Soldier of Rome: Legionary by James Mace (reviewed by readafew)

Here's another one! My thoughts felt a little disjointed when writing this so any help would be appreciated.

****************************************************************************************************

In Soldier of Rome: Legionary we meet a young man who joins the Legions in order be a part of the force sent to punish the German barbarians for the Teutoburger Wald massacre. They had wiped out 3 Roman legions including the one his older brother had been attached to. We follow Artorius as he joins the legions as a recruit, is trained to be a Legionary and finally marches with army to extract vengeance upon the barbarian hoard.

This book happens primarily after the death of Caesar Augustus and Tiberius has taken over. An interesting and popular time for Roman historical fiction. This book tells a good story, though while a little on the gruesome side (not a lot, but periodically he goes into details) the author has his favorites who you expect to come through mostly unscathed. All the bad things happen to others. This is not a dig against the book (and my wife prefers stories that work like that!) but it’s kind of like the Western where you know the goods guys are going to win, or even a David Eddings book and not everyone enjoys that kind of story. I did enjoy the book and I do plan to acquire at least the next one in the series if not all of them.

Just a few suggestions, mostly about weird word usage, but there's other stuff too:

You sometimes capitalize 'the Legions' and sometimes don't.

The first time you mention the main character's name (1st paragraph, 3rd sentence) it reads like we should already know it. I would suggest adding his name to the 1st paragraph, 1st sentence: ...we meet a young man, Artorius, who joins the Legions...

1st paragraph, second half of the 3rd sentence: 'with army' sounds funny. Did you mean 'with the army'?

2nd paragraph, 1st sentence: ...after the death of Caesar Augustus and Tiberius has taken over. I think that should be ...after the death of Caesar Augustus when Tiberius has taken over.

2nd paragraph, 3rd sentence: I think you should drop 'while'. I also think the sentence should be split after the parenthesis.

2nd paragraph, 5th sentence: I think you should move the David Eddings mention up a little bit. The way it is now feels tacked on. How do you like this: kind of like the Western, or even a David Eddings book, where you know the goods guys are going to win? Oh! And I just noticed 'goods guys' should be 'good guys'

I do love historical fiction in ancient Rome. I haven't read any for a while though. Have you read any of Steven Saylor's Roman mysteries? I've only read the first one: Roman Blood, but it was fantastic and based on a true instance.

Another word-usage quibble: the army would exact vengeance upon the barbarian hoard, not extract.

Thank you! You hit all the parts I had been thinking weren't quit right. Anything else? I'll take a look later myself, otherwise I appreciate the help.

********************************************************************************************
In Soldier of Rome: Legionary we meet a young man, Artorius, who joins the Legions in order be a part of the force sent to punish the German barbarians for the Teutoburger Wald massacre. They had wiped out 3 Roman Legions including the one his older brother had been attached to. We follow Artorius as he joins the Legions as a recruit, is trained to be a Legionary and finally marches with the army to exact vengeance upon the barbarian hoard.

This book happens primarily after the death of Caesar Augustus when Tiberius has taken over. An interesting and popular time for Roman historical fiction. This book tells a good story, though a little on the gruesome side (not a lot, but periodically he goes into details). The author has his favorites who you expect to come through mostly unscathed. All the bad things happen to others. This is not a dig against the book (and my wife prefers stories that work like that!) but it’s kind of like the Western , or even a David Eddings book, where you know the good guys are going to win and not everyone enjoys that kind of story. I did enjoy the book and I do plan to acquire at least the next one in the series if not all of them.

Ok, I'll try to add something like that, though as far as I know it seems pretty accurate in general. I'm not a roman scholar, but it seemed to match well with what I do know. I think there were a couple idioms that I felt were out of place coming from an ancient roman but I really only noticed 2-3 of those.

here it is again with a little extra added. Any comments?

ETD: made a couple small changes

***********************************************************************************
In Soldier of Rome: Legionary we meet a young man, Artorius, who joins the Legions in order be a part of the force sent to punish the German barbarians for the Teutoburger Wald massacre. They had wiped out 3 Roman Legions including the one his older brother had been attached to. We follow Artorius as he joins the Legions as a recruit, is trained to be a Legionary and finally marches with the army to exact vengeance upon the barbarian hoard.

This book happens primarily after the death of Caesar Augustus when Tiberius has taken over. An interesting and popular time for Roman historical fiction. While I’m not a Roman historian, what knowledge I do have about the time period matched with the facts Mace used in his stories. I believe he tried to be accurate in the details, especially when he described the Legions weapons and use.

This book tells a good story, though a little on the gruesome side (not a lot, but periodically he goes into details). The author has his favorites who you expect to come through mostly unscathed. All the bad things happen to others. This is not a dig against the book (and my wife prefers stories that work like that!) but it’s kind of like the Western , or even a David Eddings book, where you know the good guys are going to win and not everyone enjoys that kind of story. I did enjoy the book and I do plan to acquire at least the next one in the series if not all of them.

"hoard" should be "horde". Your hoard is a stash of stuff you are keeping for future use. A horde is a large number of people, especially barbarians.

"Legions weapons" needs a possessive apostrophe: "Legions' weapons". Maybe better also "the Legions' weapons and their use".

I would add a comma between "win" and "and" in "you know the good guys are going to win and not everyone enjoys". I haven't mentioned this before, because it's no big deal, but maybe you will agree.

doh! homonyms! At least most of the time I get their, there, and they're right!

*************************************************​
In Soldier of Rome: Legionary we meet a young man, Artorius, who joins the Legions in order be a part of the force sent to punish the German barbarians for the Teutoburger Wald massacre. They had wiped out 3 Roman Legions including the one his older brother had been attached to. We follow Artorius as he joins the Legions as a recruit, is trained to be a Legionary and finally marches with the army to exact vengeance upon the barbarian horde.

This book happens primarily after the death of Caesar Augustus when Tiberius has taken over. An interesting and popular time for Roman historical fiction. While I’m not a Roman historian, what knowledge I do have about the time period matched with the facts Mace used in his stories. I believe he tried to be accurate in the details, especially when he described the Legions' weapons and their use.

This book tells a good story, though a little on the gruesome side (not a lot, but periodically he goes into details). The author has his favorites who you expect to come through mostly unscathed. All the bad things happen to others. This is not a dig against the book (and my wife prefers stories that work like that!) but it’s kind of like the Western , or even a David Eddings book, where you know the good guys are going to win, and not everyone enjoys that kind of story. I did enjoy the book and I do plan to acquire at least the next one in the series if not all of them.