Come on Mr. Napier, Did they really speak like that in those days?
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I am so disappointed. I was expecting a realistic account of Atilla`s exploits, set with historical accuracy, but this book has so much "filler" that I am debating whether to read what I`ve got left or just give it up as a bad job! It seems to me that Mr Napier thought to himself that he could stretch the story into 3 or 4 volumes by writing about Atilla`s teenage years in Rome, and using very modern language, including swear-words that just don`t fit with me. He did this and bored me! Perhaps you should start with the 2nd volume and give volume 1 a miss! If you want some serious historical fiction, I can thoroughly recommend the "Young Bloods" series about Wellington and Napoleon by Simon Scarrow and the "Crusade" series by Robyn Young. I can`t wait for the next volumes in these series to be published, but as for "Atilla"!!!!
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Attila the first
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First book I've read from William Napier. Overall I enjoyed it very much. Had periods when it bored me then annoyed me then gripped me with the story and characters. Did everything for me. look forward to reading the second one
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Top of the Class
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This is a quite beautifully written and characterized historical blockbuster - very unusual combination! there are some great set piece battle scenes and confronations, a real drive and energy in the emerging iron will of this terrifying warlord Attila, bewitching and very charismatic and yet also hugely destructive but there are also lovely descriptive passages which totally transport you back to the Dark Ages, and the wilds of the East, even as far as Mongolia (I think!) which is where most of this book takes place, as Attila forges his people into a war machine and gathers other tribes to him, ready for the Final Conflict with Rome, can't wait for the Book Three, needless to say, but this is wonderful middle part, full of epic journeys and dangers and astonishing, almost mythical landscapes and savage adventures. This author is in a class of his own, as far as I'm concerned, in this genre.
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Second Book in the Series
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In the first book The Scourge of God, the Vandals and the Visigoths, large barbarian nations have sensed that the time is right for them to challenge the right of the Roman Empire but a new power has been rising in the East. A nation of horse riding warrior who have just found themselves a new leader. The nation called the Huns are led by Attila.
The boy exiled thirty years ago, is now a man. A man who lived away from his own people for such a length of time that he almost began to believe he was no longer one of them. That was only when he despaired that he would ever see his own people again. But that was then and this is now . . .
Attila is now preparing to ride out to unite all the feuding tribes under one single banner, his own. Attila has chosen his time well. His strength of character and iron will mould the petty squabbling of the tribes into a horde of warriors the like of which the world has never seen before or will again. An empire, full of gold and silver. Grown fat on its own rich pickings lies waiting for them . . . The Roman Empire, once invincible but now a shadow of its former glory.
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The Return of the King
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The Return of the King, as it were, has Attila returning to his almost forgotten tribe after thirty years in exile, and it's a very memorable return! Then we have some stuff about Athenais in Constantinople, which seems like a bit of a distraction, but it does fill in some useful history. And then in the second half its just a wild gallop of a story, as Attila and his Chosen Generals marshal their forces, and seem to conquer half the world in a few weeks of summer! Half the world being Central Asia. It's great stuff though, with a deer hunt that reads like Wilbur Smith at his best, and some set piece battle scenes like a punch in the guts. I always like this writer's characters too, I think their really well drawn. Sometimes he goes off into cul-de-sacs, but I tihnk you do learn a lot of solid, colourful history from this little known period, and on the whole this middle volume is a rocking good read!
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