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Arturo Sandus #6
Taking Off
Arturo Sandus, starship Captain and inadvertent time traveler has finally defeated the last remnants of the old Imperial forces and secured the borders of the Empire. He has restored the Roman Republic, admittedly an all-new modern and hopefully longer-lasting Republic, and is looking forward to some time at home with his lovely wife, Morghanna.
Flavius Theodosius Iunior, former child Emperor of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire has finally achieved his long-held aim and been assigned to one of the new, huge, armored, and steam-powered battleships of the new Roman Republican navy.
Unfortunately for both men, the Huns have other ideas. They mount a successful raid on the Roman provinces on the lower Danuvius and once more Arturo must lead his army to war.
Flavius is also sent to war, only not as he expected as he is transferred to a new unit, the Ala Caelum where he will be the navigator in a balloon. Whatever the hell that is.
The Huns are the lords of the steppes and have whole armies of subject people at their beck and call... pity they hadn't caught up with the fact the new Roman Republic reacts aggressively to people attacking the Empire and that the Romans have weapons like nothing the Huns have ever seen before.
Flavius Theodosius Iunior, former child Emperor of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire has finally achieved his long-held aim and been assigned to one of the new, huge, armored, and steam-powered battleships of the new Roman Republican navy.
Unfortunately for both men, the Huns have other ideas. They mount a successful raid on the Roman provinces on the lower Danuvius and once more Arturo must lead his army to war.
Flavius is also sent to war, only not as he expected as he is transferred to a new unit, the Ala Caelum where he will be the navigator in a balloon. Whatever the hell that is.
The Huns are the lords of the steppes and have whole armies of subject people at their beck and call... pity they hadn't caught up with the fact the new Roman Republic reacts aggressively to people attacking the Empire and that the Romans have weapons like nothing the Huns have ever seen before.
325 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2021
149 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Peter Rhodan
35 books67 followersI grew up in Sydney Australia but have lived on the Gold Coast, Australia for over thirty years. I have been many things over my life, courier driver, retail sales assistant, casino croupier, small business owner, a bankrupt former small business owner, a graphic designer, poker tournament operator and most recently an Uber driver.
I have a marvellous wife and two great kids (both adults now) plus a border collie cross dog who thinks she's a human.
I have always liked science fiction books, especially gung-ho space opera, time travel and alternate history genres. The first fiction book I read that I liked was Eagle of the Ninth and fist Science Fiction book I read and liked was Foundation by Asimov.
My favourite authors, at the moment, are David Weber, Lois McMaster Bujold, Christopher Nuttall and Pam Uphoff. Weber writes the best space opera while Bujold is simply the best writer and Miles Vorkisgan an amazing character. Chris Nuttall rarely writes anything that is only so-so and his Schooled in Magic books are the best magic school series I have read so far. Pam Uphoff writes primarily a cross dimensional series called the Wine of the Gods with the Directorate stories offshoot. These are delightful, entertaining and often thought provoking books that I love.
Chris Nuttall and Pam Uphoff inspired me to "have a go mate" and so I have.
My first novel is On the Rocks, the first story of Arturo Sandus (Sanders) and his adventures as a Space Ship captain marooned on a primitive swords and sandals era planet. Sort of...
I have a marvellous wife and two great kids (both adults now) plus a border collie cross dog who thinks she's a human.
I have always liked science fiction books, especially gung-ho space opera, time travel and alternate history genres. The first fiction book I read that I liked was Eagle of the Ninth and fist Science Fiction book I read and liked was Foundation by Asimov.
My favourite authors, at the moment, are David Weber, Lois McMaster Bujold, Christopher Nuttall and Pam Uphoff. Weber writes the best space opera while Bujold is simply the best writer and Miles Vorkisgan an amazing character. Chris Nuttall rarely writes anything that is only so-so and his Schooled in Magic books are the best magic school series I have read so far. Pam Uphoff writes primarily a cross dimensional series called the Wine of the Gods with the Directorate stories offshoot. These are delightful, entertaining and often thought provoking books that I love.
