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The Praetorian Series #1
The Last Roman
As war consumes the nations of our world in the year 2021, Navy SEAL Jacob Hunter is sent on a mission to Syria to apprehend a crazed terrorist leader armed with dangerous biological weapons. It’s a routine mission for a man who has spent the entirety of his military career fighting in what many have dubbed World War III, but his life is about to become everything but predictable.
As their mission unravels around them, Hunter discovers a curious trinket that belies all rationality and our understanding of the universe, but he is drawn to it nonetheless, bewildered by its uniqueness. Unable to control his urges, Hunter touches it, and in a flash of brilliant light and intense pain, the team is no longer in contemporary Syria – but in Ancient Rome during the reign of the emperor Caligula.
They stand dumbfounded, unable to comprehend the paradox they’ve created, but the bleak truth of reality soon overtakes their disbelief. The fact that they should not be there becomes obvious almost immediately, as does the thought that with every breath they take, everything history has worked so hard to achieve is at risk of unraveling. Staying alive suddenly becomes a secondary objective, superseded by the theory that their mere presence in Ancient Rome has caused irreparable damage to the timeline.
This won't be an easy task for Hunter and his friends as they will quickly encounter numerous Roman figures straight from his old history books, each with their own agendas, schemes and machinations, including the Caesar himself, who history remembers as little more than an insane tyrant who once tried to appoint his horse as the head of state…
As their mission unravels around them, Hunter discovers a curious trinket that belies all rationality and our understanding of the universe, but he is drawn to it nonetheless, bewildered by its uniqueness. Unable to control his urges, Hunter touches it, and in a flash of brilliant light and intense pain, the team is no longer in contemporary Syria – but in Ancient Rome during the reign of the emperor Caligula.
They stand dumbfounded, unable to comprehend the paradox they’ve created, but the bleak truth of reality soon overtakes their disbelief. The fact that they should not be there becomes obvious almost immediately, as does the thought that with every breath they take, everything history has worked so hard to achieve is at risk of unraveling. Staying alive suddenly becomes a secondary objective, superseded by the theory that their mere presence in Ancient Rome has caused irreparable damage to the timeline.
This won't be an easy task for Hunter and his friends as they will quickly encounter numerous Roman figures straight from his old history books, each with their own agendas, schemes and machinations, including the Caesar himself, who history remembers as little more than an insane tyrant who once tried to appoint his horse as the head of state…
403 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2012
232 people are currently reading
503 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
December 8, 2013
-Propuesta cuartelera de operaciones especiales con un giro importante que no cambia nada.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. En un futuro cercano, la guerra en diferentes formas se ha extendido por el mundo. En Roma, el Vaticano ha organizado un grupo operativo secreto con especialistas en diferentes disciplinas militares con la complicidad de varios gobiernos mundiales para enfrentarse a las amenazas más peligrosas. El estadounidense Jacob Hunter acaba de incorporarse al grupo y parte hacia Siria en su primera misión. Primer libro de la serie Pretorian.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. En un futuro cercano, la guerra en diferentes formas se ha extendido por el mundo. En Roma, el Vaticano ha organizado un grupo operativo secreto con especialistas en diferentes disciplinas militares con la complicidad de varios gobiernos mundiales para enfrentarse a las amenazas más peligrosas. El estadounidense Jacob Hunter acaba de incorporarse al grupo y parte hacia Siria en su primera misión. Primer libro de la serie Pretorian.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
May 12, 2015
This is a good read--a really, really good read. Think "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" with a squad of SEALs as the Yankees and Imperial Rome as the court. Unfortunately, the author is neither Mark Twain nor Tom Clancy, even though he tries to write this as part Clancy-esque military techno-thriller and part history of Rome. Are all action heroes as stupid as this protagonist?
The problem is two-fold. First, the story has all sorts of improbably, if not outright wrong, details. For example, 30,000 feet is not "high enough to see the curve of the earth" nor falling from which "Italy quickly losing its boot like appearance". And if I were trying to sneak into modern Italy near Rome, the last thing I'd do would be a HALO insertion. The Pope sets up his own special forces teams to conduct hard contact (as in shoot to kill) anti-terror missions? A submarine traveling from Rome to Syria--about 1200 nautical miles--in six hours? Or a team traveling from Rome to the vicinity of the English channel and back--using first century means--in less than two weeks? If C-4 can blow down a wall from the inside, can't it also do so from the outside? A king-sized bed size container of weapons, ammo and food which can be lifted and carried?
