Carthage

The Carthage Trilogy #3

by Ross Leckie

I fought the Romans once. It no longer seems a prudent thing to do. Carthage concludes the internationally acclaimed trilogy that began with Hannibal and continued with Scipio. Here, Ross Leckie tells of the final Punic War: the story of a great city and a people’s utter eradication under the relentless rise of Rome. But its chief characters, one the bastard son of Hannibal, the other of Scipio, would have wished it otherwise. Both seek peace, but are caught up in war. As they struggle between duty and belief, they stand to lose everything in the face of their fathers’ devastating legacies. Written as a series of letters and entries, the multiple voices of the novel are woven into a masterful exploration of human drives, political intrigue and the process of history making itself.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Ancient History, Roman History

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Since reading Classics at Oxford, Ross Leckie has worked variously as a farm labourer, roughneck, schoolmaster, and insurance broker. He is best known for his Carthage trilogy.

He is now a full time writer living in Edinburgh.

Reviews

[Poli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again my expectations were too high.
I was expecting to read more about the siege and the people's actions and feelings inside the fortress while the romans tried to get inside the city, but instead that part is narrated mainly in three pages and all we know about how they felt is through the reaction they had when the fortress was taken.
However the way the author decided to tell the story (though several kinds of documents) was original even if restraining.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

These books are not based on facts.

This book was okay, and the series was okay, but I can't get past the fact that it didn't stay true to the known facts. In the last book he had to make Scipio gay with no children. So in this book he creates a Scipio bastard. There was no need for that, since Scipio had a real wife and children. But Scipio had to be gay for some reason. Then he also created a Hannibal bastard, and then had Rome and Carthage give ultimate powers to 2 bastards that weren't even from their cities. Scipio went from a being a Gaul bastard to being the leader of the Roman army in literally no time at all. Hanno pretty much grows up Roman, and then goes to Carthage where they make him the leader of their army. It's so unbelievable that I'm shocked someone would actually make a book like this. The story can't be good, if it's not at least a little believable in my opinion. Scipio had real children that actually accomplished a lot, but for some reason he was made a closeted homosexual. Carthage never would have given complete power to some kid that only spent a short time there.

Plus this story has to include extremely weird sex tales for absolutely no reason. There is no reason Hanno's mom would write her son a letter and start describing the way Hannibal had sex with her, but that happens in this book. Then Hanno has to have visions on Hannibal having sex with his mom... like, why? I knew I should have stopped reading when the series started turning so "woke" with a female being the one to really lead Hannibal over the Alps, and then Scipio being made gay, but I really wanted to finish the series and I really regret the time I lost.

[Rupert Matthews · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another cracking tale, but for me it was spoilt by some very serious historical inaccuracies. THat said, a fun read.

[Anibal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ross Leckie can spin an exciting, thrilling story—but if you’re writing historical fiction, knowing your history is kind of important. Every time Leckie reaches for a historical detail, it’s completely off. He doesn’t even know that a primus pilus (primipilus) is the first centurion of the first cohort. Ouch.

If you actually want to read historical novels set in Rome, check out Steven Saylor, Colleen McCullough, or Simon Scarrow. These authors bring the period to life with knowledge, not guesswork.

Mr. Leckie, you don’t need a PhD to write historical fiction—but seriously… read a book or two about the era before you start writing your novels. But I would certainly read a new trilogy by you if it was Fantasy or Sci-fi.

[Armando Rodrigues · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bom livro, lê-se bem.
Mas, muitas inconsistências temporais. O desfecho de Cartago também acaba por ser demasiado rápido, ficando o foco todo nos acontecimentos anteriores, deixando uma sensação de incompletude.
Não deixa de retratar algum do espírito da época. É certo que a história conhecida é sobretudo a história dos vencedores e com a destruição de Cartago ficam poucas fontes sobre a mesma.
Em todo o caso, é um bom livro! Simplesmente, fica muito aquém da restante obra deste grande autor.

[Jill Hudson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is really strange. The first part reads extremely well but is entirely out of touch with real history. Then the second part has very little detail, almost as though the author got disillusioned with his own project half way through and couldn't wait to finish it. What a pity, when he is such a stylish writer.

[Dio Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine book to waste a day reading. It's not pivotal, but it's definitely compelling enough to hold one's attention, and the letters/memoir entries are a lovely way in which to structure a book. Worth a read if you're interested in historical fiction!

[Mary Pimbblet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a really interesting structure, using letters and diary excerpts to tell the story. The only problem is that there is very little about the fall of Carthage, it's crammed into the last few pages. The plot seems to build slowly and then simply stop.

[Jimmy Budge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a few chapters to get used to the format but once I understood how the story was being told I started to enjoy it.

[Mike Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

The epistolary nature is pulled off really well, but the overall plot feels somewhat flattened.

[Kenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

It ok. Not better or worse. Just, ok. Fine, average. I read the previous books ages ago, and didn't remember anything about the characters. But that was ok, it wasn't needed.

The structure of letters and diary entries makes it a bit flat. Rarely any section longer than four pages, so there's little momentum
Which is a shame as some bits are engagingly written. The final Punic war and destruction of Carthage is a great story, and this covers it in a short space. I'd read more by him, but he can do better.

[Tim Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The worst of the three novels, but still a decent read...quick if nothing else.

[Chris Silvester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but not as good as the previous 2.

[Richard Cubitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Final in Leckie's trilogy. A worthy conclusion.

[Barry Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm...
Short read and not sure I liked the way it was told. Interesting history though.

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book piqued an interest in history pre-1800, which I had never really had.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is based on the sons of Hannibal and Scipio but is written from the perspective of a historian through a series of letters and journals he has discovered.

The plot focuses more on Hanno and what goes on in Carthage (hence the title) but like their fathers it seems that Hanno and Scipio were born to battle.

This book had less of a flow to it than Scipio due to the way it was written but was fairly entertaining.