Legion Hardcover – June 9, 2003

The reason that there is a market for historical fiction is that it enables one to learn about history in the most painless way possible: being entertained by a good story. The best historical fiction is that which goes into a great amount of detail into the lives and customs of a people in a time and place, and also gives us believable and complex characters who remain true to their times. This novel is very successful in that it gives us a great amount of rich detail, but is somewhat less successful in its character development, which is not terribly nuanced. The story primarily has to do with a Roman centurion, Rufio, who is sent to the German frontier at a time shortly before Christ in order to train his new recruits and organize his veterans to defend Gaul against massing German invaders. There is just a ton of stuff about the life of the Roman soldier in those days, and the detail is just outstanding. The fort in which they live, for example, is a masterpiece of military construction. It is surrounded by zigzagging trenches, designed in such a way that an attacking enemy would be exposed to withering fire. The walls around the fort are made of turf, impervious to fire and to rain. We learn that all Roman forts were constructed in this same way. The inside of the fort is also fascinatingly reconstructed. The soldiers, of course, live in barracks--made of timber, plastered and white-washed--but they are spacious and clean. We are told what equipment and clothing is assigned to them, and what they wear in battle and at leisure. A great deal of care it seems went into their footwear, the famous Roman hobnailed sandals. It perhaps comes as no surprise that they ate well, but it is nevertheless an interesting detail, and one which one normally does not encounter in stories of war. The centurion's living quarters are much more spacious, designed to taste, with memorabilia, maps, and books; austere perhaps, but not necessarily Spartan. Interestingly, and again not surprisingly, much of their time is spent on paperwork and administrative tasks. The author spends a great deal of time on their training as well. The primary weapon is the short sword, as one might have guessed, but the shield is used as an offensive weapon as well. At the first contact with the enemy, it is forcefully shoved forward in order to knock him off balance. Along with this we get descriptions of the colorful Gauls and the barbaric Germans, their towns, the surrounding forests, the way they live and the way they fight. The Roman soldiers, of course, spend their leisure time in the Gallic town, drinking and chasing females, and one gets a pretty good idea that in many respects the military has not changed much over the centuries. Also excellent and often humorous is the dialogue between the soldiers, which is filled with the banter, light insults and sarcasm typical of the military, and unlike so much of the unrealistic, "Yes sir, no sir, of course sir," nonsense found in most novels of this type. If there is a flaw, it is that the characters are drawn just a bit too broadly. The commander of the Romans is young, but oh-so-wise, experienced and terribly concerned with the welfare of his men. The primary female characters are all staggeringly beautiful, exotic and strong-willed. The Germans are devious and barbaric. Worst, perhaps, is Rufio, who is almost godlike in his wisdom and strength, and who is worshipped by Gaul and Roman alike. The final battle is terrific, bloodily realistic and captivating, but you don't exactly have to be an expert in literature or history to figure out way ahead of time how it is going to turn out. That's okay, though. These are pretty minor quibbles. The novel more than makes up for them with its outstanding detail, splendid research, and compelling narrative. It is a fine addition to the historical fiction genre.

Underneath the books title "Legion" is the wording "A Novel of the Army of Rome". Thats a pretty important piece of additional information for anyone who is merely looking for an interesting novel to read set in the Ancient past with plenty of various elements (action, adventure, romance, great characterisation etc etc)then you might be a bit disappointed."Legion" is more of story wrapped around a history lesson on how a Roman legion on the far flung outskirts of Gaul at the time of Augustus might have conducted itself. The story woven in is more incidental than anything. The real focus of the book is to take the reader through the make up, structure, organisation, training, discipline and life within a Roman camp and how the roles and place of the various people within it are arranged. So if half a page of text concerning how a "Scorpion" works, and how deadly its iron bolt can be when fired + which soldiers from the training ground will earn the right to operate it in battle isnt for you...then maybe you are not likely to be impressed by the book as a whole as theres plenty of this example in it.To take the dryness out of this there is a story that involves a Greek "Roman citizen" scholar - Diocles. He is the camp leaders scholarly servant brought from Rome for a unique assignement - to record the life and goings on of this the 25th for posterity. This task he undertakes while himself undergoing the rigors of training with the other recruits. The principle character he focusses on is Centurion Rufio. A battle hardened man of some 20 years service and a dedicated career soldier with a love of Gaul and a dark past which comes back to haunt him upon his return from Spain in the form of a Gallic maiden called Flavia. His assignment is to knock together a collection of rough recruits and ill disciplined or cocky veterans into shape and rebuild these men he is given command over back into an efficient fighting unit. Rufio's love/hate relationship with Diocles and all his men takes place as the clouds of battle loom over the horizon with the Germanic Suebi massing for an all out assault on their part of Gaul.Personally I found the story okay, but I loved more learning about the inside outs of a Roman legion. But if story content more than historical descriptives is your flavour...your appetite may go unsated. I must also say there were times when the flow of which character was actually the one talking got a bit confusing. And being mostly a male centric society, there is a bit of reference among the legionairres in discussions to matter mostly of the toilet/sexual prowess variety that might grate with some more sensitive souls. The story is a little predicatable to say the least and the characters interactions and motives seems to be without great depth or development but then again the book is only 295 pages. Something has to give.4 stars because it is an interesting way to learn about life in the legion and its hardships and rewards. The research is well done and all-in-all a nicer way to understand Roman soldiery with a story woven in than from a dry non fiction book anyday.

I am very hard to please when it comes to Roman fiction, I also like my characters to be almost tangible or real. This book is the best read I have ever had, it was really well written and seems so real. Written as a normal book but with observations by the main character it managed to interrupt my life to the point that I missed a nights sleep to read it as I could not put it down. It has everything in balance, strong characters, suspense, tension and even romance but so written that I found myself talking to the characters when they failed to see a situation arising. In short...BUY IT! You are mad not to read this superb novel.

I've read this book is about 24 hours. Not because it was short but because I couldn't put it down. I've read many historical Roman fiction books but this was the first that bought a tear of joy to my eye at the end. A good plot, well researched, well written (no typos like some of the books on Kindle), great characters and I was always wondering about the ending until the end. I hope there will be a sequel. Buy it! It's worth it if you like this kind of fiction.

Engaging to the point where I was reading till 3 am this morning , unable to put it down. The sights , the sounds , the smells , the feel, all leaped from the font to grip this reader ... a most enjoyable read and here's hoping that William Altimari is already at a keyboard and screen creating another feature. This deserves to be read again !

A bit to much like goodies and baddies but good for all that. The invincible Rufio is to good to be true but I still love him. Rome keeping the borders safe from barbarian Hermanns. Great stuff.

well research, excellent story line, well developed characters, will be waiting , for the next installment, read it in two sittings