Armies of the Thracians and Dacians, 500 BC to Ad 150 is a capsule survey of these two Indo-European tribes collated by military historian Gabriele Esposito. Due out late June 2021 from Pen & Sword, it's 192 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is one of a series of books on ancient military history by the publisher with similar layout and historical overview. They're accessible to the average layman with some background in military history and the language is clear and understandable. The work is not rigidly academic; it's not annotated and there are no chapter notes. The author has included an abbreviated bibliography including some contemporaneous primary sources, but most of the work he's based this work on are secondary histories and modern re-enactors (primarily two groups: Historia Renascita and Ancient Thrace). That's not necessarily a *bad* thing, but it is something to know going into the read.

There are a number of photographs; they're mostly from the modern historical re-enactor's group Historia Renascita. I found the actual information was presented somewhat haphazardly and difficult to find again. The timelines hop around quite a bit, and the chapters end quite abruptly. The photographs (which are the book's best feature) are scattered throughout the text willy-nilly.

Three and a half stars. I think this would make a good choice for modern readers interested in costume re-enacting groups like the SCA and similar. It would also be a good choice for readers who are already invested in this series from the publisher.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

In exchange for an honest review, I have received a free copy of this book, courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. This review will reflect the version I currently have on my Kindle, and I hope it's in an intermediary state, with more editing to follow.

First of all, I have to say I was thrilled to come across it: while Dacians were the ancient people living in the territory that's now part of Romania, it's not every day that I see scholarship about them, even in Romania. Regarded more through a mythical and mystical lens, their reality escapes us. Well, here's a book to make up for that!

Unfortunately, the book in itself is pretty short, and it gallops across time and themes. Two thirds of it are dedicated to a history of the Thracians and Dacians, starting from Homeric times - and that's no joke. References to factions in the Illiad are surprisingly taken at face value, as if it were a historical description rather than a fictional one (an interesting choice and one which I'd like to have seen explained). But never mind the Trojan war; Thracians are followed through their migrations and conflicts across a thousand years, often at lightning speed, with names of tribes, allies and enemies flooding the page.

Ultimately, it became clear to me that it's not a book that can stand on its own. If you don't already know your ancient history quite well, you keep needing to look things up. It has no maps, for one, to offer visual aid. Despite being a book about equipment, it offers little explanation of said equipment, besides describing it. It's a book that needs more research in order to be properly understood, which I've always found frustrating.

If you're wondering what I looked up: the Odrysian kingdom, the territories of the Bastarnae and the Sarmatae, and various other such. Why on Earth anyone would choose to carry two javelins and throw them in battle instead of using a bow and a dozen arrows, surely more projectiles = better? (because javelins can penetrate shields and armor easily, breaking enemy formations, you're welcome; also, you throw them at close range). Also, what various equipment looked like.

This isn't to say that the book didn't have pictures - it did! However, the pictures were scattered across the book at random: photos belonging to the Bulgarian re-enactment group "Ancient Thrace" came first, I believe; while photos belonging to the Romanian re-enactment group "Historia Renascita" came second. You had photos like "Thracian warlord wearing a Chalcidian helmet imported from Greece" illustrating a passage about 1300 BC, despite that particular type of helmet coming into use around the 6th century BC. Also, the photos aren't very clear in grayscale, so I wouldn't recommend reading this on Kindle.

All in all, while there are things I've learned while reading this book, it's nowhere near what I was hoping for. Meandering too much around Macedonians, not going too deeply into explanations, it felt like it didn't know exactly what it wanted to say and why. I'm sure the published version will be better, but the real question is: by how much?

Thanks are in order for NetGalley and Pen & Sword ​for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was absolutely extatic about the topic of this book. It's pretty hard to find quality material that is looking at the Thracians and Dacians. Unfortunately, with high expectations come great disappointments as well; the material is merely a short introduction on the topic, and by no means an exhaustive approach to a very big topic.

The book is split into four main parts - a history of the Thracians and their relationship with the Greek warriors, a history of the Dacians, and their conflicts with the Romans, then a presentation of the Thracian fighters, followed by a presentation of the Dacian fighters.

The author starts by going at lightning speed through a large period of time - starting from the Trojan war, and ending with the Gothic invasions in late fourth century. The first two parts are not only covering a huge chunk of history, but skipping a lot of details pertaining to the topic; for example, there's no mention of the somewhat legendary Dromichaites, nor much is said about Burebista and his tribal union. A lot of conflicts between the Roman and the Thracian tribes is omitted or glossed over. Perhaps the most satisfying part is a more meaty description of the Trajan's wars with Decebalus.

The final third of the book consists of two chapters dedicated to the specifics of each of the armies. Unfortunately, covering a large time period makes it a difficult task to make a clear image of how the army looked in various eras, although the author tries their best.

The book contains a lot of pictures from two reenactment groups; and while the pictures are quite interesting to watch, they don't seem synchronized with the contents of the book. I would've loved to see more examples with a focus on the equipment when the author talked about specific equipment, in the last chapters.

The writing is very condensed, with long paragraphs that feel like they require a bit more editing. It made reading the book a bit more difficult for a relatively short book. I would've loved if there was a bit more structure to the book, a bit more focus and lot more detail.

It might be a good introductory book on the topic; far from exhaustive, it feels like a cursory glance - not necessarily superficial, but definitely not diving in depth.