Soldier of Rome

The Legionary Book One of the Artorian Chronicles

By: James Mace

Narrated by: Nigel Patterson

Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Rome's Vengeance. In the year A.D. 9, three Roman Legions under Quintilius Varus were betrayed by the Germanic war chief, Arminius, and destroyed in the forest known as Teutoburger Wald. Six years later, Rome is finally ready to unleash her vengeance on the barbarians. The Emperor Tiberius has sent his adopted son, Germanicus Caesar, into Germania with an army of 40,000 legionaries. They come not on a mission of conquest, but one of annihilation.

With them is a young legionary named Artorius. For him the war is a personal vendetta; a chance to avenge his brother, who was killed in Teutoburger Wald. In Germania Arminius knows the Romans are coming. He realizes that the only way to fight the legions is through deceit, cunning, and plenty of well-placed brute force. In truth he is leery of Germanicus, knowing that he was trained to be a master of war by the Emperor himself.

The entire Roman Empire held its collective breath as Germanicus and Arminius faced each other in what would become the most brutal and savage campaign the world had seen in a generation; a campaign that could only end in a holocaust of fire and blood.

©2006, 2012 James Mace (P)2014 James Mace

Outstanding

This is so well written and narrated that you get involved and hate being interrupted and do not notice the passage of time. The quality has put both the author and narrator high on my TBR list.

Great!

Great story of Ancient Rome. Full of action. Well written. Well worth the the price. Looking forward to listening to the next episode.

No research whatsoever went into this book.

What disappointed you about Soldier of Rome?

At least read an entire Wikipedia article about an event before writing about it. The historical inaccuracies in this book are just astounding. I am 1 hour in and can not go on because of the poor research. 1. They were fighting Germans, not Celts, the Germans did not paint themselves blue. 2. The battle was 3-4 Days, not one afternoon. 3. 14,000 dead, not 20,000. 4. Tiberius did not rush madly to the Rhine in 4 days to stop the Germans, hell he did not go there for almost a year. 5. The soldiers who survived the battle lost their Roman citizenship, and could not re-enter the Italian peninsula. So the scene where the soldiers go tell the family of the fallen soldier could not have happened either.

I found 5 massive glaring errors in the first hour of reading.

What was most disappointing about James Mace’s story?

The incredible lack of research.

What didn’t you like about Nigel Patterson’s performance?

Hum drum at best, not inspired.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Soldier of Rome?

Most

Any additional comments?

I realize that its historical fiction and is not peer reviewed, but some effort could have been made, this book feels like the author just vaguely heard of the battle of Kalkriese.

James Mace Does It Again. Great Book On The Roman Legions

I have yet to read anything of James Mace that wasn't excellent. I love books about the Roman Legions and Mace is one of the best in his thorough research and his scene setting descriptive writing. It's like he was there in person witnessing the event he's describing. Great job Mace.

Best Series about Rome in Years!

This is a great book. I can't wait for the next one. If you like Roman history at all you will love this book.

Enjoyable story

I enjoyed this book. It seemed to be historically accurate, in describing the Roman army's methods of fighting and living.

Great story, narrator needs work

This book reminds me of the thoracic viscera of Braveheart. Astounding action, the character development is good and appears to go into more depth with future books. I am hungry to read More... Then.. The narrator has the Exact Same voice for Everybody!! Good thing I Loved the book, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. On to book 2, more later.

Enjoyable story but lacking in sophistication

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I like the Roman historical novel. This one was interesting but do not expect a refined literary style. Descriptions are simple, characters predictable.

Forget Gladiator.

I love the Roman era of history, and most stories and movies, provided they are done right, endear themselves to me for a lifetime. Solder Of Rome IS not only one of the best I've encountered, but very close to the top! This is a terrific story of a great, romantic and horrible time in a nations history, told extremely well. Through James Mace's wonderful narration, Patterson's novel is brought to life in such a way that I could actually 'see' every word as if it were a movie. The narrator did a wonderful job of giving life to Patterson's beautifully crafted characters, and if it were possible to give a 10 star rating for performance, I would. Great job to both writer and narrator, and I hope to see more from this duo!

Story from the front lines, great history

What did you love best about Soldier of Rome?

How everyone of my notions of the roman soldier was wrong. Each legionary commanded its own loyality and respect

Who was your favorite character and why?

Yes and of course We will have to wait a long while to get another with these characters in it.Hurry up and write another!!

Have you listened to any of Nigel Patterson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The story line was very interesting and if you knew anything about history this just filled in some of the blanks If you knew nothing it was very informative

If you could take any character from Soldier of Rome out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I couldn't find one problem, In fact I enjoyed Mr Patterson's performance and hope he will continue with this series IF there are more books to followw!!!!

Any additional comments?

Yes, they give you a great story, interesting characters and then BAM no more stories, just not fair. Keep writing PLEASE