Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction discussion

The discussion thread for the March Group Read of Ben Kane's book
Hannibal: Enemy of Rome


The first in a brilliant new series set during the Second Punic War, from the bestselling author of The Forgotten Legion Chronicles.

In the First Punic War, the Roman legions defeated and humiliated Carthage, their only serious rival for power in the Mediterranean. Now a brilliant young Carthaginian general, called Hannibal, is out for revenge. Caught up in the maelstrom are two young boys, Hanno, the son of a distinguished soldier and confidant of Hannibal, and Quintus, son of a Roman equestrian and landowner. A disastrous adventure will see Hanno sold into slavery and bought by Quintus's father. Although an unexpected friendship springs up between the two boys -- and with Quintus's sister, Aurelia -- the fortunes of the two warring empires once again separates them. They find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict and an alliance forged through slavery will be played out to its stunning conclusion in battle.

Yea, I will order it from the library next week and be ready to start March 1st. :)

I am tempted to read it with the group, but I have so many books backing up that I need to get to. I think I only have room for one group read next month.

I'd like to too. However, just purchased 'Pride of Carthage' -- which I chose as more focused on Hannibal himself. But I can stand a lot of Hannibal and I'm in hunt of a 2ndhand.

Going to see if I can get it without buying it online.

Bryn wrote: "I'd like to too. However, just purchased 'Pride of Carthage' -- which I chose as more focused on Hannibal himself. But I can stand a lot of Hannibal and I'm in hunt of a 2ndhand."

For me the beauty of Pride is that you get it all in one book. I mean to take nothing away from ben Kane's book...I only mean that it may be a good one to go with first since you have it as it covers the start to the finish.

Ben's book is the first in a series? Trilogy? I think he only just makes it over the Alps in Book One.

It will all come down to personal preference though. Maybe reading Ben's first book will make you want to get to Pride of Carthage afterwards to keep going after the Alps. :)


Pride of Carthage

You guys know how Bryn and I were talking about her reading Ben's Hannibal before David Anthony Durham's Pride of Carthage, well I don't think it matters anymore which you read first.

I hear that the book isn't exactly about Hannibal himself, but about other characters.

These ones from the book blurb:
Caught up in the maelstrom are two young boys, Hanno, the son of a distinguished soldier and confidant of Hannibal, and Quintus, son of a Roman equestrian and landowner.

So Pride of Carthage would be completely different to Hannibal by Ben Kane, and they wouldn't collide too much. being the same story.

ANNOUNCEMENT: to coincide with this group read. Ben has most kindly agreed to do a Blog interview over in the Ancient & Medieval Mayhem Blog for March.
Ben will also be dropping into this discussion thread throughout the group read.
http://ancientandmedievalmayhem.blogs...

thats great news. thanks Ben.

This one arrived today too. Along with its competitor. I don't know if anyone else ordered their copy from TDB, but it smells like it just came off the printing press. Makes me giddy.

I just put in my request at the library for this one last night. I should have it in hand next week.

D wrote: "This one arrived today too. Along with its competitor. I don't know if anyone else ordered their copy from TDB, but it smells like it just came off the printing press. Makes me giddy."

Oh..I am envious. I love that fresh minted smell. :-)

I'll have to find this as a "real" book. It only comes in Spanish as a Nookbook. lol

I've ordered "Hannibal" from Amazon. Hopefully it will arrive before the start of march.
For anyone looking for a bit of historical background on Hannibal, Melvyn Bragg did a great program on him on BBC Radio 4 last year that you can get here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n6s03

Crystal wrote: "I'll have to find this as a "real" book. It only comes in Spanish as a Nookbook. lol"

Your Spanish rusty, Crystal. :D

Good link, Tim. BBC Radio 4 has great programmes. I even link to it on the Blog. Lots of their passed history shows available on their site.

I'm passing in favour of the loser on this one, but I'll subscribe to the thread for the scuttlebutt.

The Ben Kane interview is up on the Blog.
Thanks Ben. :)

http://ancientandmedievalmayhem.blogs...

Fantastic interview, very informative.

I especially enjoyed learning about the historic sites he'd been to. The ones relevant to Hannibal.

That was very good Terri I enjoyed reading it.

Thnx for that Terri - you just might have a future in that business :)

Can't find this in even hard copy at my local libraries, so will have to give it a miss this month!

great interview Terri. Really enjoyed reading it

Thanks guys. :)

Sherrie wrote: "Can't find this in even hard copy at my local libraries, so will have to give it a miss this month!"

That's a shame Sherrie. :(

Sherrie wrote: "Can't find this in even hard copy at my local libraries, so will have to give it a miss this month!"

Hi Sherrie, if you're in the UK and you really want to read it, I'll send you my paperback copy for free.

Phil

For anyone really into this period in history, I thoroughly recommend Nigel Bagnall's 'Punic Wars'. No fiction in it, but it's such an extraordinary tale it hardly needs spicing up! :-)

That's a nice offer, Phil. If Sherrie isn't a U.K citizen, then maybe another member (a UK one) would take you up on your offer. :)

Oh, I nearly forgot. In regards to the interview...