Chris Nuttall and Pam Uphoff inspired me to "have a go mate" and so I have.
My first novel is On the Rocks, the first story of Arturo Sandus (Sanders) and his adventures as a Space Ship captain marooned on a primitive swords and sandals era planet. Sort of...
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
May 11, 2021
Starting to lose it!
Unfortunately the author is starting to ramble. The story line wanders without any real drama. Time to pack it in and move on to new theme.
Unfortunately the author is starting to ramble. The story line wanders without any real drama. Time to pack it in and move on to new theme.
May 23, 2021
Some editing problems in this one, Arturo thinks this is happening a year after the last book while his ex-emperor protege has had several years have passed ... and they meet every now and then, this isn't a matter of time jumping around in story, it is that the author forgets to check his notes.
June 19, 2021
MAPS! I need MAPS! This series ranges far and wide and when I try to follow the progress I can't except in the most general way. MAPS!
This is a great series, but it needs MAPS! The characters are well defined and the stories are interesting, but you really need MAPS to draw it all together. And also, I need the timeline more cohesive and easily followed.
This is a great series, but it needs MAPS! The characters are well defined and the stories are interesting, but you really need MAPS to draw it all together. And also, I need the timeline more cohesive and easily followed.
December 6, 2022
Cliff notes please
I’m six books into the series I know that’s obvious but when you get this deep into the series even if one of the books in the series is boring you still want to finish it. I guess the problem here is we are following the same old same old formula after 4th book in the series, things became predictable. The last book in the series was pretty much predictable. This book was pretty much predictable. You might not know what disaster or conflict or issue might arise but once that issue popped up and you were let’s say 20% into the plot of that issue in particular probably less I would say 10% into the plot you pretty much knew where things would end up. It was an exciting going through the plot. In fact, we know most books actually have two plots two main plots. There’s usually one plot that ends at about 50% through the book and the other plot begins shortly afterwards. In either case, we pretty much knew where things would go, you spent chapter after chapter reading what you knew was going to happen, superior technology beats inferior technology superior technology, does what is obviously possible probable and should occur, and then Adela struck, and then always you get the Cliff Notes version of what just happened. I got to the point where I said it be easier just to read the cliff notes where the protagonist of a particular plot goes over what happened with someone later in the story instead of taking 10 chapters explaining this to me it’s clear it could’ve been done in one chapter. It would be different. If the plot that occurred with the particular protagonist was meaningful was thrilling, but it really just wasn’t. It was expected it was predictable.
A book like this you want to hear all about how technology is advancing I don’t really want to hear about a war that I know it’s going to be one and I know which side is going to win. It was different in the first book of the series where resources were scarce and it was hard to come by a victory technology had to be used in surprising ways to defeat a larger enemy, but that’s not the case here it’s just we have better technology we’re going to slaughter them and that’s what we did. I don’t really wanna read that. In fact, most of us come here because we want to read about this parallel universe, alternate universe, and how technology is progressing. That’s the interesting stuff at least to me it is. One final fault this book needs maps. I’ve seen the books to discuss new areas and strategy and battles and they provide a map. If you’re going to talk about all these areas and you’re going to give them Roman names that we can’t identify in the real world give us a map. If you want to talk about a battlefield and a river in a canyon, give us a map so we can see this is what the area looks like. It’s too much to keep up with all of these areas now, so we really do need a map.
No, I’m not knocking the series here it’s just gotten boring. I’m going to download the next book in the series and see how it starts out. If it keeps up this trend, I’ll be honest with you. You might be able to skip entire chapters. The only times you really won’t find the series. Getting interesting is Win new technologies introduced and you want to hear how it works. I hope the author embraces that now that things have seemed to settle down.
