On This Page
Description
With his secret betrayed to the Emperor, Marcus is banished--to do the impossible. Book Four of The Videssos Cycle In Videssos the city, tribune Marcus Scaurus was bored. The legion that had been magically transported to this strange world was far away. But the Emperor's niece Alypia was near--and willing. When their secret trysts were betrayed, Emperor Thorisin Gavras was forced to condemn Marcus as a traitor--but with a promise of freedom and Alypia, if he could reclaim a rebel province show more from a fanatic usurper, with no military aid. With only centurion Gaius Philippus, Marcus set out to try the seemingly impossible task. But the fates conspired against them, driving them further westward, into the innermost sanctum of Videssos' great enemy Yezd--and toward the torture chambers of the evil, deathless wizard-prince Avshar. But behind them, without orders, the men of the legion were on the march! show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
This is the conclusion of the first Legion series. While the author isn't going in the direction I'm sure most readers hoped, that doesn't mean this isn't a good book. I really enjoyed the Legion series and this last book was not a disappointment for me. If you expect happy endings that meet your expectations of what should happen, you might be a little disappointed, but it was good.
This is the final book in Turtledove's original series taking us to the (literally) magical world of Videssos where the Roman legion commanded by Marcus Scarus had been transported when they had confronted Viridovix the Gaul and his magic sword. In this book, the forces of Videssos, depleted by the civil wars that had put Thorisin Garvas on the throne, faced the forces of Yezd and its wizard prince Avshar.
This was a great read with plenty of action of all sorts, mundane and magical. This book does begin to display some of Turtledove's tendencies to overpopulate his books but it doesn't generally get too much out of control.
This was a great read with plenty of action of all sorts, mundane and magical. This book does begin to display some of Turtledove's tendencies to overpopulate his books but it doesn't generally get too much out of control.
the final showdown between Avshar and Marcus results in a flat ending. Adequate entertainment
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
279+ Works 43,079 Members
Harry Turtledove was born in Los Angeles, California on June 14, 1949. He received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history from UCLA in 1977. From the late 1970's to the early 1980's, he worked as a technical writer for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. He left in 1991 to become full-time writer. His first two novels, Wereblood and Werenight, were show more published in 1979 under the pseudonym Eric G. Iverson because his editor did not think people would believe that Turtledove was his real name. He used this name until 1985 when he published Herbig-Haro and And So to Bed under his real name. He has received numerous awards including the Homer Award for Short Story for Designated Hitter in 1990, the John Esthen Cook Award for Southern Fiction for Guns of the Southand in 1993, and the Hugo Award for Novella for Down in the Bottomlands in 1994. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Series
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Swords of the Legion
- Original publication date
- 1987
- Dedication
- For Alison, Rachel, and Laura again
- First words
- "I'd like to have a better look at that one, if I could," Marcus Aemilius Scaurus said, pointing to a necklace.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Call this a good beginning," he said, and Alypia did not argue.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 418
- Popularity
- 73,685
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.71)
- Languages
- Czech, English, Italian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 11
- ASINs
- 2