Second, this book needed to be proofread before publishing. There were many illogical sentences. Many homophones. (You can't count on Spell Check to flag those.) Word choice: "guard unit to Thespian kings", "the ominous read glare", "last rights" (rites), "walking tediously on her own", "overly stubborn", "down into", "back into" and "horizontally plumed helmets" (no, centurion's helmets are transversely plumed). [I'm seeing a trend here: Smashwords] Lots of data dumps.
How does a gladius (Roman short sword) penetrate the lower abdomen and exit the back and not cut anything critical? This is not a stiletto, but generally has a blade two or more inches wide.
Lots of other quibbles, but despite that it was a story which I could hardly put down. Crichton has real potential. He needs help editing and proofing his text.
Nonetheless, a good read.
The problem is two-fold. First, the story has all sorts of improbably, if not outright wrong, details. For example, 30,000 feet is not "high enough to see the curve of the earth" nor falling from which "Italy quickly losing its boot like appearance". And if I were trying to sneak into modern Italy near Rome, the last thing I'd do would be a HALO insertion. The Pope sets up his own special forces teams to conduct hard contact (as in shoot to kill) anti-terror missions? A submarine traveling from Rome to Syria--about 1200 nautical miles--in six hours? Or a team traveling from Rome to the vicinity of the English channel and back--using first century means--in less than two weeks? If C-4 can blow down a wall from the inside, can't it also do so from the outside? A king-sized bed size container of weapons, ammo and food which can be lifted and carried?
Second, this book needed to be proofread before publishing. There were many illogical sentences. Many homophones. (You can't count on Spell Check to flag those.) Word choice: "guard unit to Thespian kings", "the ominous read glare", "last rights" (rites), "walking tediously on her own", "overly stubborn", "down into", "back into" and "horizontally plumed helmets" (no, centurion's helmets are transversely plumed). [I'm seeing a trend here: Smashwords] Lots of data dumps.
How does a gladius (Roman short sword) penetrate the lower abdomen and exit the back and not cut anything critical? This is not a stiletto, but generally has a blade two or more inches wide.
Lots of other quibbles, but despite that it was a story which I could hardly put down. Crichton has real potential. He needs help editing and proofing his text.
Nonetheless, a good read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 31, 2019
As I've noted before I love a wacky premise. For me, the wacky premise must encompass something beyond the creative use of imagination, it must be way out there. Hitler winning the war is not a wacky premise but Hitler winning the war due to the intervention of time traveling dinosaurs armed with nuclear weapons -- now that's a wacky premise.
Some good examples include a frozen Japanese battlefleet or mercenaries and machine guns in the Civil War, and a current favorite, a 21st century fleet sucked through a wormhole into the 1942 Battle of Midway.
Edward Crichton's The Last Roman makes my wacky premise list although in a milder form than these examples. Like Harry Turtledove in Guns of the South he sends a lethally equipped combat team into the past, slightly further back however, in this case Ancient Rome circa 37 AD. There is, of course, a device and an attempt at rationalizing the event but that's just window dressing as the team meets up with Caligula, Claudius, Agrippina and other famous denizens of Rome. It's a well plotted adventure, apparently part of a series.
It has some problems. I suspect this might be Crichton's first book as it suffers from a number of typos, of words that have suffered at the cruel hands of autocorrect and an unevenness of tone. Mr Crichton excels at the explanations of ancient history by including a character whose life journey led to first, an education in ancient history and second, to the Navy Seals. Despite the weirdness of that situation this allows the character, Jacob Hunter, to breezily paraphrase Roman battle tactics or the fate of Caligula and Claudius. The battle scenes, the landscape of Ancient Rome and various social customs are all well described, as is the anxiety and tension before battle. Not so successful is the gun porn that marks the first section:
These sorts of excesses are rare as the tale winds on. Crichton succeeds in making his moderns come to emotional life. The Romans are more opaque and that might be a deliberate choice that changes as the series goes on. I remember finishing Tom Holland's Rubicon: the Last Years of the Ancient Republic and thinking that despite our cultural debt to Rome they were very different from us. If Crichton continues on that path the rest of the series should be equally interesting.
The First Roman is currently available as a free download at
Smashwords
Some good examples include a frozen Japanese battlefleet or mercenaries and machine guns in the Civil War, and a current favorite, a 21st century fleet sucked through a wormhole into the 1942 Battle of Midway.