I’m six books into the series I know that’s obvious but when you get this deep into the series even if one of the books in the series is boring you still want to finish it. I guess the problem here is we are following the same old same old formula after 4th book in the series, things became predictable. The last book in the series was pretty much predictable. This book was pretty much predictable. You might not know what disaster or conflict or issue might arise but once that issue popped up and you were let’s say 20% into the plot of that issue in particular probably less I would say 10% into the plot you pretty much knew where things would end up. It was an exciting going through the plot. In fact, we know most books actually have two plots two main plots. There’s usually one plot that ends at about 50% through the book and the other plot begins shortly afterwards. In either case, we pretty much knew where things would go, you spent chapter after chapter reading what you knew was going to happen, superior technology beats inferior technology superior technology, does what is obviously possible probable and should occur, and then Adela struck, and then always you get the Cliff Notes version of what just happened. I got to the point where I said it be easier just to read the cliff notes where the protagonist of a particular plot goes over what happened with someone later in the story instead of taking 10 chapters explaining this to me it’s clear it could’ve been done in one chapter. It would be different. If the plot that occurred with the particular protagonist was meaningful was thrilling, but it really just wasn’t. It was expected it was predictable.
A book like this you want to hear all about how technology is advancing I don’t really want to hear about a war that I know it’s going to be one and I know which side is going to win. It was different in the first book of the series where resources were scarce and it was hard to come by a victory technology had to be used in surprising ways to defeat a larger enemy, but that’s not the case here it’s just we have better technology we’re going to slaughter them and that’s what we did. I don’t really wanna read that. In fact, most of us come here because we want to read about this parallel universe, alternate universe, and how technology is progressing. That’s the interesting stuff at least to me it is. One final fault this book needs maps. I’ve seen the books to discuss new areas and strategy and battles and they provide a map. If you’re going to talk about all these areas and you’re going to give them Roman names that we can’t identify in the real world give us a map. If you want to talk about a battlefield and a river in a canyon, give us a map so we can see this is what the area looks like. It’s too much to keep up with all of these areas now, so we really do need a map.
No, I’m not knocking the series here it’s just gotten boring. I’m going to download the next book in the series and see how it starts out. If it keeps up this trend, I’ll be honest with you. You might be able to skip entire chapters. The only times you really won’t find the series. Getting interesting is Win new technologies introduced and you want to hear how it works. I hope the author embraces that now that things have seemed to settle down.
November 15, 2021
Flavius crash lands in the last book. He crash lands here again. In both cases, how they find their way back is extremely dull. And it is even longer this time.
How Nemania would fall in love with Flavius was predictable from the moment she met him.
Many parts drag and you know, as you read, that these are of no importance to the big picture at all. I find myself glancing at a page and swiping through every so often. How Arturo chases the Hunni (was it this book or the last?) is one example. That entire portion could have been skipped and just moved ahead to the negotiations at the end.
Very few things go wrong for Arturo. I find this quite unbelievable. A few things that go wrong and are quickly set right would have made the book a lot more credible.
What is good about the book?
The basic concept remains extremely appealing to me. And I guess I will read the rest of the books in the series too. If world-building appeals to you, and the idea of the lone stranger who lands up in a backward land drives them into the future is fascinating, this book will be satisfying. Yes, you may find yourself swiping ahead a lot. So what?
How Nemania would fall in love with Flavius was predictable from the moment she met him.
Many parts drag and you know, as you read, that these are of no importance to the big picture at all. I find myself glancing at a page and swiping through every so often. How Arturo chases the Hunni (was it this book or the last?) is one example. That entire portion could have been skipped and just moved ahead to the negotiations at the end.
Very few things go wrong for Arturo. I find this quite unbelievable. A few things that go wrong and are quickly set right would have made the book a lot more credible.
What is good about the book?
The basic concept remains extremely appealing to me. And I guess I will read the rest of the books in the series too. If world-building appeals to you, and the idea of the lone stranger who lands up in a backward land drives them into the future is fascinating, this book will be satisfying. Yes, you may find yourself swiping ahead a lot. So what?
June 10, 2021
Good, but needs a map
My only criticism of this series in general is that the roman place names are not good for locating things on a map. I spent a lot if time confused as to the exact location of protagonists somewhere between hungary and kiev?...this is even more problematic when you are beyond traditional roman territory, I was picturing India or sweden based on the narrative of the Hawk. The solution is to include a map with your roman place names.
