Congratulations to newsletter subscriber, D A. D A wins Ship of Rome by John Stack this month. D A - I have emailed you and will need your mailing address to get out your prize.
Ship of Rome takes the reader off the coast of Sicily onto the trireme, the Aquilla where a strained alliance is formed between Atticus, a lowly Greek naval captain and Septimus, a noble Roman legion commander. They join forces to establish Rome's first navy and aren't given much to work with - just a bunch of inexperienced sailors, some underhanded backstabbers, and not a lot of fancy gadgets to make life comfy. A good healthy dose of carnage follows when they clash with the Carthaginian empires.
Books that take place on ships generally give me bad flashbacks of being forced to read Moby Dick. But Stack combines all the intimate details of life as a Roman naval captain with a fast-paced, "ramming speed" writing style that reminds me a lot of another favorite author, Ken Follett. Within the first two pages, I was caught up in the action and political machinations of some bad ass, sweaty, military leaders caught on the high seas. I confess that I don't know a lot about this time period, but the book had me off to the library in my usual geeky endeavors to learn more about Roman military life before Caesar.
Watch for the sequel in 2011 - Captain of Rome
I have some great book giveaways for next month. More on that tomorrow...
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