Rate this book

Ship Of Rome (2009)

by John Stack(Favorite Author)

3.81 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

000728523X (ISBN13: 9780007285235)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

HarperCollins

series

Masters of the Sea

review 1: I thought that I have already analised this book, but as it turns out either I hadn't, or the analysis got lost in the net somewhere. However, this book is the introduction to the first Punic War when Rome and Carthage began to fight over control of the mediterranean. Most of the action takes place in and around Sicily, the lynch pin in the domination of the Mediterranean sea. As we know from history, the Romans won the war, took control of Sicily, and expanded their empire to control all of the Mediterranean. No other empire in the history of the world has succeeded in this feat. As for the book, I must admit that it seriously did not do anything for me. It simply was not interesting. At the beginning, the heroes of the story are fleeing the Carthaginian navy that was in... morevading Sicily, and passed through the Straights of Messina, which the writer referred to as the whirlpool and the rocks, otherwise known as Scylla and Charibdis (from the Odyssey, and I hope to pass through those straights myself this year). I'm sorry, but Homer just does a much better job of that, and in Homer, Scylla is a nasty monster that eats his men as they pass through. No rocks there. I was so disappointed in this book that I immediately passed it on to another person that I knew who had studied Rome, and now I repent on doing so. Books like this, if I am anything to go by, just don't do it for people who are well versed in the classics. One would be much better off reading Livy, I'm sure he would be much more interesting (I haven't read Livy yet), or Wordsworth's translation of Plutarch.
review 2: When will they learn?! There were no galley slaves! Otherwise, this is a pretty good read. It's about time that the fascination many readers have with wooden ships and iron men percolated down to the Romans and their own Napoleon, Carthage. This first volume deals with the events leading up to the Roman acquisition of naval power to challenge the Carthaginians. In this work, the bad guys are very bad indeed and the heroes are well drawn. Even though the historicity in Ship of Rome is a guilty pleasure, I enjoyed it thoroughly. But no more galley slaves! less

Download links for: Ship of Rome

Advertising