- Hardcover: 368 pages
- Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (Feb 19 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060563710
- ISBN-13: 978-0060563714
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.3 x 3.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 612 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #911,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
The limit of Roman imperial expansion in Britannia is marked by Hadrian's Wall, a fortification constructed in the second century A.D. to keep the northern barbarians from invading Rome's island province. Award-winning author Dietrich's fourth novel is an epic historical drama of warfare, treachery and political intrigue centered on Rome's most remote and desolate frontier outpost. In the fourth century A.D., the Celtic barbarians are restless, revolt is imminent and the hard-pressed Roman garrison on the frontier has a new cavalry commander. Brutally efficient veteran soldier Galba is replaced by scholarly aristocrat Marcus, whose appointment is the payoff of an arranged marriage to a senator's daughter. When Marcus's beautiful young wife, Valeria, arrives at the frontier, she becomes an unwitting pawn in the plots of Galba, Marcus and the Celtic chieftain, Arden Caratacus. Marcus seeks glory and a return to the comforts of Rome; Galba seeks power and revenge; and Caratacus seeks freedom from Roman oppression. All three men covet Valeria, but for very different reasons, eventually driving her to betray them all in a desperate effort to save them from war and disaster. Murder, betrayal, witchcraft and shifting loyalties add suspense and tension to this vivid tale. Dietrich's descriptions of Roman-style battle are bloody and graphic, with legionnaires wielding shield and sword against naked barbarians shrieking and swinging battleaxes. Dietrich is in top form with this rousing tale.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Dietrich realistically re-creates the tumult and the confusion that characterized Rome's last-gasp attempt to retain its stronghold in Britannia as the empire faltered and began to crumble in the latter half of the fourth century. Built early in the second century, Hadrian's Wall was both an engineering and a military marvel. Eighty miles long, the impressive barrier separated Roman Britain from the barbaric Celtic tribes ever threatening the border. Passed over as commander of the Petriana Cavalry for purely political reasons, battle-hardened Galba Bassidias hatches a treasonous plot to disgrace Lucius Marcus Flavius, the ambitious aristocrat sent to usurp him. When Marcus' betrothed, Valeria, a senator's daughter, arrives from Rome, Galba immediately begins to manipulate them both. However, Valeria proves more resourceful and resilient than Galba ever imagined. Kidnapped by a Celt employed by Galba, she falls in love with her captor, provoking a battle that signals the beginning of the end for both Hadrian's Wall and the mighty Roman Army in Britain. Page-turning historical fiction seething with action, adventure, and passion. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
No one knows better than I just how big our empire is. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
No one knows better than I just how big our empire is. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Big Disappointment,
By
This review is from: Hadrian's Wall: A Novel (Hardcover)
I picked up this book expecting historical fiction but what I got was a Harlequin Romance novel. I have read every book written by William Dietrich and was initially very excited by the fact he had a new book out combined with the promise of a bit of Roman/British history. Heck, the picture on the cover draws you in and the reputation of the author seals the deal. However, try reading it. Easily 3/4 of the book is about the adventures of a brainless, clueless and genuinely annoying daughter of a Roman senator who is sent out to Brittania to marry Marcus, the new commander of the garrison at one point on the wall. He's a weakling and she doesn't know what shes supposed to be doing as his new wife.She gets captured, then rescued. Then she's captured again and live with the Celts and learns to appreciate them and falls in love with their chieftan, Arden. After living with the Celts throughout most of the book, learning their "strange ways", she still doesn't know whether to leave or stay. Her first attempt to escape goes awry because she gets lost. After many boring months, she finds out that Arden and her husband's rival, Galba are plotting to overthrow the wall garrisons so the Celts can successfully invade lower (south of Hadrain's Wall) Britain. So she escapes again, successfully this time, aand warns her idiot husband, who, not only disbelieves her, but arrests her as a traitor. Man, at this point you wish someone would off her because everything she does turns out worse. There is finally a battle at the end, but a very small one and an unsatisfying outcome. For historical fiction, it doesn't need to be set in Roman times, nor at Hadrian's wall. It's simply a bad romance novel that promised so much more. The only thing I wonder is why I read it to the end. Ah, Mr. Dietrich, go back to writing books with likeable and interesting characters, like I know you can.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Historical fiction mixed with romance and historical speculation,
By
This review is from: Hadrian's Wall: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
Hadrian's Wall by William Dietrich mixes the culture of a declining Roman empire with the "barbaric" non-Romans of early Britain (Celts, Scottis, etc.) in a love triangle (quadrangle) story. As with his other works of historical fiction, Mr. Dietrich researchs the geographical areas and history of where/what he is writing about, and combines fictional characters with historical.
Valeria, a Roman senator's daughter, is sent to marry Marcus Flavius, who is named Tribune at Hadrian's Wall (built by Roman Emperor Hadrian to keep the barbarians out of the Roman part of Britain) because of this arranged marriage to Valeria. Marcus is replacing Galba Brassidias, a career Roman soldier who has spent his life at the wall and resents being replaced for political reasons by someone with less experience. Valeria is almost kidnapped before her marriage by Arden Caratacus, a Celt and former Roman who lives beyond the Wall in the wild north. He eventually does capture her (with Galba's hidden assistance) and takes her back with him to live. Although I did enjoy this novel, it did not possess as much history, locale and cultuer as Bill's other historical fiction novels, Napolean's Pyramids and The Scourge of God. Hadrian's Wall was more about the story of Valeria and her romances than about the times and surroundings, which were more balanced in the other two novels.
3.0 out of 5 stars
If you like romance novels, this one is pretty good,
By
This review is from: Hadrian's Wall: A Novel (Hardcover)
I was fooled by the cover and endorsements on the jacket. I was expecting Roman Legions battling it out with barbarians. There is one great battle at the end, but this is really a romance novel set in 375 AD Britain. Tribune Galba Brassidius expects to be the new commander of the Petriana cavalry at the Hadrian Wall fort Petrianais, but he is supplanted by an inexperienced Praefectus, Marcus Flavius, from Rome. Marcus has obtained the post through a financial arrangement with a Roman senator. In exchange for money, Marcus gets the new posting and the hand of the senator's daughter, Valeria. This arrangement gives him the prestige of a senatorial connection, and a field command to further his career. An irate Galba has his own agenda. He has been dealing on both sides of Hadrian's Wall, and he enlists the aide of a Celtic Chieftain, Arden Caratacus, to kidnap Valeria. Galba hopes to incite war between the Celts and Romans and get Marius killed, take his wife, and in the process, become a hero. A naive Valeria loathes Galba's crude advances, is puzzled by her husband's indifference, ignores the worship of young tribune Clodius, and struggles with her growing feelings for the young Celt, Arden. Valeria also ignores the advice of her wise slave Savia. Much of the story is related in the aftermath by Roman investigator Draco, who is trying to piece together the cause of the catastrophe.
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