an enjoyable historical fantasy by chris hackett. it's my first time reading any of his works, and i'll look out for more in the future. invicta: fall of rome centres around a man/boy(?) named orephes, a roman. at the start of the book, his father, tiberius reveals to him on his deathbed that orephes is not his son but a child he was told to take care of years ago- a child of the gods. when his father dies and invasion is imminent, orephes has to find his destiny. i enjoyed this read, and given that it was only around 240 pages give or take, it was surprising that the story felt relatively complete and not too short. i liked the tone and register of the writing as well- appropriately formal given the time period, and i AM a huge fan of things set in ancient rome given that 1) we were all percy jackson fans as children, and 2) i'm an english and classics major. though with this being said, there were some minor inaccuracies with names of objects and nouns, but since those were not frequent, it didn't obstruct my enjoyment of the book.

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read this arc. it was a fun journey and i read this the day i got approved.

Usually in fantasy books they are set in medieval times and it was refreshing to see this one take place a few years after the fall of Rome. The pacing of the book was a bit too fast for my liking and I feel like the book could've done better if it was broken up into two books. The magic system was interesting but I feel it was confusing at times as certain aspects were not explained clearly. Orephes coming to his powers is something I wish that wasn't rushed just like his training. It would make more sense in the story to see him training and to slowly get better instead of skipping all of it and having head out to adventure. The villains of the story were great villains and I would've liked to see how they came to be. One of the villains was made to seem extremely powerful and how to beat him extremely difficult to do. Which is why I didn't like how the book ended with Orephes defeating him without too many obstacles and the whole event happened way too quickly. It was an event that was built up so much and when it actually happened it left a lot to be desired. With Orephes coming back to his home and saving his brother and sister in law, it would've been better to start the second book like that than to end the first one. Overall I did enjoy reading the book and would read the next installment.

I was hoping for more from this book. The concept is cool - fall of Rome, last descendant of the gods - but I was left wanting more. There were multiple storylines that didn't seem to add to the advancement of the plot. And the main character, said descendant, I wanted to see more of his powers but it felt like they were only shown at the end. I liked the travel buddies he had, but could have used more development (I wanted to know more about the assassin!!).

This was an interesting read for me. Not something I would typically pick up, but I found that I actually did enjoy a fantasy in this ancient Roman setting. It wasn’t perfectly written but I liked Orephus as a main character and I enjoyed the world building! I would be interested in reading this author again! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this great ARC!

I enjoyed the blend of historical and fantasy elements, it had a great overall feel to the plot of the book. Chris Hackett does a great job in writing this, the use of Old Gods worked and loved the idea of this with a alternate history feel to it.

It's a good historical fantasy with elements of Ancient Rome history and Greek mythology. It wasn't love at first page but after some chapter I was hooked.
Interesting world building, characters and storytelling.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

fantasies set in Ancient Rome aren't something I see much of. So this book immediately felt original and something different, something that the shelves need.

Hackett's Invicta: Fall of Rome struck a good balance between fantasy, history and action. I enjoy historical fantasy that isn't led by the fantastical element and maintains gritty, real history. This book achieved that. It had all the elements of a rip-roaring historical read with plenty of battles, violence and politics and (occasionally) a little bit of naughty language.

The story isn't focused solely on Orephus, which at first I was surprised about but it did work, because it showed what was happening in a wider context and introduced elements that weren't focused on the fantasy. There was a strong cast of supporting characters; from Orephus' likable brother Gargarus, to the nefarious Volusian who made my skin crawl. Hackett isn't afraid to kill his darlings - no spoilers but at one point, I screamed "no!" and scared the kittens sleeping on my lap.

Lastly, the ending - which again, I won't reveal, felt like things were concluded neatly and made sense, but scattered the breadcrumbs for more to come...which definitely created the anticipation for the next in the series.

There were some times when the language used wasn't quite right. Modern terms (as in post-Roman Empire) did tend to creep in such as "knights," "turncoat" and "pants"(trousers). Whilst the meaning still was clear, these to me, are phrases and ideas which wouldn't have been around in Roman times so it pulled me out of the story slightly. However, this is the historical snob in me being pernickety. These instances were quite rare so I was able to look past it.

Overall, this was great. Hackett's book has a fresh new idea that walks the line between history and fantasy skillfully. It's a book that's really easy to get stuck into (once your tongue gets acclimated to the names!) I

I would recommend and I'm definitely keeping my eyes open for the next one.

It took me a while to get into the book - by chapters 5 and 6 it started to pick up for me. There is a lot of emotion, action, and a sense of mystery throughout the novel.

I thoroughly enjoy flashback scenes - this book has them clearly marked with clean cuts to them, so thank you, author!

As a historical fiction novel about Rome, I'll admit the names threw me off for a second, which I think is the reason it took me a bit to get into the book.

Overall, it's a solid choice - I've already recommended it to some people who enjoy tales of Rome and Greece to get their opinions on the book!

This book isn't like any that I've read before. It walks the line between history and greek mythology that made me very happy. It often times had you questioning what was actually possible/a part of written history and what was fiction. Those sort of stories always make me happy. It did take me a bit long to get invested in the characters of the book, but once I was invested it took hold. I look forward to recommending it to other fans of Greek and Roman mythology or anyone that likes things a bit more on the historical side.