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Silus is a roman scout deep behind enemy lines in Caledonia. As he is spying on a raiding party, he is discovered by an enemy chief and his son. Everything goes wrong and Silas does not know the consequence.
unputdownable thriller set in Ancient Rome, anchored in detailed historical research
This was a very intense book and it kept me on my toes the whole time. It was written well and the pacing was great.

Emperor's Sword was whole unremarkable to me. There was nothing very memorable about it and it skips from big plot point to big plot point.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the audio-arc.

I already mentioned my interest in the Roman era, right? It’s a colorful period, full of events that—in the right hands—can provide an enjoyable background to a novel. Alex Gough, the author of Emperor’s Sword, has got the skills to do right by it, weaving an intricate yet realistic tale.

**


A desolate wasteland. A mission gone wrong. An impossible goal.

Roman scout, Silus, is deep behind enemy lines in Caledonia. As he spies on a raiding party, he is abruptly discovered by an enemy chief and his son. Mounting a one-man ambush, everything quickly goes wrong and Silus must run for his life, the head of the enemy leader in his hands. Little does he know the price he will pay...

As Silus is inducted into the Arcani, an elite faction of assassins and spies, he must return to Caledonia and risk everything in the service of his Caesar. The odds don’t look good. But failure is not an option.

A blood-soaked and unputdownable thriller set in Ancient Rome, anchored in detailed historical research, perfect for fans of Ben Kane, Conn Iggulden and Robert Fabbri.

352 pages
Historical
The Imperial Assassin, Book 1
Saga Egmont Audio
Goodreads

**

Cover: Again, I’m a bit tired of characters facing away from the reader, but this trend seems to be all the rage.

Narrator: Very good fit. It took me a second to switch from the American accent to the British one of Thorpe—I’m not used to Brit accents, is all—but I enjoyed it to the max.

Yay!

- Emperor’s Sword is the story of Silus, a Roman scout. He makes a mistake he ends up regretting dearly, but it’s a mistake that kick starts a vast change, both for himself and the Roman Empire. The Caledonian clans band together to beat back the legions, with Maglorix, Silus’ sworn enemy, as their leader.

- This is a brutal, crude story, and rightfully so. I’m talking style here, style and accuracy: Gough doesn’t go for a watered-down version of the Romans and the Barbarians, but portrays the two factions in a realistic way. Emperor’s Sword is a violent book; you won’t be spared any of the gritty details.

- I wasn’t expecting multiple POVS, as I was 100% happy with Silus’ one and I still believe that a single POV would have done Emperor’s Sword justice. However, Maglorix and Caracalla’s POVs help the reader understand the characters better. I’m not so fond of Maglorix per se, but his intelligence and his arrogance are showing.

- Speaking of Caracalla, he’s maybe the best character of the book. Smart, witty, interesting, I ended up rooting for him.

- Gough doesn’t pull any punches. His writing style is fast-paced for the most part, not dwelling into unnecessary parts. I’m always down for an author who’s able to tell a story without embellishments or descriptions. I hope to find the other parts of the series on NetGalley too, as I’d love to see what happens next.

Nay!

- It drags a little in the beginning. Nothing major, and it picks up quite fast; however, the first action scenes read wooden. Silus does this, Silus does that – nah. I’m putting this down as growing pains, because the flow seems to smooth out after the first couple of chapters.

TL;DR


4,5 stars on GR, rounded up to 5.

I can see how and why this book was well-liked, but for some reason, it just didn't do the same thing for me. I can't put a finger on it, but all I have to say about it was just "meh".

2.5/5 stars for me on this one.

Everything about this book was exceedingly average. Except the dialogue, which was cliche and eye-rolling. If I had been reading this normally, I probably wouldn't have finished it, but I got a free copy from Netgalley and like I said, it wasn't bad, it was just very average. The story starts off on a bad track with me to begin with, doing the whole "violence against women and children to give the man a reason to fight" blah blah blah. Plenty of things do this, but it never ceases to be uninspired, and if this is something that bothers you, skip this book. This book also felt too heavy on plot and not enough on connective tissue, like it just skipped to things happening, a report to the Emperor, things happening, report to the Emperor. The action was also uninspired, the characters were not memorable, and as I said before, the dialogue was wooden and something I felt you'd write in a first draft. I know this is Gough's first book, so maybe he improves in this aspect. But this book made me think a lot of the time that I'd be better off reading something else. However, it was passively entertaining. I love Roman fiction in general and this era (Severus's late reign) is not covered often enough, so I appreciated that.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

I received an audiobook ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an independent, honest review of this title.