Edward Crichton's The Last Roman makes my wacky premise list although in a milder form than these examples. Like Harry Turtledove in Guns of the South he sends a lethally equipped combat team into the past, slightly further back however, in this case Ancient Rome circa 37 AD. There is, of course, a device and an attempt at rationalizing the event but that's just window dressing as the team meets up with Caligula, Claudius, Agrippina and other famous denizens of Rome. It's a well plotted adventure, apparently part of a series.
It has some problems. I suspect this might be Crichton's first book as it suffers from a number of typos, of words that have suffered at the cruel hands of autocorrect and an unevenness of tone. Mr Crichton excels at the explanations of ancient history by including a character whose life journey led to first, an education in ancient history and second, to the Navy Seals. Despite the weirdness of that situation this allows the character, Jacob Hunter, to breezily paraphrase Roman battle tactics or the fate of Caligula and Claudius. The battle scenes, the landscape of Ancient Rome and various social customs are all well described, as is the anxiety and tension before battle. Not so successful is the gun porn that marks the first section:
A few hours later, the team assembled in the armory, the first time I had seen everyone congregated in the small room at one time. Each member of the team was going through their equipment, and checking their weapons. Wang with his UMP submachine gun, McDougal with a G36C assault rifle, Bordeaux with the Mk 48 Mod 0 version of the M249 SAW light machine gun, which fired the larger 7.62x51mm round, and Vincent had an M4 carbine. Santino had an HK416, similar to mine. . . . Strauss was preparing two weapons. A German made AMP Technical Services DSR-1 was her primary rifle. It was an efficient sniper rifle that fired the same large round as Bordeaux’s SAW, but while not as handy in a large scale firefight, it was obviously far more accurate. McDougal had informed her that a M107 .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle, similar to the one she and I had trained with earlier, was waiting at the weapons cache.
These sorts of excesses are rare as the tale winds on. Crichton succeeds in making his moderns come to emotional life. The Romans are more opaque and that might be a deliberate choice that changes as the series goes on. I remember finishing Tom Holland's Rubicon: the Last Years of the Ancient Republic and thinking that despite our cultural debt to Rome they were very different from us. If Crichton continues on that path the rest of the series should be equally interesting.
The First Roman is currently available as a free download at
Smashwords
November 26, 2013
This was a very strange read. The book comes in 2 distinct sections with the first being set in a near future and the second being set in an alternate past. How the characters go from one to the other is never explained or even addressed and since technology is clearly not an answer, we are left with “magic”, which does not fit in with the setting and background.
In the near future, the Muslims and the Christians are supposedly at war but for some reason, highly trained veterans who wish to fight are instead recruited by the Vatican(!) into a secret covert ops squad. How the author expects his readers to swallow this is beyond me. In any case, it is also unclear why the UK and US military and intelligence services would step aside and allow this group to carry out covert operations against a known terrorist responsible for biological warfare.
Worst of all, the relationship between the characters borders on farce. The protagonist behaves like a hormone driven teenager rather than the highly trained veteran that he supposedly is. It seems as if the author has no clue how adults relate to one another.
This is apparently the first in a series. I will not be touching the rest.
In the near future, the Muslims and the Christians are supposedly at war but for some reason, highly trained veterans who wish to fight are instead recruited by the Vatican(!) into a secret covert ops squad. How the author expects his readers to swallow this is beyond me. In any case, it is also unclear why the UK and US military and intelligence services would step aside and allow this group to carry out covert operations against a known terrorist responsible for biological warfare.
Worst of all, the relationship between the characters borders on farce. The protagonist behaves like a hormone driven teenager rather than the highly trained veteran that he supposedly is. It seems as if the author has no clue how adults relate to one another.
This is apparently the first in a series. I will not be touching the rest.
August 30, 2012
I simply couldn't put this book down. Like the first reviewer said (although, I feel he was a bit nit picky - transversely plumed is the same as horizontally plumed), this book is not without its grammar flaws and indications of a freshman author... but like I just said, this seems to be Crichton's first book and I highly doubt he had a professional editor to find all its small grammatical flaws.
So, for me, it's easy to forgive. And even so, it didn't matter much because the story is just so darn fun that the errors barely even registered to me as I read. I loved the main character. I'm not sure if Crichton wrote him the way he did to make him personable to readers or if he himself is just like that, but either way, the MC simply resonated with me. I enjoyed his flaws and quirks and rooted for him the entire way... and boy did that ending have me nearly in tears.