A big thanks to Dawn who gave me two questions for the interview. The one about Historical Accuracy and the one about Social Media Marketing. Thanks D. :)

Philip wrote: "Sherrie wrote: "Can't find this in even hard copy at my local libraries, so will have to give it a miss this month!"

Hi Sherrie, if you're in the UK and you really want to read it, I'll send you m..."

Thanks so much, Phil, but I live in Seattle, Washington, US! I really appreciate the offer, though!

Philip wrote: "Sherrie wrote: "Can't find this in even hard copy at my local libraries, so will have to give it a miss this month!"

Hi Sherrie, if you're in the UK and you really want to read it, I'll send you m..."

Hi phil - as I see that Sherrie is in US could I take you up on your offer please, if its not being too cheeky to ask? Let me know about postage cost - I'm in Scotland.

Hi Margaret,
In case Philip misses your post, you may want to send him a private message to follow up.
Although, I think we have to add people as a friend before we can send them a PM, so you may have to do that to, and ask Phil about the book in the friend request or something. :)

Terri wrote: "Hi Margaret,
In case Philip misses your post, you may want to send him a private message to follow up.
Although, I think we have to add people as a friend before we can send them a PM, so you may ..."
Hi Terri,

Phil got the message and it is in hand - so Hannibal will shoot right to the front of my to read queue! Thanks for the advice though, i'll remember it for another time.

Fantastic.
Thanks Philip for helping one of our fellow members get their hands on the book. Such a lovely offer. :)

Terri wrote: "Fantastic.
Thanks Philip for helping one of our fellow members get their hands on the book. Such a lovely offer. :)"

It was, wasn't it.

MS

Greetings, everyone, and thanks for your interest in Hannibal! I'm honoured to have one of my books chosen as a monthly read. I hope that the majority at least of you enjoy it, and I'll be popping in regularly to answer any questions that you may have (or gripes!).

To answer Terri's sort of query, I will be writing at least four books to cover the whole second Punic war, but more probably five. Maybe even six - the great news about this is that my editor very recently gave me the thumbs up to write as many books about it as I feel I need to. And that is a huge privilege in these straitened days, I can tell you. So if you enjoy the first book, there will be many more to come.
Thanks.
Ben

PS I've popped by the interview - for which, thank you, Terri - and commented as well.

That's great to hear Ben. I read this one recently and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next one in the series. It was the first one of yours that I've read and I've now bought The Forgotten Legion: The Forgotten Legion Chronicles, Volume 1 to start on that series.

I like your writing style very much Ben. I have deeply enjoyed Forgotten Legion: The Forgotten Legion Chronicles, you combined fiction with actual facts really well. And the Battle of Carrhae , oh yeah!! -the best part in the series, you were really harsh on Crassus errors and attitude. I'm curious to see him in Spartacus series. Ah, and the usage of many roman words fitted perfectly, of course along with the glossary. It made me feel more attached to the story and time period.

And as stated in another topic Historical Accuracy you put an author preface, where you mentioned the changes so we don't get confused on the actual facts.

I hope I can buy Spartacus series in the near future and as for the current read Hannibal, I'll most likely wait for another book to appear.

came yesterday...perfect timimg.

Bobby wrote: " came yesterday...perfect timimg."

I got mine yesterday too. Looks like the same edition

@Ben are they making a movie based on The Forgotten Legion? There was news posted somewhere here about a film in production based on the battle of Carrhae and a Roman Legion fighting in China.

Terri wrote: "Hi Margaret,
In case Philip misses your post, you may want to send him a private message to follow up.
Although, I think we have to add people as a friend before we can send them a PM, so you may ..."

Terri, Just a short one-You can send PM's to anyone. I have done it to many who are not my friends.

@Chris: delighted you enjoyed it - thanks!

@Laurentiu: thank you also!

@Bobby @Tim: Happy reading!

@Tim: Sheesh, I wish I could say that it was based on my book!If it had been, I'd probably be sequestered on a Caribbean island somewhere, drinking champagne! No, they just took the historical 'facts'/story and wrote their own. Far cheaper :-(

Ben wrote: "@Chris: delighted you enjoyed it - thanks!

@Laurentiu: thank you also!

@Bobby @Tim: Happy reading!

@Tim: Sheesh, I wish I could say that it was based on my book!If it had been, I'd probably be s..."

If it happens let me know what island you end up on...I'll expect a cold one upon arrival.

@Bobby: ;-)

I'm three chapters in. Just enough to meet the characters and get a first impression of the book. Seeing as I've been disappointed by good starts to books lately and then disappointing endings, I'll just say so far so good. :)
I like the characters, the introduction for both has started out with some action and gives a good indication of the type of young men they are, which is the type with potential to be great. They are both older than I was expecting and for me this works as I don't particularly enjoy the childhood stories. Both are on the brink of manhood.

I read Ship of Rome not long ago, which is based on the first Punic war and I like that I have a bit of background for this story which is set in the second Punic war, as I am not very familiar with the era or the wars.

Oh, is it Second? I thought it was First.
I shall have to go change that in my interview 'lead in' on the blog. I said it was set in First.

Definitely Second, I didn't notice you had put in First in the blog or I would have mentioned. :)

Dawn wrote: "Definitely Second, I didn't notice you had put in First in the blog or I would have mentioned. :)"

You sure you didn't want to just see me make a fool of myself? :D