Title – Wounds of Honour
Series – Empire #1
Author – Anthony Riches
Genre – Roman historical fiction
Length – 416 pages
Published – 4 Mar. 2010
My Rating – ★★★★★
I have to admit that I have not heard of Anthony Riches until he visited Bath together with Ben Kane for a book discussion to promote their new books Betrayal and Eagles in the Storm. I am fascinated by everything about ancient Rome – from books to documentaries, movies and games – I simply cannot get enough of it. As I have read a lot from Ben Kane already (and to be honest, it is quite hard not to come across Ben Kane in the genre of roman historical fiction!), I definitely wanted to go and see them live. To prevent the shame of not knowing one of the two authors present and especially since this was my first book event I went to so far, I quickly bought the first three books from the Empire Series.
Wounds of Honour is the kick-off for the Empire Series and takes place at the end of the 2nd century AD. While ancient Rome has always been full of intrigues and wars, the reign of Emperor Commodus was particularly full of both (which is why it was used extensively for movies like Gladiator or the TV-series Roman Empire: Reign of blood). The protagonist of the story is Marcus Valerius Aquila, son of a powerful senatorial family in Rome, whose family falls out of favour with the emperor following the open defiance about Commodus’ reign voiced by Marcus’ father. Commodus sentences the whole family to death to silence the opposition (it was customary in ancient Rome to kill the whole family to prevent the children to become a threat in the future, seeking revenge). Marcus’ father suspecting the threat to his family sends his son to the edge of the empire – to the conquered Britannia – in order to deliver a message to a family friend the legatus (title of the commander of a roman legion) at the Hadrian’s Wall. The plan is to hide Marcus in one of the regiments defending the wall under a changed name.
Marcus, who has the emperor’s bloodhounds at his heels, manages to reach the regiment – the Tungrians with some difficulty. Although he is accepted as a centurion (leader of a century), Marcus has to prove his mettle in combat and command from the beginning. Fortunately for Marcus, he has been trained since he was a boy and quickly makes a name for himself – Two Knives (both due to the fact that he uses two swords as well as being extremely fast with them).
While the threat to his life is omnipresent throughout these trials, Marcus finds great companionship with his fellow officers. Especially the extrovert roman veteran Rufius and the rough Dubnus develop a close bond to “the young gentleman” – another title given to Marcus contributed to his apparent education and the way he treats the people around him. Rufius is one of my favourites. He is a mix between the good uncle who takes care of Marcus and helps him to find his footing at the frontier and with his new command. But he is also like an old mate, full of banter and he simply cannot help himself but enjoying his life as a centurion. He even goes so far to say that his unhappiest day as a soldier was the day his 25 years of service were over and he had to return his vine stick (an actual stick given to every centurion… both to discipline the soldiers in training as well as pushing those who hesitate into the fight in a combat situation). Dubnus on the other hand takes quite a while to open up and let Marcus (and the reader) get to know more about him. However, once you are Dubnus’ friend he is utterly loyal and the best person to have your back.
There are many fascinating aspects about Marcus that I consider to be rather inspirational. He has a profound sense of justice and honour. Although his family was treated this brutally and unjust, he holds firm in his faith in the “roman way”. Even though many might rather have gone into hiding (by that I mean leaving the military service and leave the Roman empire) or in the other extreme case going straight for the revenge, Marcus decides to stay at the frontier. More than that he is doing the best he can to be of help and to fight for Rome. I could really sense how Marcus worked hard to associate the crime against his family with people rather than his home – and to a great extend his own identity. Since Aquila is the Latin word for the roman standard (most famous example being the eagle-standard), this further empathises that Marcus family – the Aquila – represent the values (or the romantic idea of it) of ancient Rome. When Marcus discovers a roman lady – Felicia – kidnapped by the tribes, he frees her and cannot lie to her about his name and is instantly honest about his identity. Felicia who is unhappily married to another roman legatus, becomes the new military doctor. Although Marcus always tries to be a man of honour he grows fond of Felicia and they are starting an affair (which does not really help when you try to hide and considering how much roman soldiers like to gossip, but what can you do…).
The situation escalates when the tribes north of the Hadrian’s Wall start to revolt and attack the defending roman army. While Marcus is increasingly entangled in a series of fast-paced small and large-scale battles, are Commodus’ bloodhounds breathing down his neck. The story climaxes when the tribes trap the roman legion resulting in a desperate struggle for survival.
Wounds of Honour is a captivating opening of the Empire series, full of fast-paced fighting, deep characters and soldiery banter. Anthony Riches writes in an easy-to-read style that kept me reading this book in no time, which is probably the best reaction an author can hope for.
Have you read the Empire Series already or are you a fan of roman history fiction as well and have cool books for my TBR – then please, let me know below.
Advertisements Share this:
