Ship of Rome (2009)

Hard to say what I feel about this book. Great action sequences. Great lead character. Good story. Too many supporting cast that were either not even remotely likable or in conflict that fealt manufactured by the author. Not sure if I will read the rest of the series.

Ship of Rome, knocked my socks off. John Stack has exceeded my expectations for a new author writing in the genre similar to Patrick O’Brien, Bernard Cornwell, Edwin Thomas, Michael Curtis Ford and Steven Pressfield. The time is the early Punic Wars where Rome battles against Carthage. Most of the story takes place on the high seas with riveting edge-of-your seat action and suspense as the two enemies of war slaughter for the win on the sleek and powerful trireme ships manned by hungry strong slaves being whipped into action. Two tyrannical egotistical ship captains are more than eager to fire at, and sink each others fleet of warships causing nothing but death and destruction. The battle scenes and military strategies mixed with an incredible ability to put human feeling and emotion into the personalities of the characters on both sides of good and evil, showed great new writing skill. To input political intrigue amongst the senators in the forum of ancient Rome, added with a little romance and background history of Rome and Carthage, puts John Stack high on my list for buying the next installment of this new series called Master of the Seas. I read this book in one day, I thought it was so exciting and well written, and actually found it to be better than some of the other authors in this category of historical fiction. This is sort of a Ben Hur meets Gladiator story that any serious historical fiction reader will devour quickly and highly enjoy. Bravo and more please! ( )