Book picks similar to
The Last of the Romans by Derek Birks


historical-fiction
historical
hist
ancient

Scythian


Hector Miller - 2018
    They find refuge from Rome among the Roxolani, the noble horse warriors in the land of Scythia.Nik reveals his true identity and his pivotal role in the fate of the Empire. The boy finds a home among the barbarians and is accepted into their warrior culture.But a storm is descending upon the tribes when the warlike Goths migrate westwards towards the lands of Rome. Lucius is fostered to the distant Huns to strengthen ancient tribal bonds in a bid to repel the invadersOn his journey, he meets a mysterious stranger who becomes his friend and mentor. A man who has a desire for the Empire to prosper.To survive the merciless Huns and the onslaught of the Goths, the boy becomes a warrior without equal, guided by the hands of the gods.Will the half barbarian boy be able to save his people or does his destiny lie elsewhere?

Mutiny


John Stack - 2018
     Yet the trouble is not yet over. As mercenaries land in Carthage to claim payment for services rendered, they do not receive what they expect. Lacking a shared culture, structure and even language, this band of warriors has taken up residence in Carthage, and is becoming increasingly angry... Meanwhile, veteran Roman sailor and prefect Atticus Perennis is fighting pirates in the seas around Sicily. Perpetually an outsider, despite his Roman citizenship, due to his Greek heritage, Atticus is a fine warrior with more than one point to prove. He sails with his brother-in-law, Septimus, a Roman centurion of striking bravery and skill, and despite their grisly encounters with pirate crews, both long for some measure of peace after the wars with the Punici of Carthage. It is a vain hope. For among the pirates’ booty are Roman senators, who tell Atticus of the mercenary occupation of Carthage. Worse, the mercenaries have kidnapped the Roman proconsul to whom Atticus owes a particular debt of honour. And so, Atticus, Septimus and their crew sail for Carthage. Once there, Atticus is re-united with yet another acquaintance, Hamilcar Barca. As military commander of Carthage, Barca could do with some help. But the last person he wants help from is Atticus Perennis... Mutiny< is a meticulously rendered tale of politics and war in the Roman era, a tale that takes an unflinching look at the details of battle and occupation, and the compromises of allegiance. It will delight fans of Roman history, historical fiction and military fiction alike. John Stack was born and lives in County Cork. He is married with three children, and is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Masters of the Sea series.

The Great Game


S.J.A. Turney - 2015
    Tasked with uncovering a plot against the newly-crowned emperor Commodus, his mission takes him from the cold Danubian border all the way to the heart of Rome, the villa of the emperor’s scheming sister, and the great Colosseum. What seems a straightforward, if terrifying, assignment soon descends into Machiavellian treachery and peril as everything in which young Rufinus trusts and believes is called into question and he faces warring commanders, Sarmatian cannibals, vicious dogs, mercenary killers and even a clandestine Imperial agent. In a race against time to save the Emperor, Rufinus will be introduced, willing or not, to the great game. "Entertaining, exciting and beautifully researched" - Douglas Jackson "From the Legion to the Guard, from battles to the deep intrigue of court, Praetorian: The Great Game is packed with great characters, wonderfully researched locations and a powerful plot." - Robin Carter

Beasts Beyond The Wall


Robert Low - 2019
    The mysterious, powerful Servilius Structus sends them deep into Scotland, land of the Caledonii, to find and secure a woman and her young son. But it’s not clear why... and what could go wrong, heading over the last Wall into the Land of Darkness? Accompanied by Ugo, Quintus, Manius, and Sibanus, this crew of ex–gladiator rogues, tricksters and bar-room philosophers will risk everything on an insane quest and a daring escape. In the dog days of Rome, with decadence and corruption in the air, the consequences of their failure are far greater than they could ever dream: not only their lives but the Empire itself is at stake.No pressure then.A searing, gritty and blood-soaked historical adventure, Beasts Beyond the Wall is perfect for fans of Giles Kristian, David Gilman and Conn Iggulden.

Emperor's Sword


Alex Gough - 2019
    A mission gone wrong. An impossible goal. A gripping new series of Ancient Rome.Roman scout Silus is deep behind enemy lines in Caledonia. As he spies on a raiding party, he is abruptly discovered by an enemy chief and his son.Mounting a one man ambush, everything quickly goes wrong. Silus must run for his life, the head of the enemy leader in his hands. Little does he know the price he will pay...As Silus is inducted into the Arcani, an elite faction of assassins and spies, he must return to Caledonia, back into the wilderness, and risk everything in the service of his Caesar. The odds don’t look good.Failure is not an option.

