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Give Me Back My Legions! (2009)

by Harry Turtledove(Favorite Author)

3.19 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0312371063 (ISBN13: 9780312371067)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

St. Martin's Press

review 1: Straightforward retelling of Battle of Teutoburg Forest, A.D. 9. Very easy reading, level of writing--a YA novel. He gave backstory -- why Varus was chosen as governor, Roman legionary life, Arminius' plans for ambush -- then the actual battle, (description of which was very exciting!) but it seemed the story could have been a novella, rather than padded out as a full-blown novel. The author has an interesting afterword in which he explains who were actual historical figures and why he fictionalized motivations as he did.
review 2: A hypothetical examination of events leading up to the Battle of Teutorburg Forest (9 CE); one of the Roman Empire's most devastating debacles. Since there are no eyewitness accounts of the battle itself, Turtledove tries to set ... morethe stage for what possibly happened by a close yet often inadequate description of the characters and motives behind the battle; particularly, of course, General Varus. But the Roman historians Suetonius and Tacitus (inevitably, the author's primary sources) already explored this subject with their own concise conjecturing. Turtledove's historical fiction may provide more entertainment for modern audiences than either Suetonius or Tacitus; however, in the end, this novel is ultimately a more roundabout and long-winded form of conjecture. less

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