My only criticism of this series in general is that the roman place names are not good for locating things on a map. I spent a lot if time confused as to the exact location of protagonists somewhere between hungary and kiev?...this is even more problematic when you are beyond traditional roman territory, I was picturing India or sweden based on the narrative of the Hawk. The solution is to include a map with your roman place names.
November 28, 2021
Swords and sandals to steam ships and air ships! Adventure on a grand scale!
It is with sadness to end a series, yet hope and joy that others will soon be in the offing. Peter Rhodan is a master storyteller, who weaves people, places, times, and things, into a delightful tapestry. In my nearly 72 years, he is a treasure, and I sincerely hope that he, and his, are blessed with long, happy, and productive lives. Thank-You, Peter, and Please Keep Writing!
It is with sadness to end a series, yet hope and joy that others will soon be in the offing. Peter Rhodan is a master storyteller, who weaves people, places, times, and things, into a delightful tapestry. In my nearly 72 years, he is a treasure, and I sincerely hope that he, and his, are blessed with long, happy, and productive lives. Thank-You, Peter, and Please Keep Writing!
January 6, 2024
Arturo Strikes Again
I will say because the book focuses on a more expansive cast of leading characters this book was more interesting than the prior couple. The advantages of advanced technology are quite real as a force multiplier but I am rather curious where the Roman Republic is recruiting all these colonists settling in far off Africa and North America. They have accomplished in one decade what took Europeans historically five to eight decades.
I will say because the book focuses on a more expansive cast of leading characters this book was more interesting than the prior couple. The advantages of advanced technology are quite real as a force multiplier but I am rather curious where the Roman Republic is recruiting all these colonists settling in far off Africa and North America. They have accomplished in one decade what took Europeans historically five to eight decades.
May 4, 2021
Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder
Arturo finds himself leading the war against the Huns after their raid on the Empire. Flavius now commands a unit of the new airborne wing. Romance ensures as he develops an interest in the highly capable Nemania. I like the action, adventure, humor, romance, and military/political strategy. I look forward to the next book.
Arturo finds himself leading the war against the Huns after their raid on the Empire. Flavius now commands a unit of the new airborne wing. Romance ensures as he develops an interest in the highly capable Nemania. I like the action, adventure, humor, romance, and military/political strategy. I look forward to the next book.
May 5, 2021
A new back to the future
Article continues his expansion of the new Roman Republic into Asia and the Americas, in a series of adventures. He has also introduced balloons an d airships into the storyline as he looks to return to his future. An interesting and well done series that the author says he will revisit. Hopefully he will.
Article continues his expansion of the new Roman Republic into Asia and the Americas, in a series of adventures. He has also introduced balloons an d airships into the storyline as he looks to return to his future. An interesting and well done series that the author says he will revisit. Hopefully he will.
May 13, 2021
Interesting alternative history
Sixth book in the series wasn’t bad at all. Interesting notions of how our history would be if the Romans got jump started with new inventions from a displaced time traveler.
Sixth book in the series wasn’t bad at all. Interesting notions of how our history would be if the Romans got jump started with new inventions from a displaced time traveler.
May 15, 2021
Arthurian 6
I have enjoyed this series with Arthur being castaway in time, preventing the dark ages and jump starting the industrial revolution. Now entering the age of flight, we seem to be moving rapidly.
I have enjoyed this series with Arthur being castaway in time, preventing the dark ages and jump starting the industrial revolution. Now entering the age of flight, we seem to be moving rapidly.
May 22, 2021
Another excellent story!
Good characters, better action. It kept me up past my bedtime. I enjoy this type of story. I just finished another one, the author of which had his characters encounter many more problems.
Good characters, better action. It kept me up past my bedtime. I enjoy this type of story. I just finished another one, the author of which had his characters encounter many more problems.
June 17, 2021
Well this was different 😇
OK So this one is somewhat of a departure from the rest, it might come as a bit of a shock to some after the pave of the last 5 books but I found it very enjoyable loved the slow build up and the balloon s 😀 Must ask what and where is next!
