Review

What happens when two very talented and prolific authors get their heads together and come up with an idea…. The result can be pure genius.

Simon Turney and Gordon Doherty with over 56 novels between them have really become among the best individual writers in their genre, but combining their talents… that was something new and would need a huge amount of cooperation and discussion. Thankfully these two friends have meshed together their talents and voices seamlessly.

Sons of Rome is a story that grabs you from the first page, it follows both Maxentius and Constantine from childhood , through their growth to power and how they survive the perilous intrigue and back stabbing that forms the daily life in the courts of Emperors, how their personalities and Psyche were formed, how they developed into such powerful figures of history.

Both of these authors are characters writers and creators, in their various series they have a skill that breathes life into dusty history, adding flesh to these famous names is not enough, they want you to love their creations, to root for them, to become invested in them, but with diverging agendas you find yourself invested in two people who are destined to become at odds with one another, its a strange feeling. The style of one author writing Constantine and the other Maxentius and then having them staggered through the books adds a frenetic pace to the reading of this book, you cant put it down because you want to find out what Constantine did next, then how did Maxtenius react to that…. and on and on until…. suddenly the book is over and you’re left desperate to have more.

I honestly put this book as a really contender for book of the year, its a brilliant achievement, and one i encourage you all to read.

(Parm)

Two of the greatest historical fiction authors on one book?! Count me in! I have been impatiently waiting for this collaborative effort and was thrilled when I was able to read it.

The story follows two would be Roman emperors throughout their lives, each character is written distinctly differently (I dare guess one author per main character?) which really gives you a sense and feel for two completely different people and personalities in the book. I'm sure that's tough with one author writing two people, so I have no doubt that Turney and Doherty each writing one and coming together on the rest was a massive benefit to the story. I found myself completely engrossed in the story, turning pages well past a decent hour, only to be horribly saddened at the end. Now begins the long wait for the next entry into the series!

I absolutely loved everything about this book. While it may seem a bit slow to some I feel that's to be expected with the first entry into a series.

I must say that I think both authors must have lived a previous life in this age as their research and level of detail is amazing.
This is a great story but one that you have to immerse yourself in. It is well written but i just did not get drawn in to the story so that I was addictively wanting to turn on to the red the next page. I can understand that this can be difficult of a story of such magnitude and so much detail needing to be explained but I just needed something that would keep bringing me back to the book.

This is the first in a series of books and I am excitedly looking forward to the second book

I’ve been looking forward to this book for years. I’m a very big fan of both Turney and Doherty, and they’ve long mentioned this joint enterprise, so I was hugely excited to get cracking with this.

Told from the point of view of two Roman Emperors, from childhood to their rise to the purple, this is a very well written book. The two men have very distinctive voices, and as they’re written by the two authors separately, we get two very different viewpoints on the events taking place.

Where I felt a little let down was with the pacing of the novel. I love both these authors for their ability to write books that race along at a pace. With this book, I felt the story was slightly stilted however, and I found it easy to put the book down.

So let’s hope book 2 ups the pace, I’m still very much looking forward to it.