The Sword of Attila: A Total War Novel

by David Gibbins

Overview

AD 439: The Roman Empire is on the brink of collapse. With terrifying speed a Vandal army has swept through the Roman provinces of Spain and North Africa, conquering Carthage and threatening Roman control of the Mediterranean. But a far greater threat lies to the east, a barbarian force born in the harsh steppelands of central Asia, warriors of unparalleled savagery who will sweep all before them in their thirst for conquest - the army of Attila the Hun.

For a small group of Roman soldiers and a mysterious British monk, the only defense is to rise above the corruption and weakness of the Roman emperors and hark back to the glory days of the army centuries before, to find strength in history. Led by Flavius, a young tribune, and his trusty centurion Macrobius, they fight a last-ditch battle against the Vandals in North Africa before falling back to Rome, where they regroup and prepare for the onslaught to come. Flavius learns that the British monk who had fled with them from Carthage is more than he seems, and he is drawn into a shady world of intelligence and intrigue under the aegis of Flavius' uncle Aetius, commander-in-chief of the Roman armies in the west, the man who alone has the power to rally Rome and her allies and save the western empire from annihilation.

Aetius is desperate to buy time until his army is strong enough to confront the Huns on the field of battle, and meanwhile will do anything to undermine their strength. Together they devise a plan of astonishing audacity that will take Flavius and Macrobius across the frontier and far up the river Danube to the heart of darkness itself, to the stronghold of the most feared warrior-emperor the world has ever known – and into alliance with the emperor's daughter, a warrior-princess who has sworn vengeance against her father for the death of her mother. In the showdown to come, in the greatest battle the Romans have ever fought, victory will go to those who can hold high the most potent symbol of war ever wrought by man - the sacred sword of Attila.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250082138
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Publication date:	02/16/2016
Series:	Total War Rome , #2
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

DAVID GIBBINS is the internationally bestselling author of nine Jack Howard novels, which have sold over three million copies worldwide and are published in thirty languages, and the Total War series of historical novels. He has worked in underwater archaeology all his professional life. After taking a PhD from Cambridge University he taught archaeology in Britain and abroad, and is a world authority on ancient shipwrecks and sunken cities. He has led numerous expeditions to investigate underwater sites in the Mediterranean and around the world. He currently divides his time between fieldwork, England and Canada.

Editorial Reviews

' ... mix of intrigue and powerful battle scenes ... the novel rings true with the sound of hand-to-hand combat'” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2015-01-08
Comfortably formulaic saga of Rome's military might continues with epic characters who tread the breadth of Europe for honor.Gibbins continues with a return to Carthage 600 years after the events of his first novel in the series (Total War Rome: Destroy Carthage, 2013). Rome is no longer the war machine it was when its famed legions conquered the world. Now it's on the defense, and barbarians are most definitely at the gate. The Vandals have taken Carthage after a futile stand by a handful of Roman soldiers, and the Huns are coming from the north to dismantle the divided empire. Gibbins relies once again on a handful of characters teaching and training at the schola militarum in Rome to anchor the narrative. Arturus, a British warrior-monk, shows up to assist Flavius, one of the elite whose heritage is Roman and Goth, and Macrobius, his faithful centurion. They make their way to Attila's court north of the Danube, where an unusual proposition is made on behalf of Aetius, the last remaining great Roman general. "I come to you not with offers of concessions, but with an offer of war. It may not be this year, or next year, but it will be soon, at a place of your choosing." However, this time around there are mythic characters in the mix of intrigue and powerful battle scenes. Arturus is, yes, the Arthur we know in legend, the once and future king, and his love interest turns out to be the daughter of Attila. That is mythmaking on a new level. Although much of the plot is just too convenient, Gibbins does know his history, and the novel rings true with the sounds of hand-to-hand combat.

Kirkus Reviews