All in all, a stellar book from a writer who has some great talent. The sequel was released a day before I finished the first one (great timing) so I'm off to dive into that one.
Highly recommended.
So, for me, it's easy to forgive. And even so, it didn't matter much because the story is just so darn fun that the errors barely even registered to me as I read. I loved the main character. I'm not sure if Crichton wrote him the way he did to make him personable to readers or if he himself is just like that, but either way, the MC simply resonated with me. I enjoyed his flaws and quirks and rooted for him the entire way... and boy did that ending have me nearly in tears.
All in all, a stellar book from a writer who has some great talent. The sequel was released a day before I finished the first one (great timing) so I'm off to dive into that one.
Highly recommended.
September 20, 2013
I really enjoyed this book! This is only my 3rd book in the Military Sci-Fi genre, but I think I am really going to have to place this in my favorite category. I learned a lot about ancient Rome, and the time travel theories really make you think. I immediately purchased book two in the series which I am reading now.
January 29, 2019
Great book
This is a story about time travel and what happens when soldiers from today end up in Rome during the reign of Caligula. A very interesting concept because of the possibility of meeting your own ancestors and interacting with them.
This is a story about time travel and what happens when soldiers from today end up in Rome during the reign of Caligula. A very interesting concept because of the possibility of meeting your own ancestors and interacting with them.
September 29, 2014
The Last Roman, it has a good feel, great ideas and plot, but lacks the brains or realism that drives a good book. When I say realism, I mean that it seems impossible to describe the writer's idea of special forces. Honestly, the specials forces are the best of the best, he insults them---No, he spits on them. With acceptance rates less then 20%. How on earth did Jacob Hunter make it? He has no fighting abilities, not to mention his lack of brains.
Besides Jacob Hunter being a stupid,unadulterated piece of uselessness, his girlfriend some how--- Just honestly, tops it! Yeah, girlfriend beats boyfriend in annoying points! Strauss, Jacob's love interest, comes as a lovely German, Turkish, loving, angry, dangerous special forces woman. However, that was the idea, but reality said no. Instead you get an annoying bitchy, whiny, insecure, pain-in-the-ass-to-all-readers-and-senior-citizens character.
Another thing that bugged me was the fact that the special forces team didn't train their Roman allies practical fighting styles or modern ways of fighting. Instead they thought it would be funny to teach the little Romans how to take on a woman with tight fitting clothings on. What they should have done was introduced fighting with stirrups or proper armor. All this was available for them to do, but they didn't. Like come on, they have the whole knowledge of future fighting styles, but they do nothing.
I really hated how they used bullets. Seriously, how many bullets could they have lugged around in their tiny cases? Probably not much. Yet again another unrealistic part.
Despite all the terrible parts in the book, it was okayish in some parts. I don't remember smiling while reading this book, but it definitely had cool ideas, but I couldn't let some issues go. Otherwise, it would have been fine. So, let the brave read this book. For it is mighty hard to do so without swearing.
Besides Jacob Hunter being a stupid,unadulterated piece of uselessness, his girlfriend some how--- Just honestly, tops it! Yeah, girlfriend beats boyfriend in annoying points! Strauss, Jacob's love interest, comes as a lovely German, Turkish, loving, angry, dangerous special forces woman. However, that was the idea, but reality said no. Instead you get an annoying bitchy, whiny, insecure, pain-in-the-ass-to-all-readers-and-senior-citizens character.
Another thing that bugged me was the fact that the special forces team didn't train their Roman allies practical fighting styles or modern ways of fighting. Instead they thought it would be funny to teach the little Romans how to take on a woman with tight fitting clothings on. What they should have done was introduced fighting with stirrups or proper armor. All this was available for them to do, but they didn't. Like come on, they have the whole knowledge of future fighting styles, but they do nothing.
I really hated how they used bullets. Seriously, how many bullets could they have lugged around in their tiny cases? Probably not much. Yet again another unrealistic part.
Despite all the terrible parts in the book, it was okayish in some parts. I don't remember smiling while reading this book, but it definitely had cool ideas, but I couldn't let some issues go. Otherwise, it would have been fine. So, let the brave read this book. For it is mighty hard to do so without swearing.