I really wanted to enjoy this title and just didn't. I couldn't help but compare it to the majority of similar books I have read and found this one lacking. It had everything every other storyline has: action, intrigue, revenge, love, lust, etc. Emperor's Sword reads like a combination of so many other historical fiction books that it lacked originality.

I had a bit of a hard time getting into this one, but when I did I really enjoyed it! I thought the setting and the action were the strongest points of this book, for sure. I did find the audio version to be well narrated.

In The Emperor's Sword, Gough describes the lives of Roman soldiers in the British Isles. Silus, the hero of the book, must make difficult choices after the death of his wife and child at the hands of the Caledonian barbarians. Silus is a simple soldier who makes the wrong decision on a scouting expedition by killing the leader of the barbarian tribe. The end result of that incident eventually leads him to become an Arcani, an assassin for Caesar's Roman Army, who meets Caesar.

The author takes us through some of the Roman difficulties of holding their vast territory and the bloodthirsty fighting that ensued. The audiobook narrator's skillfully voiced characters make one feel as though they are hearing the story from a friend.

Recommended for fans of historical and military fiction.

TW: Murder, sexual assault, animal abuse, violence, gore, profanity, death of a child

This was my first book by this author and I’m so glad to say that it didn’t disappoint me. The story is about a Roman scout named Silas who while spying kills an enemy chief and takes his head. At the moment his hadn’t realized what kind of events this one decision would set into motion.

Pretty early on I knew this book was very violent with lots of murder, gore, bloodshed. Which is to be expected from a book about ancient Rome. Sometimes it made even me pause and say yikes so that says a lot. I didn’t mind this but I put up some trigger warnings anyways. But as brutal as some of the scenes were, the author also added some humor in the story which I could appreciate a lot.

The secondary were equally great to read about, although Silas kept being my favorite. I really rooted for him even though his enemy Maglorix was also really justified with his actions, in my opinion. We were also introduced to emperor Septimius Severus who was co-emperor with his sons Caracalla and Geta. Most of the spotlight was on Caracalla and his relationships with his stepmother. I really liked this because then it wasn’t all about Silas and his revenge journey. It made for a nice change in pace.

I do have to admit that at the start of the book I had to get used to the narrator David Thorpe since it was the first time I listened to an audiobook that was narrated by him. I guess I just had to get a feel on the way he narrated but I ended up loving all the different voices and accents that he did. I wouldn’t mind listening to more his work.

For some reason I just love books set in ancient Rome that are big on the battles and carnage and grittiness. Which is exactly what I got with Emperor’s Sword by Alex Gough.

I think I may have just found a new favourite historical author.

This was an excellent book set in Roman Britain, with feuding sons of the Emperor and the British getting restless at the occupation by the Romans. The two sides in this revolt certainly don’t hold back and are quite ruthless in how they deal with each other. Beware the body count is high.

Within this scenario we met a Roman Scout, Silus, who during an ambush kills and takes the head of a Tribal leader. This sets in action great consequences for him, his family and the Romans. He is a great character and I can’t wait to read more of his exploits in the other books in the series. Fast moving, blood thirsty, well written and supported by a group of great characters. What is not to love!

If you enjoy Roman History books then I feel this series is a must for you and I highly recommend it. The narrator did a great job of reading the book and it held my interest throughout. I’m totally hooked!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publishers for providing a copy of this book for me, for an an open and honest review.

I received an audiobook from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The characters are well written, the world building is phenomenal, and the knowledge of Roman history was incredible. The plot moved along nice and quick and it didn’t seem to slow down and plateau at all. I thought the narrator was absolutely excellent, he really brought the characters to life.

This book is a faced paced thriller set in an ancient Roman world full of action, violence murder and death with a wonderful set of characters to go with it. This was my first book by Alex but it won’t be my last!

Format: audiobook
Author: Alex Gough ~ Title: Emperor's Sword ~ Narrator: David Thorpe
Content: 4 stars ~ Narration: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings: profanity, sex, violence, gore, murder, slavery, mentions of rape, death, death of a child,...

I rarely read this type of books. But, I often watch movies and series exactly like this.

Set in Caledonia, roughly today's Scotland, in the time of Ancient Rome. Silus, a roman scout of mixed roots, doesn’t know what he started when he makes an instant decision.

Emperor’s Sword is a fast-paced historical thriller. It is full of action, rough and ruthless, as life in those times was. Not all the point is in the violence. You can, as I did, enjoy a lot of details about Roman life, settlements, houses, and more. If violent content is a problem for you, I should warn you: there are quite some trigger warnings. There is a lot of blood, violence, gore, and more. So I would recommend this novel to readers who like fast-paced, action-filled historical thrillers and, of course, expect this kind of content.

Excellent narration and accents make this book even better. Performed by British actor David Thorpe. Narration fits this kind of novel, and I think I enjoyed this novel even more in an audiobook form.

