Lion of the Sun

Warrior of Rome, Book 3

By: Harry Sidebottom

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

In Mesopotamia, AD 260, Ballista faces yet another enemy, the man the Syrians call The Lion of the Sun.

Betrayed by his most trusted adviser, Roman Emperor Valerian has been captured by the Sassanid barbarians. The shame of the vanquished beats down mercilessly like the desert sun as the frail old emperor prostrates himself before Shapur, king of kings. Ballista looks on helplessly but vows under his breath to avenge those who have brought the empire to the brink of destruction with their treachery. But first he must decide what price he will pay for his own freedom. Only the fearless and only those whom the gods will spare from hell can now save the empire from a catastrophic ending. Ballista, the warrior of Rome, faces his greatest challenge yet.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend us your ears: listen to another Warrior of Rome novel.©2010 Dr. Harry Sidebottom (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

great book

loving the characters. maximus and calgacus are easily the best. starting to hate Julia... unfortunate

I love this series

Would you listen to Lion of the Sun again? Why?

Yes, eventually I'll listen to the whole series again. It's simply so good. So much action, great story, characters and since it's historical fiction you learn many things too.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Lion of the Sun?

It's been months since I listened and I still remember the ambush.

If you could take any character from Lion of the Sun out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I'd take Ballista out get roaring drunk act obnoxious and let him kick the xxx out of anyone who gave us lip

Any additional comments?

Narrator is strong. Listen to a segment first. Either you'll really like it or hate it.
I just bought the 4th book because I don't have the patience to wait for it to come out on Audible.

Not bad, but where the series starts to go wrong

Picking up shortly after the end of the second book, the story is a bit meandering and full of wrong turns and dead ends. It's not bad, but the characters repeatedly make odd decisions that feel very much out of character. Additionally, the villains of this novel really suffer from movie villain syndrome, monologuing their plans and thoughts, continually underestimating their opponents for no real reason, and thinking themselves masters of the world right up until the end without any real self-awareness. Both Ballista and his wife Julia also make odd decisions, and the author decided that the only way to write Julia going forward was the overly modern "strong woman fighting the social conventions of her time, hating men while she does so!" rather than the interesting and strong wife, mother, and political player we saw in the last book. Ultimately, the conclusion of the books is ok, but many of the plot points introduced in this one are not resolved but allowed to fester and start to drag the book down.

Bottom line, decent conclusion to the first trilogy, but probably where things should have stopped. The characters start losing what makes them special, and start simply getting carried along by the plot.

Best one so far!

I must admit I gave the first book in this series a 3, but after listening to 4 I am exposed as not the best judge. 1) continuity of the narrator... Stefan Rudniki has a great voice and the importance of continuity is evident as he gives a personality to the characters. 2) darn good story line and I am used to Sidebottoms sometimes sudden jumps in scenes. 3) authors historical scholarship gives depth to the cultures and customs of all the characters and the lands they are in. 4) Darn good story line, did I say that before? Unfortunately this makes Caspian Gates a bit of a let down.
By comparison I started another authors series and was so dismayed by the lack of everything Sidebottom brings to the table that I could not even listen mindlessly in traffic and returned it.

Great Story

Love the warrior of Rome series. Ballista is a great character. The reader can’t help but root for him.

Action, Action, Action

Where does Lion of the Sun rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's one of the all time favorites for me, but I'm in a bit of a zombie phase right now

What other book might you compare Lion of the Sun to and why?

The Genghis Khan series, equal in action

Which scene was your favorite?

don't recall, I liked it all though

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Great historical fiction A+ story A- reading.

continue to enjoy Sidebottoms stories. Performance was good but could use some fine tuning to be great.

War is UGLY

Would you consider the audio edition of Lion of the Sun to be better than the print version?

Never read the print version and most likely wouldn't

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ballista, he is the main character and his character grows with each action he takes.

Which character – as performed by Stefan Rudnicki – was your favorite?

All the characters Stefan Fudnicki does are great, he's a fantastic narrator. He brings each character to life with just the right accents, and emotion

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Balista learns his wife and sons killed (or believed so)

Any additional comments?

War in ancient times be it in Rome or any other time when inhumanity shows its ugly face can be only expressed as in a book like this one. The descriptive horror of every action, and consequence of the actions, especially by anyone who has the ability to see right from wrong. is really shattering, when choices are taken away from people. That is what war does, and turns ordinary individuals to do things they would never do under other circumstances. Great story, full of action and can truly turn you off from war.

Ballista goes Ballistic!! Thumbs up

Sidebottom does another great Job not turning a historical fiction into a boring 'study' he must have to teach as a professor. Many teachers have difficulty writing novels that do not put u asleep, BUT he has woven an in-depth group of characters & a rich, completely entertaining battle strewn life as a Roman war leader, I'm looking fwd to any new books he writes

I highly recommend this series if u like roman dynasty legends, but be ready for not only complexity but rather gory details (I love it), plus Rudniki is always a great narrator

As great as pasts 1 and 2

Good stuff. Some adventures, a little introspection but fortunately only a little. A good mixing of facts with an excellent storyline. If you want excitement and twists then this is good. Leaves you wondering how to get to good ending.