Fire in the East
Warrior of Rome, Book One

Otoño del año 255 d. C. Marco Clodio Ballista, impetuoso oficial romano, viaja hasta Arete, a orillas del Éufrates, para defender la ciudad del acoso de los sasánidas persas, pero mientras prepara las defensas de la ciudad, descubre que hay espías entre sus hombres de mayor confianza. Todo resulta vio......more

Read this book in 2010, and its the 1st volume of the amazing "Warrior of Rome" series, featuring Ballista. The historical details concerning this book has been very well researched and explained by the author, which you can find in the historical afterword and a glossary at the end of the book. At th......more

Fire in the East is the story of Marcus Clodius Ballista, a Roman commander who is sent to the frontier with the aggressive Sassanid Persan Empire. He is to hold things together in the East while the Emperors deal with troubles along the Rhine and the Danube. If he dies in the process, well, too bad......more

This is an enjoyable tale once it gets going. I'm a big fan of the later, less-than-invincible Roman Empire, and this is set in just that era, with Dux Ballista being sent with a weak straggle of poorly-trained legionaries and auxilliaries to defend a sand-swept city far to the east against the migh......more

Sometimes it seems that the supermarket shelves are groaning under the weight of historical novels set during the 'Glory that was Rome'. Sadly many of them are unreadable tosh (yes, Ben Kane, I mean you!). However, Harry Sidebottom is a different proposition altogether. A teacher of classical history......more