Betrayal


Anthony Riches - 2017
    Nero has committed suicide. One hundred years of imperial rule by the descendants of Julius Caesar has ended, and chaos rules. His successor Galba dismisses the incorruptible Germans of the Imperial Bodyguard for the crime of loyalty to the dead emperor. Ordering them back to their homeland he releases a Batavi officer from a Roman prison to be their prefect. But Julius Civilis is not the loyal servant of empire that he seems. Four centurions, two Batavi and two Roman, will be caught up in the intrigues and the battles that follow - as friends, as victims, as leaders and as enemies. Hramn is First Spear of the Bodyguard. Fiercely proud of his men's honour, and furious at their disgrace, he leads them back to the Batavi homeland to face an uncertain future. Alcaeus is a centurion with the tribe's cohorts serving Rome on the northern frontier - men whose fighting skills prove crucial as Roman vies with Roman for the throne. A wolf-priest of Hercules, he wields the authority of his god and his own fighting prowess. Marius is a Roman, first spear of the Fifth Legion: a self-made man who hates politics, but cannot avoid them in a year of murderous intrigue. Aquillius, former first spear of the Eighth Augustan, like Hramn, is in disgrace for refusing to dishonour his oath of loyalty.But their paths will lead them to opposite sides of an unforgiving war. And Civilis, Kivilaz to his countrymen, heroic leader, Roman citizen and patriotic Batavi, will change both the course of the Empire's destiny and that of the centurions.

The Fall of Britannia


K.M. Ashman - 2010
     The last unconquered stronghold of the Celts and a land of gold and slaves. A dangerous place of men without fear, led by mystical Druid warriors, yet still to face the might of Rome in the unrelenting expansion of the Empire. Four Roman legions have assembled in Gaul undertaking final preparations for the invasion of Britannia. Two young men are posted to a training cohort under the sadistic tutorage of a battle scarred veteran, Remus. The training is brutal but eventually the trainees find themselves involved in their first campaign, The invasion of Britannia. The legions invade in a frenzy of brutality and aggression, and one of the defending Celtic warriors is forced to flee the battle to embark on a frantic rescue mission the isle of Druids, where a young girl is due to be sacrificed. Meanwhile a cohort of legionaries under the command of Remus, is tasked with finding the source of the Celtic gold. The Romans find themselves in strange and unfriendly environment and, as they close in on their quarry, the fates of all four men become intertwined and a long held secret revealed, culminating in a savage and astonishing climax that affects the very future of Britannia..

The Sign of The Blood


Laurence O'Bryan - 2018
    Constantine, the son of an emperor, the Roman officer leading this raid, tells his men to halt - something is wrong. Have they been seen in the pre-dawn light? Before long, the battle rages. Eventually he frees a slave named Juliana. She is half Persian and half Roman. As they are pursued to Britannia over land and sea, he learns that she can see the future - his future.It is 306A.D., long before Constantine the Great converted to Christianity and became the first Christian emperor.To ensure he survives, he must now eliminate his enemies. But who must die first? The priestess, Sybellina, who joined them in Rome and practices dark and seductive magic? Or the brutal legion commanders who surround his father? Or, as Juliana suspects, are those who want him dead even closer?An electrifying historical novel about Constantine’s bloody rise to power, the woman who helped him, and the real reason he supported a persecuted Christian minority, a decision which changed the world into the one we know.Reviews of previous books by the author:“A delight,” Yorkshire Evening Post.'… superbly executed…' Irish Examiner.'Well written, beautifully descriptive, and with smart dialogue and a compelling air of menace throughout,' The Lancashire Evening Post.'A brisk plot…which draws the reader into a conspiratorial rapport,' Telegraph.

Arthur Britannicus


Paul Bannister - 2013
    Carausius is born into a savage life.His father was a respected warrior chief, a leader of men.But as a boy, Carausius witnesses his violent death.As the boy grows into a man and then a soldier, he dedicates himself to the cause of Rome.As a centurion in the Empire's mighty Army, he earns the respect of his men: soldiers who will fight, and die if necessary, at his command.But, just like his father before him, he is surrounded by enemies - both within and without.He must manoeuvre his way through battle, knowing who to trust and who to put to death; not easy when paranoia among the ruling elite is so rife.Will Carausius emerge victorious where so many before him failed and earn the great title of all.Augustus.Or will he meet an early, violent death, as his father did before him.Arthur Britannicus is a vivid and memorable portrayal of the life of a Roman champion.

The Parthian


Peter Darman - 2011
    After a string of victories Pacorus and his men are captured in Cappadocia, clapped in chains and sent to Italy to live out the rest of their days as slaves. But fate intervenes and Pacorus and his companions are saved from a living hell by a renegade gladiator named Spartacus. In gratitude, Pacorus agrees to help Spartacus build his army as Rome musters its legions to crush the slave uprising. And so begins an epic adventure of glory and savagery played out across the length and breadth of Italy, as Spartacus defeats the armies of Rome and Pacorus leads his horsemen to victory after victory. But will Pacorous and the slave army escape from Italy, and will he win the love of the fierce and proud Gallia before the most powerful man in Rome, Marcus Licinius Crassus, takes the field against Spartacus? A map of the Parthian Empire at the time of Pacorus (the 1st Century BC) can be found on the maps page of my website: www.peterdarman.com "Darman has researched this novel extremely well, as one would expect with his military non-fiction background. This detail is meshed with great story telling which flows along with great gusto. Less for the fact that this book is about a Parthian rather than a Roman, I would describe it as a ‘Roman Sharpe’. Darman’s style is similar to and as good as Bernard Cornwell’s, one of my favourite authors." British Army Rumour Service review, June 2011

Soldier of Rome: The Legionary


James Mace - 2006
    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 forty-thousand legionaries. The 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.

