Masters Of The Sea -- Ship Of Rome Review: The Roman Military Learns to Sail; A Great Debut From John Stack

With the likes of Simon Scarrow's Eagle novels and Conn Iggulden's best selling Emperor series clogging up the book shelves, fans of historical fiction set in ancient Rome are not exactly starved for reading material. Entering the market now though is a brand new author, Irish writer John Stack who puts a fresh spin on the genre by taking to the waves. Ship Of Rome is set to be the initial chapter in a long running saga about how Rome conquered the Mediterranean sea and while its clearly in debt to his heroes, it is exciting and fast-paced enough to overcome its shortcomings.

Rub A Dub Dub, Two Men in a Tub

Set over two hundred years before the birth of Christ, Ship Of Rome reveals a Roman Republic that is far from the dominating superpower it is normally assumed to be. This was a time long before Caesar when Italy was beset on all sides by powerful enemies and when the book opens, the total power of Rome's naval forces consists of a mere twelve vessels.

Disaster looms on the horizon then when The Aquila, a trireme Captained by a Greco-Roman named Atticus happens upon an immense Carthaginian armada in the waters off Sicily. After narrowly avoiding escape in a white-knuckle opening chapter, Atticus and his Centurion friend Septimus manage to convince the Senate that they need a fleet of their own to combat this menace. What follows is a desperate race against time; the construction hampered by political machinations, all while a stranded Legion slowly starves to death on Sicily.

Above Us, The Waves

Stack's style of writing has of course been done to the death many times before, but like a finely-tuned automobile it works perfectly, even if it doesn't introduce a whole new set of themes to the genre. The relationship between Atticus and Septimus for instance has blatantly been influenced by Macro and Cato from the Eagle series. He is also an obvious fan of Bernard Cornwell, the pace of the book and the final sound-off being overly reminiscent of Sharpe.

However, he does it so well that it doesn't really matter. The pace never lags, even during the action-free middle part which largely consists of shipbuilding and the pages flash past at top speed. It reads like an old fashioned boy's own adventure, albeit one that isn't afraid to shy away from the brutality of the times, the downfall of a city Governor being a particularly downbeat subplot.

Finally, Stack knows that the key to good historical fiction is handling the battle scenes well and here he excels. There is plenty of carnage on offer and the climactic brawl is a galley-smashing, sword waving delight. Good thing too, it completely makes up for the lacklustre love-story that feels tacked on and unnecessary.

In short, a rousing and welcome addition to a growing list of authors who deal with the savage days of the Romans. The setting is a welcome break from the usual land-based violence and while it does have its limitations, John Stack has delivered the goods with an energetic and action-packed debut. The forthcoming sequel will be the real test though, especially as it promises the Battle Of Cape Ecnomus; the largest Naval confrontation of the ancient world.

Mar 8, 2009 2:20 PM

Guest :

To be honest, I have rather mixed feelings about this rather patchy imitation of, in particular, Simon Scarrow's books (though his much improved with practice - hopefully these will too). I think this novel spin on the Roman military adventure is let down by very patchy historical research and some rather crude characterisation.

As a fan of Roman history, the frequency of fairly basic historical misunderstandings really let this down. Examples include the relationship between the two consuls (you don't get promoted from Junior Consul to Senior), the division in the book between civil and military powers - which did not exist in ancient Rome (so you couldn't follow a military career as an aristocrat before entering politics, as it's suggested Scipio has done), the presence of the praetorians (a creation of the principate - consuls in the Republic were escorted by lictors) and social attitudes which are more in place in the 21st Century than the second BC (Septimus, a centurion, would have been gravely insulted to be forced to fight a gladiator).

These problems owe much to the characterisations - which can be interesting, but verge on the facile at crucial points. The debates in the senate, in particular, begger belief, and my sense is that a closer reading of history - and some of the better authors who write about the era (such as Colleen McCullough) - would probably have considerably helped the narrative here. Similarly, a deeper reading of the mores of Rome in the Second Century BC would have produced a more believable, credible and sensitive portrayal of the relationship between the key characters (I'm thinking of Atticus and Hadria here, but this is a wider point). Stack has clear potential as an author - his battle scenes are exitingly wrought, and he flaunts his understanding of the organisation of the Roman army without being onerous - but he needs to resist the urge to skimp on the research elsewhere if this series is to develop credibly.

Mar 8, 2009 2:31 PM

Tim Bolitho-Jones :

Excellent points there, however I should point out that I am in no way a history of Rome by any means. I have read The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius but by and large my knowledge of the period is more because of Simon Scarrow and Conn Iggulden rather than any of the more academic writers. Needless to say a lot of the things you've mentioned would never have occured to me while reading it so I think it's fair to say that Stack is definiely more of a storyteller than a historian and here I think he succeeded admirably. One of my flatmates devoured the entire book in less than forty eight hours and is now eagerly awaiting the follow up, but again he is no historian.