Just Finished Reading: Captain of Rome by John Stack

After the crushing defeat of the Carthaginian navy, Rome is confident that her forces can continue to push back the forces of Carthage and bring the whole of Sicily under its dominion. Led by a young and ambitious new Tribune the Roman fleet is ambushed due to his inexperience and almost destroyed by an act of cowardice. It is only the swift action of Captain Atticus of the flagship Aquilla that staves off total disaster. But the Tribune has powerful friends and the Greek born Atticus precious few. Vilified for his part in the abortive attack Atticus must prove himself time and again in combat against superior forces at sea and assassins on land. Meanwhile the Carthaginians are planning their most audacious attack yet – a direct assault on the city of Rome itself!

This is the second book in the trilogy surrounding the lives of the captain, crew and marines aboard the Roman trireme Aquilla. I was very impressed with the first book – which I believe was the authors first novel – and I was even more impressed by this one. Strong characterisation, a wonderful sense of time and place and, above all else, grippingly brutal sea battles kept me glued to this book. It was a deep, if rather exhausting, pleasure to read. I managed, however, to read it slowly enough so as to savour it all the more and it lasted me the best part of a week. I could probably have devoured it in a few days but the deferred gratification was all the sweeter because of the deferment. I have developed quite a ‘thing’ recently for naval warfare stories and will carry this new found passion into other works of both fact and fiction. The third, and unfortunately final, book in this trilogy is due out in hardback. If I can restrain myself (and don’t see it on special offer anywhere) I shall wait for the paperback. It will be tough to resist. There is even better news to come – John Stack has written a novel about the Spanish Armada which is due out early next year. That is most definitely something to look forward to. Long may he continue producing books of this quality of naval warfare. He has at least one dedicated fan here though I’m very confident I’m not alone in that. Highly recommended.