Let me get my griping about the Kindle version out of the way first: No table of contents? Really? Not even that? [Actually, I realized later that the table of contents was actually there, but you had to navigate to it without any help in the menu.] And come'on, can't we get enough resolution on the diagrams to be able to read the labels? One of the important diagrams was so screwed up geometrically, and sideways, that it was useless. X-Ray would have been helpful in this first book, but I'm happy to report that it is available in the subsequent books of the series.
Ok, fine, the kindle rendering on this book is not so hot. But I thoroughly enjoyed the book, despite losing my place a time or two because the kindle version was so unhelpful. Sorry, enough of that!
I'm coming back to edit my review of this first book from the point of view of being half-way through the fourth one. I'm thoroughly enjoying the series.
I don't think this series is for everybody. It's not a made-up sappy plot that happens to be set in Roman times with a few real characters and place names. Oh, no. The major plot is history. There's a cast of historical characters who go through the big story that we know so well. But there's also a shifting cast of completely fictional characters underneath, whose lives are flowing along with the history. Yes, there are some sub-plots, but for the most part these books are a grind. That doesn't sound nice, but what's true is that the life of Legionaries was often a grind. Where history notes, almost in passing, that Caesar crossed over to Britain in 55 BC, here we get the preparations, the logistics, the waiting, the seasickness, the fears, the fascination and interactions with the natives. When they march, we go with them from camp to camp, and learn how much work was involved in setting up a camp and tearing it down. When they have to stop for a while, the personnel problems begin. You become very impressed with what they were able to accomplish. We learn not just about the weapons, but how they were carried or transported, and how effective they were in battle. There's blood and guts, heartbreak and touching moments. We go from battle to battle, not in a word or a phrase, but over many pages of what goes on while the army is on the move.
We're tiros in this first book. We're just learning, and getting our first experience in battle. The horror of it all is there, but the results are generally positive in this book, while Caesar is alive. It's fun. Things turn darker and weirder later on, because that's where the history goes. You'll suffer with these troops, and learn a lot of details of the story you never heard about because the usual history goes so quickly over them. But this is a glorious grind through the history, which I will never see the same way again.
It really is a grind, which, when you enjoy it, makes you realize how well-done this is. I was alternating one of these books with another historical fiction series, and the contrast was stark. Somehow in these books, even though there are many characters who come and go and reappear years later, I don't find myself getting confused. I would stick with this book and forget about the other one.
BTW, if you're a fan of HBO's Rome, you won't be disappointed with these books. Caesar, Octavian, and especially Antonius, can be played in your mind by the same actors with the same mannerisms. It all works; it won't fight with your mental images. Titus Pullus is NOT Titus Pullo, even though there are some obvious similarities.
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