August 30, 2012
This was a great read. I was looking for a time travel historical book and this popped up. Admittedly it doesn't read like a typical romance book, but it is a great read. It is historical and there is romance. But it also goes in some interesting paradoxical theories and the what if happens. It does have interesting typing errors, but nothing that really hinders the story or the characters. The characters build on each other. I don't want to do any spoilers, but even if you are die-hard romance fan, I still think the heart of the story is good. Lots of action. In fact, I really did a feel for the ancient art of fighting. So squeamishness may stop some, but on the whole, it isn't as graphic as it would have happened.
You also don't have to a current military concepts. Some of the specifics of military issued was mentioned, though I might have a very limited knowledge of some it, there again, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book in the least.
In fact I can't wait until the next book in the series comes out. I didn't realize that it was a first part of a series. But it was a great read!
You also don't have to a current military concepts. Some of the specifics of military issued was mentioned, though I might have a very limited knowledge of some it, there again, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book in the least.
In fact I can't wait until the next book in the series comes out. I didn't realize that it was a first part of a series. But it was a great read!
January 29, 2017
3.5 stars -
The Last Roman served as a sweet balance of historical fiction and sci-fi. I say 'sweet' as that's what the writing served as: a minor flaw being that it felt as though the stakes were never high enough, despite constantly being in precarious scenarios. This being said, the action throughout the book served as fuel for me to turn the page. I struggled to put it down. The balance of future and past satisfied the historian within me, especially with the geographical accuracies of the Palatine.
My last issue was with characterisation. I'm not sure how the reader is supposed to feel about the main characters but I found them incredible archetypal and stereotypical. Characters with a sense of 'badassdom' only served as a pawn for the plot of the main character rather than standing on their own ground.
The Last Roman served as a sweet balance of historical fiction and sci-fi. I say 'sweet' as that's what the writing served as: a minor flaw being that it felt as though the stakes were never high enough, despite constantly being in precarious scenarios. This being said, the action throughout the book served as fuel for me to turn the page. I struggled to put it down. The balance of future and past satisfied the historian within me, especially with the geographical accuracies of the Palatine.
My last issue was with characterisation. I'm not sure how the reader is supposed to feel about the main characters but I found them incredible archetypal and stereotypical. Characters with a sense of 'badassdom' only served as a pawn for the plot of the main character rather than standing on their own ground.
March 14, 2013
I loved this story and the characters! It was well paced and kept me interested. Im not much for military or battle stories, but there was not enough to turn me off. It was much more historical fiction and strong characters with a hint of romance. I would highly recommend this book, with one reservation: the grammatical errors are numerous and very distracting. A simple proof-reading would go a long way to making this an excellent story. When errors change the meaning of the sentence, its confusing to the reader and disruptive to the flow the author worked so hard to create.
July 10, 2014
I loved the whole time travel angle of the story. Several special forces soldiers are swept back in time to ancient Rome when Caligula was the emperor. Plenty of action. Just not the best writing in the world. A common remark I made at times is that the writing is pretty simple. Okay, not everything has to be detailed and complicated, but this is a light snack of a read. I was just expecting a little more. Will I read further adventures in this series? Probably, but not for awhile. 3 stars for trying.
March 12, 2017
Pretty good
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Last Roman (The Praetorian Series Book 1) (Kindle Edition)
This begins with a good prelude and premise, though I could not help but think of the Heavy Metal movie. Dwells a bit much on some minor details and theories of time travel & parallel universes which sometimes inhibits the smooth telling of the interesting story.
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Last Roman (The Praetorian Series Book 1) (Kindle Edition)
This begins with a good prelude and premise, though I could not help but think of the Heavy Metal movie. Dwells a bit much on some minor details and theories of time travel & parallel universes which sometimes inhibits the smooth telling of the interesting story.
January 10, 2013
Love time travel stories and Roman history. Nice story with juxtaposition of modern war weans and Roman in the battles. Nice love interlude too.
January 23, 2015
hated the ending... though that is a sort of good thing...meaning the author wrote well and carried me into the story
December 6, 2020
I feel so ambivalent about this book. Some parts I loved others I hated. But despite this, I kept reading and I found myself going back for just one more chapter.