OK So this one is somewhat of a departure from the rest, it might come as a bit of a shock to some after the pave of the last 5 books but I found it very enjoyable loved the slow build up and the balloon s 😀 Must ask what and where is next!
October 21, 2021
The book is okay, but I have to agree with other reviewers, the author is rambling.
The previous volumes I read very fast, not this one. It was a chore to finish this book. The main character appears in only about half the book when the Republic decides to fight the Huns.
The previous volumes I read very fast, not this one. It was a chore to finish this book. The main character appears in only about half the book when the Republic decides to fight the Huns.
November 16, 2022
I loved this book, but.....
But there was a hiccup, or two. What happened with Arturo's goal of recovering all of the Roman citizens taken by the Hunni? It was forgotten and never mentioned again. Even at the conditions for peace negotiations with the Hunni. What happened?
But there was a hiccup, or two. What happened with Arturo's goal of recovering all of the Roman citizens taken by the Hunni? It was forgotten and never mentioned again. Even at the conditions for peace negotiations with the Hunni. What happened?
May 16, 2023
Another good Arturo Sandus book
This book moves the story along rapidly going from defeating the American natives to iron steamships and high altitude balloons. Space is getting closer for him.
This book moves the story along rapidly going from defeating the American natives to iron steamships and high altitude balloons. Space is getting closer for him.
May 6, 2021
Good read
If you like this author you're going to love this book, keeping your main character viable and blending in new faces. That is hard to do but Mr Rhodan does it well
If you like this author you're going to love this book, keeping your main character viable and blending in new faces. That is hard to do but Mr Rhodan does it well
June 7, 2021
Excellent
Another awesome book in this series. I can't wait to see what comes next. Please continue to build up this universe. I would love to eventually see Romans in space.
Another awesome book in this series. I can't wait to see what comes next. Please continue to build up this universe. I would love to eventually see Romans in space.
June 22, 2021
Fun book
This is a good book. You shouldy read it. I like the story. The characters are fun. The book is a good read. i enjoyed it alot.. Download or buy it today. why not?
This is a good book. You shouldy read it. I like the story. The characters are fun. The book is a good read. i enjoyed it alot.. Download or buy it today. why not?
July 5, 2021
Another great read!
I love. This series, the great accomplishment of Arturo as he tries to reach space, we'll see how it goes!
I love. This series, the great accomplishment of Arturo as he tries to reach space, we'll see how it goes!
July 25, 2021
Good read
Enjoyable book . I have read them all and believe the plot could now be moving too fast to encompass the depth of the characters and the world they inhabit
Enjoyable book . I have read them all and believe the plot could now be moving too fast to encompass the depth of the characters and the world they inhabit
September 4, 2021
Got to be more!
I’ve read them all and want more. Easily an obsession. I usually don’t like books that continue on and on, but this one is different, it makes you want more
I’ve read them all and want more. Easily an obsession. I usually don’t like books that continue on and on, but this one is different, it makes you want more
January 3, 2022
An enjoyable read.
June 12, 2022
Arturo keeps remembering little things
The Romans keep advancing. Again a fun and fast read. Some very interesting views from the enemies side. Onwards to book 7.
The Romans keep advancing. Again a fun and fast read. Some very interesting views from the enemies side. Onwards to book 7.
August 8, 2022
War rewards and retribution.
Enjoyable series. Nice reasonable storyline. Characterization superb. Almost effortless. I stayed up till two a.m. reading this tale. Good job.
Enjoyable series. Nice reasonable storyline. Characterization superb. Almost effortless. I stayed up till two a.m. reading this tale. Good job.
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June 17, 2023Freebird
I always loved to read as about flying. This is a great way to dream the dream of anti gravity ships. I have seen some proof in the real world.
I always loved to read as about flying. This is a great way to dream the dream of anti gravity ships. I have seen some proof in the real world.
November 30, 2023
taking off: book 6
This book was good to read to about 80% of it. Then it became not trite, but boring. It seem like the author was padding the book to make it longer.
This book was good to read to about 80% of it. Then it became not trite, but boring. It seem like the author was padding the book to make it longer.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews