to get some feedback about the book. I think I mentioned earlier that I was interested in this one, as HarperCollons sent me some advance publicity about it. I can't find out anything much about the author, though I think I detect an Irish accent in his Youtube clip, which is available on this brief Q & A section at Amazon UK.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ship-Rome-Maste ... 000728523X

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Post by Alaric » Sat January 17th, 2009, 5:45 am

EC, which Roman era is it? Republic, late Republic, early Empire, high Empire, late Empire, etc.?

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Post by EC2 » Sat January 17th, 2009, 10:31 am

[quote=""Alaric""]EC, which Roman era is it? Republic, late Republic, early Empire, high Empire, late Empire, etc.?[/quote]

That's the thing Alaric, I don't know my Roman history at all, and the book doesn't tell you which Roman era it is - perhaps it assumes readers will know. There's a fight going on with Carthage is all I know, and there isn't an emperor!

Annis, glad the review was of use. I do think the author is one to watch and certainly to try. My copy was an ARC from the Amazon Vine programme.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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Post by Alaric » Sat January 17th, 2009, 11:24 am

That would be Republic then, as Carthage was completely destroyed as an entity in the 2nd century BC. :)

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Post by annis » Sat January 17th, 2009, 5:11 pm

THe product description on Amazon is quite misleading as it says
"Against a backdrop of the clash of the Roman and Carthaginian empires, the battle for sovereignty takes place on the high seas."

However in the Q & A section just beneath, John Stack clearly says that the book is set during the the early stages of the First Punic War, which is definitely Republican era.

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Post by EC2 » Sat January 17th, 2009, 5:20 pm

I guess whoever was writing the copy wasn't sure about Roman history either!
The head cheese Carthaginian is called Hannibal Gisco - so I kept thinking of Hannibal of the elephants and the alps, but this one is an admiral in charge of Carthaginina navy. Nowhere in the novel is a dateline mentioned...
The book itself is a bit like Hornblower or Kydd, but set on Triremes, and instead of canons, the tactics are all ram and board.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

annis
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Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Sat January 17th, 2009, 5:34 pm

There's a "War at Sea" section here of an article about the First Punic War which gives some idea of the timeline involved.
It probably would have been helpful for the reader to have been given some indication in the story about the time in which is is set.

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Post by annis » Fri March 20th, 2009, 6:07 am

Finally got to read this one, EC. I pretty much agreed with your response. Plenty of action, with interest added by the naval aspect, as opposed to the usual land battles. For those interested in naval history, the invention of the corvus features. The corvus was a portable boarding ramp which enabled the Romans to make use of their greatest resource, disciplined soldiers . Rome could use her superior army in naval combat, and this was a significant shift away from the tactics of all other navies at the time.

There were a couple of pages of historical notes at the back, which provided a useful adjunct.
Last edited by annis on Fri March 20th, 2009, 6:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by parthianbow » Fri April 16th, 2010, 2:07 pm

How did I miss this thread? :confused:

The book is written at the time of the First Punic War, 264-241 BC, and I suspect the author hasn't used dates so that he can telescope time if needs be. I know the feeling - I'm currently writing about the Second Punic War, 218-201 BC.
Ben Kane
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