Thanks to the Saga Egmont Audio for the ARC and the opportunity to listen to this! All opinions are my own.

Fantastic read. Alex Gough hits the right physical and emotional beats to create tone, urgency, suspense, and drive the story forward. I enjoyed (I didn't enjoy how it happened) the set up between the antagonist and protagonist. And there were plenty of twists that kept the story moving, even within a chapter -- a detail that I enjoy when done well. Great job. Great read.

CONTENT WARNING: gore, mention of rape, harm to an animal, profanity, violence, death of a child, mention of slavery, murder, torture

I actually got into this series thanks to a NetGalley approval for the fourth book in the series (which I didn’t realize was the fourth book in the series at the time). Once I was hooked on the series, I immediately wanted more and struggled to find it through my local library. So obviously, when the audiobook for the first book became available, I nearly danced for joy when it was approved.
David Thorpe is the narrator, and I absolutely loved his accent. I could listen to this man speak all day long (and actually ended up doing exactly that). But reader/listener beware: this is a book about war, so there’s a lot of violence, and some brief mention of rape. There’s also quite a bit of profanity, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The characters are amazing. Silus is a scout, and after making a split-second decision, everything seems to go wrong, although it does change the course of his military career. His character is so well-developed, and then other characters are slowly integrated in the beginning of the story, allowing us to get to know them. Major players include Atius, who basically becomes Silus’s partner, as well as Maglorix, a tribal chieftain providing insight into the other side of the story, and Caracalla, the son of the current emperor of Rome.
It was an intriguing look into history, where rather than focusing on the politics and upper echelon of society, it stayed in the mud with the soldiers of the army. Staying fixed on Silus’s journey from scout to Arcani was fascinating, and it was clear that the author had done immense amounts of research for this book. I found myself immersed in the story playing out, and I could empathize with both sides of the conflict — the Caledonians wanted to stay free, and the Romans were always looking to take over more lands to expand their empire.
While there weren’t a lot of major plot twists, there was a level of tension that was maintained throughout the story that kept me on the edge of my seat, waiting to find out what would happen next. I was fully invested in the story from start to finish. The pacing was a little slow at some points, and the denouement felt a tiny bit anticlimactic after the characters spent nearly the entire book seeking revenge, but overall, I’m not sorry that I invested the time reading this. It was a well-written and interesting story, and I’m absolutely going to continue. It doesn’t hurt that I already know that the fourth book is exceptional, and I can only expect the two books in between to improve from this one.

#EmperorsSword #NetGalley
That you netgalley for a review copy of the audio book
This book is fast paced and unlike many other books in this historical period it focuses on a spy rather than the roman court and is interesting a highly recommend

I got two-thirds of the way through the audiobook before giving up.

The characters are well done, believable, motivated by things I can appreciate an actual person wanting to do.

The world building is well done, quickly done but a bit too academic for my tastes. Like someone wanting to show off how much they know about accurate Roman history... not a bad thing, just a little distracting for a quickly moving plot.

The narration is excellent.

But the dialogue dear God, I couldn't put up with it.

Judging by other reviews, not everybody was a distracted and put off as me, but its still a problem I have to deal with.

Though it did remind me of a good lesson I learned back in 2004.

Storytime:

Back in 12th grade English class, we had to write a story. A girl wrote a good story about a woman leaving her family and having to prostitute herself to survive. In one scene, the girl asks an older, mentor, prostitute how she works when on her period. The older whore, with a backstory of abuse and drugs and (important to the story, lack of education) said "When I'm on my cycle, ..." and our teacher called the girl out for this.

"Is this the way this character would talk? Would this person actually use those words?"

The next day our teacher gives us a scene to read from a book from the mid 1800's, written by a woman trying to promote education. The scene is a man beating his wife because his mining job sucks and he can't get out because he's uneducated and its the world's fault, etc. The message of the book is with an education everyone gets better options so we could educate everybody... but the man beating his wife is speaking the King's English, proper grammar, big worlds, complex sentences... it ruins the effect the author was going for. The character didn't sound or feel uneducated.

Like the girl's story was ruined by her crack whore's word choice.

Our teacher's point was to make characters be honest with their language. You didn't have to cuss or be gross, just think about how would an employee talk to their boss compared to talking to their spouse and write accordingly.

In Emperor's Sword, every character speaks the same, from the Emperor to a common Roman solider to a Scottish barbarian... the monologues and speeches are just too much for me to tolerate. Just too annoying and repetitive.

One character doesn't speak Latin so his language is short, simple words... so Gough obviously knew he could write characters with different diction and speaking patterns and choose not to. Once I heard this character, I gave up.

**I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.