Son of Ishtar


Gordon Doherty - 2019
    One throne. A world on the precipice. 1315 BC: Tensions soar between the great powers of the Late Bronze Age. The Hittites stand toe-to-toe with Egypt, Assyria and Mycenaean Ahhiyawa, and war seems inevitable. More, the fierce Kaskan tribes – age-old enemies of the Hittites – amass at the northern borders.When Prince Hattu is born, it should be a rare joyous moment for all the Hittite people. But when the Goddess Ishtar comes to King Mursili in a dream, she warns that the boy is no blessing, telling of a dark future where he will stain Mursili’s throne with blood and bring destruction upon the world.Thus, Hattu endures a solitary boyhood in the shadow of his siblings, spurned by his father and shunned by the Hittite people. But when the Kaskans invade, Hattu is drawn into the fray. It is a savage journey in which he strives to show his worth and valour. Yet with his every step, the shadow of Ishtar’s prophecy darkens…About the Hittites & the Bronze Age:Over three thousand years ago, before iron had been tamed, before Rome had risen, before the ashes from which Classical Greece would emerge had even been scattered, the world was forged in bronze. It was an age when Great Kings ruled, when vast armies clashed for glory, riches and the favour of their strange gods.Until the late 19th century, historians thought that they had identified the major powers who held sway in the last stretch of the Bronze Age: Egypt, Assyria… Ahhiyawa (Homer’s Achaean Greece) even. But there was another – a fourth great power, all but lost to the dust of history: the Hittites.Hardy, fierce masters of Anatolia, utterly devout to their myriad gods, the scale and wonder of their world is only now shedding its dusty cloak thanks to the tireless work of archaeologists. The Hittites ruled from the high, rugged plateau at the heart of modern-day Turkey, commanding a ring of vassal states (most notably Troy) and boasting a dauntless army that struck fear into the hearts of their rivals. Their Great King, titled Labarna and revered as the Sun itself, was every bit the equal of Egypt’s Pharaoh, of the trade-rich King of Assyria, and of the brash lords of Ahhiyawa.The Hittites were there when the Bronze Age collapsed. They bore the brunt of the cataclysmic events that destroyed the great powers, threw the Near East into a centuries-long dark age and changed the world forever.This is their story…

The Shrine


Ben Kane - 2015
    A Roman centurion discovers that Fate will always hold him in her power. The German frontier, spring 6 BC. When Lucius Cominius Tullus, a recently promoted centurion, gambles on a foot race between rival legionaries, he has no idea that his wager will endanger his very life, and that the streets of an Empire border town can be as deadly as the bloodiest battlefield. A prequel to Ben Kane's dramatic new trilogy, Eagles at War, The Shrine also includes a sample chapter from the first book in the series.

Mars the Avenger


Alan Scribner - 2012
    It is also a daily life in ancient Rome and a sojourn into the world of Roman life, criminal law, police and courts. Marcus Flavius Severus, a judge in the court of the Prefect of the City of Rome, investigates the disappearance of a senator's wife and the finding of the body of a murdered man thrown on the steps of the Temple of Mars the Avenger. As the investigation unfolds, the two cases become connected to a love affair seventeen years before in the Roman orient. The investigation leads Judge Severus and his court and police aids through the City and the society of ancient Rome, into a slave market, wealthy villas, taverns, tenement apartment houses and the Circus Maximus. There are also scenes in Roman courts and the book is accurate as to the criminal laws of the time, including the use of judicial torture. All laws, rescripts and legal procedures are from Roman law sources. The novel also introduces a perspicacious new detective in the person of Roman judge Marcus Flavius Severus.

The Druid


Steven A. McKay - 2018
    A village ablaze. A king’s daughter abducted. In the aftermath of a surprise attack Dun Buic lies in smoking ruins and many innocent villagers are dead. As the survivors try to make sense of the night’s events the giant warrior-druid, Bellicus, is tasked with hunting down the raiders and thwarting their dark purpose. With years of training in the old ways, two war-dogs at his side, and unsurpassed skill with a longsword, Bellicus’s quest will take him on a perilous journey through lands still struggling to cope with the departure of the Roman legions. Meanwhile, amongst her brutal captors the little princess Catia finds an unlikely ally, but even he may not be able to avert the terrible fate King Hengist has in store for her. This, the first volume in a stunning new series from the bestselling author of Wolf’s Head, explores the rich folklore and culture of post-Roman Britain, where blood-sacrifice, superstition and warfare were as much a part of everyday life as love, laughter and song. As Saxon invaders and the new Christian religion seek to mould the country for their own ends one man will change the course of Britain’s history forever. . . . . . THE DRUID. "Steven A. McKay's archetypal villains and heroes step vividly onto the page from a mist-veiled past of legend to battle for the life of a princess and the fate of Britain. Dark age adventure at its gripping best." - MATTHEW HARFFY, author of The Bernicia Chronicles