These was so much wrong with the book, the way the special ops were, did not feel right. (Just a few points). I mean they did not read well as professionals, and were very quick to fight for the Romans, with the whole salves, thing going on which was hardly mentioned. Rome was ripe with salves, yet there barley get a mention? Also they just happened to have people who could speck Latin and know roman history to hand? Vincent did say that they never expected to travel back in time, so why would a teacher who had little skill be picked over others. Hunter never felt like a soldier, yet he was the best of the best. It was lucky they had him otherwise theses know nothing of Romans. Also they had a lot of bullets, I know they had supply. But in the book, in one battle they used 600 bullets. They must have some very deep pockets. The ending, I was a little rushed. I think the death would have been a better starter for a second book
However despite of the flaws, I liked the story and will likely look for the next book. 3 stars
These was so much wrong with the book, the way the special ops were, did not feel right. (Just a few points). I mean they did not read well as professionals, and were very quick to fight for the Romans, with the whole salves, thing going on which was hardly mentioned. Rome was ripe with salves, yet there barley get a mention? Also they just happened to have people who could speck Latin and know roman history to hand? Vincent did say that they never expected to travel back in time, so why would a teacher who had little skill be picked over others. Hunter never felt like a soldier, yet he was the best of the best. It was lucky they had him otherwise theses know nothing of Romans. Also they had a lot of bullets, I know they had supply. But in the book, in one battle they used 600 bullets. They must have some very deep pockets. The ending, I was a little rushed. I think the death would have been a better starter for a second book
However despite of the flaws, I liked the story and will likely look for the next book. 3 stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 23, 2018
I like it better than three stars. Well written besides a few minor errors. I have to say, though, that I started scrolling around page 40 looking for the story. It really starts about pg 70, though we don't engage the enemy until pg 79. There is a tale in there, it's just buried underneath a LOT of detail. The concept is a big what if Caligula didn't go nuts/how he might have gone nuts/trying to redirect history. It's interesting if you can mine for the theme between set up and a flood of sometimes important detail, and activity. Lots of great history with some twists. Mega research. I thought the female military character Helena got a really raw deal, poorly treated by the author with a pretty complete lack of respect. Again, why did I like the book? good writing can trump a lot of flaws. It's, of course, only a partial long-winded serial story. Maybe some time I'll pick up the others. Those who glory in military minutiae both modern and ancient as well as detailed Roman history should enjoy Crichton's stories.
May 3, 2025
HO-HUM…
A seal team has traveled back in time to ancient Rome… (ok… interesting concept) but somehow managed to bring with them enough munitions to destroy everything? (How many hand grenades and Claymore explosives can six soldiers carry on a military mission? … and millions of rounds of ammunition?). So… okay, yes it’s fantasy literature but there’s still so many questions… Lots of combat action and the author is well aware of Roman history which makes it entertaining for anyone who is into military stuff. But that’s the best part of the story. The middle of the storyline is kinda dull and monotonous and you just want to fast forward to the nest battle.
A seal team has traveled back in time to ancient Rome… (ok… interesting concept) but somehow managed to bring with them enough munitions to destroy everything? (How many hand grenades and Claymore explosives can six soldiers carry on a military mission? … and millions of rounds of ammunition?). So… okay, yes it’s fantasy literature but there’s still so many questions… Lots of combat action and the author is well aware of Roman history which makes it entertaining for anyone who is into military stuff. But that’s the best part of the story. The middle of the storyline is kinda dull and monotonous and you just want to fast forward to the nest battle.
June 27, 2017
I voluntarily reviewed an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review
This book is based on a several different premises. These were a future war,time travel based off of a mystical artifact no one understands, a past war fought with the Roman Empire and emperors which would affect the present. All of these different aspects were handled very well by the author, who also through in history lessons every now and then. A good book is one that draws you in and gets you committed and involved in the story. This was one of those books
This book is based on a several different premises. These were a future war,time travel based off of a mystical artifact no one understands, a past war fought with the Roman Empire and emperors which would affect the present. All of these different aspects were handled very well by the author, who also through in history lessons every now and then. A good book is one that draws you in and gets you committed and involved in the story. This was one of those books
October 11, 2023
This was by far the worst Kindle book that I have ever read. The book was full of grammar errors and punctuation errors. The pronoun that follows a preposition should be objective in nature not nominative, e.g., "Give the box to me" not "Give the box to I." The book was full of unnecessary vulgarities. The theme of time travel and altering the time line was sophomoric and never fully explained. Worst of all, the book just ended with the time travelers stuck in the past and the evil Roman empress searching to kill them.
July 30, 2017
Paradoxical.
