The Noise of War by Vincent B Davis II

I received a free copy of the audiobook from the author in return for an honest review. This in no way impacts my opinions.

The City of Kings is the newest novel in the First Earth Saga, in a world Rob J Hayes has been building for a long time. If you haven’t read the author’s work before, have no fear of jumping in here, as the standalone is written in a way that includes characters from previous books, without excluding new readers (although I believe it does add to experience), he’s gotten good at skills like that. Anyway…

The Wildlings are on the verge of regaining their home, eh, the Wilds, from the Blooded who have ruled with an iron fist for too long. One final city stands in their way, the Crucible, home of the Brekovich (probably spelt wrongly) family, the worst of the Blooded. Rose, Black Thorn and company have the fortress in their sights, but have the tall order of getting inside. Not only do they face the army of Crucible, but there are worse things in their way on the outside. Can the Wildling scale the walls and end the Blooded, or will they fall at their last and biggest hurdle.

Worldbuilding

If you like books about the Romans, then this world seem very familiar to you. More importantly, this world will feel very authentic. The Roman camps and city, the posturing of the various leaders (many of whom were real people), and also those of their enemies, both Celt and Germanic. If this is all utterly new to you, you’ll still enjoy the level of detail in a relatively short book.

Score – 4/5

Characters 

It’s hard not to root for Quintus Settorius. We meet him just off the tragic battle of book one, and THEN he gets put through the ringer. Rather than throw in the towel, he fights for the one thing he has left to believe in – Rome. Rather than blindly buy into it, he does question how strong this belief is, such as when he meets weak tribunes or visits the slave pits. His own slave, becomes his friend, and their relationship doesn’t seem forced at any time. Even Quintus’ guilt for riding his horse into war seems genuine. While the other characters are likeable (even some of the enemy), Marius is also a force of nature, ruling with an iron fist, but not so harsh as to rule through fear. His soldiers believe in him, and the author paints an almost legendary portrait of the man. If the author missed out on one thing, he never covered how Quintus dealt with fighting the few comrades he made in the Cimbri camp, but a minor quibble. 

Score – 4.5/5

Plot

The plot is great, as Quintus’ faith in himself and his country (city) is shaken to the very foundation, but his journey through the book is very much a voyage of rediscovery. This probably sounds cheesy, but I can honestly say I never felt this was the case. While the book is all about Quintus, many of the other characters have their backstory going on that we get to see through the eyes of our hero. It’s well fleshed out, and the book seems like a complete standalone, even though it’s a sequel and leaves room for future expansion.

Score – 4.5/5

Writing

The writing is top-notch, with wonderfully evocative despriptions of people, places and things, together with the skilled world and character building. His eye for small details in the biggest of events, and he paints sympathetic characters throughout, I think a real gem in this experience for me was narrator Joshua Saxon. This is the second JS book I’ve listened to out of the last three (No Sharks in the Med), and he has been stellar, even more so in this book. He captures the essence of Quintus well, from jaded to hopeful, and masters a large cast of characters. If you want to pick a flaw, he uses a variety of British accents, even when Quintus switches to his Gallic cover. This is a small thing though (did we expect it to be written in Latin), and we’ve put up with it for years on TV and in the movies.

Score – 5/5

Personal Enjoyment

The phrase “I couldn’t put it down” doesn’t really work with an audiobook, so let’s go with “I couldn’t turn it off” and worked my through it in a few days, whereas I often take longer with audio than reading. As I said, I love historical fiction, and this is one of my favourite eras, so it’s a win-win for me. If you’re a HF fan, check this one out. If you’re not but you want to try, this could be a good jumping off point for you.

Score – 5/5

Verdict

A rollicking adventure through Roman Gaul.

Total Score – 23/25