Ancient history comes vividly to life in this novel of a dying Rome and its great battle against the forces of Attila the Hun. Most interestingly, Dietrich took real historical events and wove them into a colorful tale with very few fictional characters.Jonas Alabanda is a young scribe living in Constantinople, the eastern seat of the Roman Empire, when he is given the opportunity of a lifetime to join an envoy to Attila the Hun’s court as a chronicler and interpreter. Unbeknownst to Jonas and most members of the Roman party, treachery is afoot. Underestimating the loyalty of the Huns to their king, one of the Romans approaches a Hun soldier with an offer of gold if he will assassinate Attila. The Hun tells Attila of the Roman plot, however, and Attila murders part of their party, sends others home in disgrace, and keeps Jonas as a hostage.Also hostage in Attila’s camp is a young Roman woman named Ilana, taken after the siege of Axiopolis. Along with a dwarf who befriends them, Jonas and Ilana form an alliance and make plans to escape back into the Roman Empire with a relic sacred to the Huns. When their plans go awry, Jonas must still get back to the Romans and tell them what he knows of the Huns. Rome must gather its allies and prepare to fight the battle to end all battles, believed by many at the time to be the Apocalypse. I am not an avid reader of respected historical fiction, but I like to read a little bit of everything, and in my opinion, this was a darned good book. The fifth century came brilliantly alive, giving a picture of everyday life 16 centuries ago in a way that made me feel as if I was there. The harshness of life, both with the barbarians and “civilized” Romans, was quite evident in almost every scene, yet it was easy to relate to the timelessly human characters. I’m lucky I discovered Dietrich when he was writing modern thrillers, and bought this book on the strength of his name. It was well worth reading, and I look forward to experiencing his other historicals, as well.
This is a dramatization of Attila the Hun's invasion of Roman Europe. I'm very happy that I've read this because I always confuse Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan. You know..."Wait, is Attila the 5th century scourge of God or the 15th century scourge of God?" It turns out he's the one from the the 5th century.Apart from the exciting (and remarkably clear)fight scenes, what I really enjoyed about this book was the history lesson. It's a great idea of what the end of the Roman Empire must have looked like. It wasn't so much that the empire "collapsed" as it was kind of dismantled. Although Imperial influence wained, the "barbarian" tribes (like the Goths and Franks)who were taking over Roman lands found themselves emulating and imitating Roman "civilization," albeit poorly. The remnants of the Roman empire in these lands found themselves making deals instead of governing. For example, a local warlord, chief or decurion would be charged with patrolling and keeping safe a particular valley, and their recompense would be permission to levy taxes. There were no longer uniforms, weapons or even soldiers coming from an increasingly remote and out of touch Imperial center; instead, local authority figures ended up seeing themselves as the representative of Rome in their particular valley. The reader can then see the beginnings of medieval feudalism in such a governing model. At this point, all that was required was the recognition that Rome had no real control over that particular valley and another chunk of the empire would dismantle itself.
What do You think about The Scourge Of God (2005)?
Attila the Hun. Everyone has heard of him but so little known of him. His life is legendary and and fascinating. Nicknamed the Scourge of God, he challenged and nearly defeated Rome.This book follows Jonas who is a Roman scribe in an envoy to Attila the Hun. Jonas meets Illana and Skilla. The former he falls in love with the latter becomes his nemesis. For a book titled after Attila it took a while for the Scourge of God to appear. I did find the romance bearably off-putting. This was countered by the surprisingly fascinating side stories of Skilla and Zerco, a dwarf jester. Attila's life and soap opera-ish entanglements with his foes are unbelievable and more twisted than most fiction created nowadays. This book does a fantastic job of bringing his life to life.
—Wellington
Historical fiction, 450 AD. Attila the Hun invades Western Europe, destroying everything in his path. He lost, kind of, but not before leaving a really big scar. He is maybe as bad a guy as anyone in history. No doubt the Romans had it coming, but they stood for something at least, for civilization. All the Huns did was burn and kill.Again I am interested why these tribesmen came off the Asian Steppe (High Plains) at least three times to obliterate everything they found. Maybe their culture reached a critical mass where cities and civilization were required to maintain a cohesive group, and instead of building them they let off the pressure by attacking far and wide. Living on the plains as I do now, I can see how living there made them really damn tough. It is just a hard place. Especially for a nomadic people living off the land.The same thing happened here in North America. The Plains tribes were far and away the most formidable on this continent, and took to the horse as the center of their existence. Apaches, Comanches, Sioux, Crow, Nez Perce, etc. Lived in movable tepees. The land made the same culture and adaptations on two sides of the world. That is a thought I could follow a long way...I think the Hyksos that attacked and occupied ancient Egypt around 2000BC, the Huns that attacked Rome and Europe around the 400AD, and the Mongols in the 1200's were the exact same crew, mostly unchanged but separated by centuries or millenia. From physical descriptions there is no doubt they were of the same race, and the cultural basis and geographical origin of each is identical, even to the yurts they lived in and tactics they used. And the weapons. Specifically the composite recurved bow paired with overwhelming mounted attack.
—Michael
2nd book read by this author. Detailed fictional story of Attila the Hun and his hordes and the last battle of the Roman legions in Gaul (modern-day France). Fact blended with stories--some true characters and others created by the author. The weakness of the western Roman empire (ruled by a weak emperor in Rome) combined with the desperation of the eastern empire--based in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul, Turkey). I've read many books about the Roman empire but few about its end times and none (until now) about the peoples' lives as it fell apart around them.
—Denise
