John Stack (1)

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 show more 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! show less

An interesting historical fiction novel set around the time of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The main character of the book is a commander of one of the English fleet, the Retribution, Robert Variant, somebody who had been brought up as a Catholic and was having to secretly worship while 'heretics' were being hunted and executed. The first part of the book was interesting in this dilemma, could he still be a Catholic and fight for his protestant country against catholic Spain, where do his show more loyalties lie. The later part of the book discribed the battle between the two navies in great detail and I felt it got a little bogged down in detail. Worthy of four stars though as the action doesn't let up.

Without spoiling the ending the English win. show less

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.

Masters or Rome continues the Bernard Cornwell meets C. S. Forester during the Punic Wars blend of naval and class warfare. This is a fitting conclusion with all threads tied up; but not in a predictable manner. For fans of the first two this is a must read.