This books reminds me of a sweatshirt that I have that rougly says in Latin "if you can read this you are overeducated". This is a witty, erudite lampoon of Roman and Greek life, literature, politics etc. The book is in the same vein as "1066 and All of That" a famous treatment of British history. However, like most satires , it helps to know the original. This is not a book for those ignorant of the Classical worlds. It is a great book for those who suffered through dead languages in high school & would like to pretend like they remember any of it. I also recomend Ross Leckie's other books: Hannibal and Scipio, which are fictional treatments (novels) of these military leader's lives. But, Leckie wraps a lot of wonderful detail around the tale so, the stories come to life.

Whilst I concede the Mr Leckie's prose style is easily-paced and therefore Hannibal is the kind of book you could probably read in a single afternoon, all this book really achieves is to prove you cannot write a fictional biography of one of history's most captivating figures in a mere 241 pages. I had high hopes because a full third of those pages dealt with Hannibal's boyhood where the author is at full license to use his imagination given the lack of historical detail for Hannibal. But it almost as though Mr Leckie gets bored and rushes through the end in order to begin writing Scipio. Historical inaccuracies aside, the life of Hannibal deserves a better account than the author has attempted and I think it is safe to say that the definitive fictional biography of Hannibal has yet to be written. If you like historical fiction set in the Roman period buy it, if not, don't.

I didn't know anything about Hannibal before, and maybe (if the other reviews are right) I still don't, but this book is just fun. I do wish the author had spent a little more time on some of the later battles, but as a story its a great read.

I was instantly attracted to this book, especially because I didn't know much about Hannibal, Carthage or the Punic wars. I thought reading this book was a pleasure and I sure learned a few things that I will carry with me for a long time.

I personally liked the style of Mr. Ross Leckie and I think he has conducted his tale very well. The story is very interesting in itself, especially because it is about such a legend and it is passed in a very famous historical period. The character Hannibal is immensely interesting, with his hate for Rome and his courage to challenge and actually scare the most powerful nation of his time. His tactics, the times, the different races and ancient nations certainly add to the beauty of this story.

There are some bad reviews, but I think most of them are from people who have very solid historical backgrounds or a deep admiration for Hannibal. Surely this book is not the most accurate or perfect book written about Hannibal, but I don't believe this was the intention of the author, anyway. This book is a novel, and as novel it performs its role very well.

If you generally like the historical fiction genre, I have a strong feeling that you will enjoy this book very much. If you want to learn something about Hannibal and the Punic Wars and Carthage, in a pleasant package, I also think you will like this book. If you have a deep interest for history or demands total fidelity to historical records, you'd be happier with a biography or something similar.

I have not read Leckie's Hannibal, and based on this book, Scipio, I won't bother. The book wanders aimlessly through the early life of Scipio Africanus in the stereotypical way that novels written as memoirs do. We hear about little Publius growing up, learning Greek, admiring his father from a distance, losing his virginity, and so on. All of this is dealt with in no order and with no urgency, with constant interruptions from Bostar, the clerk recording Scipio's tale. The fact that Bostar was once Hannibal's clerk is an annoying absurdity.

Once things do begin to get interesting the book becomes rushed, and everything is hurried and skimmed over with no detail. At least Bostar's interjections end at this point. I understand that, within the story, there are reasons why Scipio must finish his memoir in haste. But that doesn't make for a better read.

Rebublican Rome is a fascinating period peopled with fascinating characters. Absolutely none of this comes through in this book. Avoid.

Having read Hannibal, I was extremely keen to see what went into the sequel. I have to say that the first third or so of Scipio is very good. His chatacterisation of Hannibal was excellent, and that of Scipio arguably even better. The use of Bostar as narrator serves very admirably to provide continuity with Hannibal. Having said that, the novel starts to trail off after Scipio's early military experiences. It's not Leckie's historical accuracy that bothers me - it isn't spot on to say the least but then neither is Graves in I, Claudius so you can't hold that against him. The problem seems to be that Leckie is so keen to make this novel different from Hannibal (rather than just portray the same events from the other side's viewpoint)that he skates over the campaigns in Spain and that leading up to Zama with startling diregard. I felt a little cheated by this, I have to say. Leckie is of the "Scipio was Hannibal's greatest pupil" school which is all very well but firstly some of us don't agree with that and secondly, those who are less familiar with the period should be allowed to draw their own conclusions - this novel won't give them that chance. Leckie's characterisations are terrifc though - including that of the supporting cast; I loved Fabius and was pleased to see an author portray Cato as the ill-mannered, puritanical oaf he undoubtedly was. If you liked Hannibal then read this, just be aware that it doesn't maintain the standard of the first section.

Its not as good as Hannibal, but Ross Leckie has made a very interesting account of almost the same events he described in the first novel, but from the other side, the Romans. It was a lot of fun reading the detailed reactions of the romans as Hannibal dealt them blow after blow, and to follow the adventures of Bostar, from the original novel, it made a good link. All in all, if you read the first one, u cannot miss Scipio.

I bought this book thinking this was Historical fiction...I was wrong, this is trash, one of the most ridiculous books I've ever read, he doesn't know squat, and his characters are ludicrous, badly written and boring.

Ross Leckie writes exciting, thrilling storys, but a writer should not work in historical fiction if he doesn't know anything about the period is writing. Every time ross goes for some detail...it's COMPLETELY WRONG...he dont even know that a primus pilus (primipilus) is the first centurion of the first cohort. If you want to read historical novels about rome, try Steven Saylor or the marvelous Colleen McCullough. Mr. Ross, You don't have to be a scholar to write historical fiction, but please...read one or two books before you write your novels.

This is actually the last book in a trilogy but the first of the trilogy that I have read. I very much enjoyed this novel. No, it's not pretty and there are no characters who are all good or all bad....pretty much like real-life. The previous novels have received VERY mixed reviews and I suspect this will be no different.
This is not history romantacized so it gets pretty rough sometimes but it is a good story with seemingly excellent character depiction. Also, one must bear in mind, it is a historically based NOVEL....license is taken.
If for nothing else....I was introduced to the wonder of the city of Carthage.
I have since purchased the first two novels in this trilogy and am ready to proceed.....more so now that I have read the mixed reviews as I am now very curious to see what my eventual feelings are on these novels.
In any case, I found this to be an intelligently written, thoughtful book and would recommend it. Take your time reading it...the more time you give this book the more you will get out of it.