Originally bein
An almost normal military story to which any former military man could relate to, the premise of time/dimension travel with it's almost obligatory paradoxes, takes it into the realms of sci-fi. It has to be admitted that the research into Roman history is impeccable.....even if there is some context which, to UK eyes seems strange! Critique over, it is an absorbing story!
Originally bein
An almost normal military story to which any former military man could relate to, the premise of time/dimension travel with it's almost obligatory paradoxes, takes it into the realms of sci-fi. It has to be admitted that the research into Roman history is impeccable.....even if there is some context which, to UK eyes seems strange! Critique over, it is an absorbing story!
August 31, 2021
Slow to start lol
OK as I said it was rather slow to start and to be honest I did not think that I was going to like it 🤔 Then WHAM back in time they went and the entire story changed 😁 from that point on, well what a great read.
OK as I said it was rather slow to start and to be honest I did not think that I was going to like it 🤔 Then WHAM back in time they went and the entire story changed 😁 from that point on, well what a great read.
December 6, 2024
Could do better
Interesting idea. Good story. But does it need an editor or proof reader at least...spellings and words are a pain of distraction throughout and the terms "could care less" and "couldn't care less" from the same character grate even now.
Interesting idea. Good story. But does it need an editor or proof reader at least...spellings and words are a pain of distraction throughout and the terms "could care less" and "couldn't care less" from the same character grate even now.
June 10, 2025
Annoying
Couldn't get more than a few chapters in. I'm
a civvy, and yet found myself rolling my eyes over the military descriptionsand jargon.
And BTW, it's Israel, not Palestine.
Couldn't get more than a few chapters in. I'm
a civvy, and yet found myself rolling my eyes over the military descriptionsand jargon.
And BTW, it's Israel, not Palestine.
July 24, 2017
Awesome
I have to read part 2
I have to read part 2
July 30, 2020
Good attempt, some gaps in the story that I couldn't ignore.
June 21, 2021
The last Roman book 1
21st century soldiers in Ancient Rome. A different ending for Caligula. A great storyline. It gave me wanting more. Bring it on.
21st century soldiers in Ancient Rome. A different ending for Caligula. A great storyline. It gave me wanting more. Bring it on.
July 22, 2022
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This seems like a REALLY stoopid book and I don’t think it has anythjing to offer me, so I quit reading and dumped it very early on.
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This seems like a REALLY stoopid book and I don’t think it has anythjing to offer me, so I quit reading and dumped it very early on.
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December 22, 2013
This was a freebie through Barnes and Noble on the Nook. I'm not sure if it was a limited time promotion or if this one, the first in a trilogy, is free forever in order to lure you in. For those of you who don't have an e-reader, that's a pretty common tactic. The writer/publisher will give away the first book in a series for free and charge full price for the rest of the series.
Compared to a lot of other professionally written books there were some scenes and dialogue in here that were a little hokey, but since I'm pretty sure it's a indie book it still gets four stars, rather than three. Indie writers and self publishers don't benefit from an entire staff of editors going through their book for them.
The story line in a nutshell is that in the year 2021, a team of special forces soldiers comprised of Navy Seal, a Delta Force operator, a member of the Swiss Guard, a German GSG 9, a member of the French special forces (can't remember their name at the moment), and two members of the British SAS, are essentially loaned to the Vatican during WW3. WW3 is heating up to be another crusade and the Pope is playing a leading role on the world stage ever since Muslim extremists used a biological weapon at the Vatican in an attempt to assassinate him and failed, managing instead to kill a vast number of the faithful.
The team loses one member and then gets accidentally-on purpose sent back in time to the Roman Empire (circa 37 A.D.) during the reign of Caligula. Caligula before he went bat shit crazy. This time, with the benefit of modern medical knowledge, the fever that historians believe left Caligula with brain damage was contained by the teams medic and Caligula never went crazy. Various battles ensue between Roman Legions getting mauled from automatic weapons fire and Claymore mines.
If you're a fan of time travel books and/or movies, this is one for you. I'm pretty sure the rest of the series will go into more detail about additional changes that the characters are making to the timeline by their tampering and I have to admit I'm interested to see what the present turns out to be like in the writer's vision. I'd definitely read the other books in the series if I come across them but I can't say that I'm going to go out of my way since I have about a hundred unread other books on the Nook as well as a handful of paper books sitting around.
Compared to a lot of other professionally written books there were some scenes and dialogue in here that were a little hokey, but since I'm pretty sure it's a indie book it still gets four stars, rather than three. Indie writers and self publishers don't benefit from an entire staff of editors going through their book for them.
