Soldier of Rome cover art

Soldier of Rome

The Legionary Book One of the Artorian Chronicles

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Soldier of Rome

By: James Mace
Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
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About this listen

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
Ancient Europe Fiction Germany Historical Fiction Rome Revenge War

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All stars
Most relevant  
Good story but very monotone narration with distinction between characters voices. Hopefully someone else has done the other books.

Poor narration

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narrated too quickly at times ,difficult to keep up with who is talking or jumping to paragraphs, story also has not enough research into era, surprising as his Zulu books are excellent. I did however enjoy the story.

Good story

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What disappointed you about Soldier of Rome?

I love historical fiction (Bernard Cornwell, Simon Scarrow etc) and have been very lucky so far with those I have bought from Audible. I started with really high expectations for this but Soldier of Rome disappointed me. The author switches between modern and 'Shakespear' English which breaks up the narration and some of the historical background is doubtful. I was certainly under the impression that the rank 'of 'Sergeant' is relatively modern but the legion seems packed with them and it doesn't work for me.

The narration also gave me problems. This is the first book I've heard done by Nigel Patterson and I can imagine how difficult it is to get a dramatic flow going when the source material you are reading from is poor but Nigel's voice just seemed too forced, often I felt with emphasis in the wrong places.

Has Soldier of Rome put you off other books in this genre?

Not at all. I would pay more attention to listening to samples beforehand though.

How could the performance have been better?

It needed a more authorive, deeper voice in my view. Nigel's just came across as too bubbly.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment and confusion.

Worst listen so far!

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