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    Fire and Sword
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    Fire and Sword
    Unavailable
    Fire and Sword
    Audiobook10 hours

    Fire and Sword

    Written by Harry Sidebottom

    Narrated by Colin Mace

    4.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    ‘Absorbing and brilliant … Game of Thrones without the dragons’ THE TIMES

    The third book in Sidebottom’s epic series set in third century Rome; a dramatic era of murder, coup, counter-rebellions and civil war.

    Rome AD238. The Year of the Six Emperors.

    The empire is in turmoil. With the Gordiani, father and son, dead in Africa, the tyrant Maximinus Thrax vies to reclaim the throne.

    The Senate, who supported the revolt of the Gordiani, must act quickly to avoid the vengeance of Maximinus. They elect two Senators to share the imperial purple. But fighting erupts in the streets as ambitious men call for violent revolution.

    Can the new Augusti hold the city together as the empire’s farthest territories fight off bloody attacks from the Goths and the Persians in the east?

    In the north of Italy, Maximinus descends on Aquileia. Against the odds, Menophilus, an old friend of the younger Gordian, prepares to defend the town. In one of the greatest sieges of the empire, its fate will be decided in a fight for victory, for revenge, for Rome.

    Filled with intrigue, betrayal and bloody battle, Fire & Sword creates a magnificent world built on brutality and political games, where no one is safe from retribution – not even those who dare to rule.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMay 19, 2016
    ISBN9780008170998
    Unavailable
    Fire and Sword
    Author

    Harry Sidebottom

    Dr Harry Sidebottom teaches classical history at the University of Oxford, where he is a lecturer at Lincoln College. He has an international reputation as a scholar, having published widely on the cultural history of the Roman Empire. Fire and Sword is the third book in the acclaimed series, Throne of the Caesars, and follows his bestselling series, Warrior of Rome. He divides his time between Oxford and Newmarket in Suffolk, where he lives which his wife and two sons.

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    • 5/5
      From a speech in the Senate to rouse its members in April 238: "Make no mistake. Open your eyes. Maximinus is on his way. In battle-order, with camps pitched everywhere, he is coming with fire and sword. He is at Aquileia already. His hired killers are already in this very chamber. They are intent on massacre."This is an enthralling sweep of the tumultuous events from March-June 238 AD and the third exciting installment of Sidebottoms's tetralogy: Throne of the Caesars. It begins with the deaths of the Gordians [both father and son], election of the senators Pupienus and Balbinus as co-Emperors; their spurious reasoning: one can take care of military matters and the other control the city. The centerpiece and most of the book is taken up with the Siege of Aquileia, from each antagonist's standpoint--both defenders and attackers. Riots ensue in Rome from the start; the sybaritic Balbinus is unable to put them down. There are more minor subplots involving battles against the Persians and encroaching Goths and one involving an abused wife fleeing from her cruel husband, the son of Maximinus. After murders of Maximinus and the two rebels, the youngster Gordian III is proclaimed emperor.All through I was confused, not by the names per se, but by who identified with each faction. The List of Characters in the back was a big help! This was perhaps our first introduction to Ballista, the young barbarian about whom the author has written a whole different series. There was not much to admire in any of these venal and ghastly characters. The wily and ambitious Greek Timesithius and his even more ambitious wife were especially repulsive. She pushes him to become the power behind the throne. The only ones I had any sympathy for were the prostitute Caenis [no, the name does not mean "bitch" but is that of a mythological figure] and the die-cutter--both denizens of the Subura. Style was often dry but I could easily picture the scenes and the violence. I liked that sometimes the same scene was told from different viewpoints. Highly recommended.