The story line in a nutshell is that in the year 2021, a team of special forces soldiers comprised of Navy Seal, a Delta Force operator, a member of the Swiss Guard, a German GSG 9, a member of the French special forces (can't remember their name at the moment), and two members of the British SAS, are essentially loaned to the Vatican during WW3. WW3 is heating up to be another crusade and the Pope is playing a leading role on the world stage ever since Muslim extremists used a biological weapon at the Vatican in an attempt to assassinate him and failed, managing instead to kill a vast number of the faithful.
The team loses one member and then gets accidentally-on purpose sent back in time to the Roman Empire (circa 37 A.D.) during the reign of Caligula. Caligula before he went bat shit crazy. This time, with the benefit of modern medical knowledge, the fever that historians believe left Caligula with brain damage was contained by the teams medic and Caligula never went crazy. Various battles ensue between Roman Legions getting mauled from automatic weapons fire and Claymore mines.
If you're a fan of time travel books and/or movies, this is one for you. I'm pretty sure the rest of the series will go into more detail about additional changes that the characters are making to the timeline by their tampering and I have to admit I'm interested to see what the present turns out to be like in the writer's vision. I'd definitely read the other books in the series if I come across them but I can't say that I'm going to go out of my way since I have about a hundred unread other books on the Nook as well as a handful of paper books sitting around.
June 4, 2014
'The Last Roman', by Edward Crichton, is a military SciFi adventure set in the near future (2021). A team of Navy SEALs are placed on the Praetorian Guard, tasked with protecting Pope Gregory. Through a series of unfortunate incidents on their first mission, they are catapulted back into the past - to ancient Rome.
Told in first person from the perspective of the protagonist, Jacob Hunter, The Last Roman reads like a war journal crossed with an episode of the original Star Trek TV series more than anything else - sprinkled with a heavy dose of Indiana Jones. I laud Crichton's risky choice with narrative perspective as it works, in my humble opinion. This novel is filled with heavy action sequences, and it's very evident that either the author has had firsthand experience in military training or at least did a massive amount of research in preparation for writing it. Sure, there are some ridiculous scenarios, but this is fiction folks.
There's plenty of detail to go around in this work (sometimes a bit too much, some could be trimmed without losing anything), but his expertise makes it feel organic to the story itself without overwhelming the reader with too much detail during most scenes. In addition, no doubt Crichton is a student of history as his narrative of the ins and outs of Caesarian Rome is pretty believable.
The only downside I could see was the editing, as I found more than a couple of handfuls of grammar & spelling errors. A thorough edit would have caught most of them (and as I've said in previous reviews - please read your work aloud to someone, even yourself. You'll be amazed at what your mind didn't 'see'). I docked an entire star because of it.
Editing issues aside, I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Last Roman' (a nice twisty ending as well, but not unexpected to those of us that follow time travel fare). I would recommend it to anyone that likes hard military SciFi and/or time travel. It falls as a 3.5 for me, but I'd rather round up to 4 since I liked it so much.
Told in first person from the perspective of the protagonist, Jacob Hunter, The Last Roman reads like a war journal crossed with an episode of the original Star Trek TV series more than anything else - sprinkled with a heavy dose of Indiana Jones. I laud Crichton's risky choice with narrative perspective as it works, in my humble opinion. This novel is filled with heavy action sequences, and it's very evident that either the author has had firsthand experience in military training or at least did a massive amount of research in preparation for writing it. Sure, there are some ridiculous scenarios, but this is fiction folks.
There's plenty of detail to go around in this work (sometimes a bit too much, some could be trimmed without losing anything), but his expertise makes it feel organic to the story itself without overwhelming the reader with too much detail during most scenes. In addition, no doubt Crichton is a student of history as his narrative of the ins and outs of Caesarian Rome is pretty believable.
The only downside I could see was the editing, as I found more than a couple of handfuls of grammar & spelling errors. A thorough edit would have caught most of them (and as I've said in previous reviews - please read your work aloud to someone, even yourself. You'll be amazed at what your mind didn't 'see'). I docked an entire star because of it.
Editing issues aside, I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Last Roman' (a nice twisty ending as well, but not unexpected to those of us that follow time travel fare). I would recommend it to anyone that likes hard military SciFi and/or time travel. It falls as a 3.5 for me, but I'd rather round up to 4 since I liked it so much.
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