The Noise of War

In this work, Davis continues Sertorius’s story, delving more into his relationship and experiences on Marius’s leadership. When Marius sends him on an undercover job, Sertorius must use his wits and skills as a soldier and horseman to survive and even glean the admiration of the Gallic tribes, united against the Romans. The rest of the book deftly describes the ensuing battle.

The absolute strength of this series is the perspective Davis has as a soldier himself. He’s a talented writer, but his mind is that of a warrior, and it bleeds into every word, situation, and characterization. As in the first book, there are occasional typos, but Davis has done his homework on the late Roman Republic, and I’m hooked.

This is book two in the series; I had not read book one but had no trouble picking up the story. Told in first person, our protagonist Quintus Sertorius was one of the few ragged, beat-up survivors of the battle of Arausio. Rome suffered a terrible defeat and Quintus felt shamed that he lived when so many others, including his brother, died heroically. I would say that the whole book is devoted to his attempt to redeem himself. No one—except perhaps Quintus—would deny that he succeeded. Put into situations that would deter many a lesser man, Quintus not only succeeded in his missions, he went beyond all expectations. Perhaps he had a death wish; if so, he was denied that atonement.

Once General (and Counsul) Marius returned to the area, Quintus and his little band of companions rejoined the legion. Quintus was known to Marius and was reestablished in the great man’s favor. My knowledge of Marius and Sulla comes from Colleen McCullough (First Man in Rome), and these characters are written in the same mode; they felt very familiar. A New Man (in other words, not a noble), Marius was heroic, unbeaten, and fearless, but he still had to prove himself every step of the way. Sulla, on the other hand, was an aristocrat down on his luck. But he believed in his destiny and used Marius as a stepping-stone, hating him all the time. Both of them had a use for Quintus, who was sent to spy on the Tectosages, allies of the formidable Cimbri; they needed to be stopped before all the tribes joined forces. Naturally, Quintus was terrified; this had never been done before. How was he going to prove himself before they killed him? He obviously didn’t belong:

“It’s best you leave before you get yourself hurt,” the father said, his drunk sons cackling behind him. It was clear that they weren’t concerned for my safety.
“I’ll fight any man here to prove I’m able,” I said, spitting out the words before I could stop myself. As they turned around and sized me up, I immediately regretted my words. The Gallic prisoner had told me I must do this, but I wondered if I could have avoided it, if only for a bit longer. Too late now, though.
“Is that right?” the father said.
“Any man among you,” I said again, doubling down on my stupidity.
All eyes turned to one of the younger men, and it made sense why. As tall as all the other barbarians, this man was larger than the rest. His calves were thicker than my thighs, and the muscles of his back extended so that his arms hung out like wings.

Needless to say, since he lived to tell the tale Quintus did well, even if he did take a couple of knocks. His information helped the Romans win the battle against the Tectosages, and then they had to take on the real enemy, two hundred thousand strong. This was to be Marius’s finest hour, and the battle against the Cimbri literally saved Rome. Quintus was there every step of the way, and his story gave us a good piece of history. I came away with a significant understanding of life in the Roman legions, good and bad, and how formidable they were even against impossible odds. Well recommended.

I was acquainted with this period because of Colleen McCullough’s Caesar series. There are definite differences between the two depictions of the battle between the German tribe involved and the Romans lead by Marius. What goes before the battle is also quite different in this book. No problem: both are entertaining and realistic. And, although the Romans left excellent records, not everything is described and so fiction writers are left on their own to flesh out the details.

I think the author faithfully represented the actual events portrayed in the book.

This was a very good book. The only downside was that there were a number of misspelled words in it.

Very realistic

The Noise of War is a very realistic portrayal of a dark time in Roman history when the Germanic Cimbri had just inflicted upon Rome one of the most significant defeats the Republic ever suffered—the loss of 90,000 legionnaires. Davis does an excellent job of portraying the fear this loss generates and the personal scorn that the survivors suffer for the loss. He also succeeds in creating a genuine sense of what makes the barbarians so distinctive.

It takes a long time to get to the battles in this novel and I wish I knew more about the accounts of the actual war because a couple of the “tricks” that are used didn’t feel credible to me. For example, if the legionnaires can stand on a hilltop looking down at barbarians relaxing in the river, you would think the barbarians could see them as well and might start scrambling to arm and armor themselves while Marius makes his speech. The cavalry trick also seemed unlikely to me, but the strange thing about reality is that sometimes it is the most unlikely tricks that win the day. The novel was obviously thoroughly researched, so on balance I tend to credit the author’s portrayal over my skepticism.

And that really is the great strength of this book. This novel is so well researched that it makes you feel like you are walking the streets of Rome 2100 years ago, and that really is an amazing accomplishment.

I received this book free from Audiobook Boom in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent book. Great characters and story. Waiting for next book to be released.

I really don’t like real long tales — this one was super long. I do like history, and this had a real interesting slant on history. In fact I had a hard time putting it down when I had to, and twice I had to do that for a day. The slant on Roman history given here was absorbing. I wonder if that is how we got our draft program. I recommend it to your reading..

Entertaining. well Written.