Publishers: Preface
Pages: 448
Main Characters:
Hanno, Quintus, Aurelia
Based on
Sicily, Hannibal: Clouds of War is
the third book in Ben Kane's Hannibal
series. After the catastrophic defeat at Cannae, the war in Italy lulls as Rome
and Hannibal assess the damage to their armies and plot their next move.
The theater of war shifts to Sicily, where our three heroes become entangled on the island in the Roman effort to capture Syracuse from Hannibal's allies Hippocrates and his brother Epicydes.
Quintus is part of the disgraced Roman army exiled to Sicily and camped around the ancient city of Syracuse. After settling in to the life of a Hastati, Quintus's pride and arrogance get him into trouble with a new Centurion called Pera. Beating him in a horse race, Quintus has watch his back as he has another enemy in his own ranks. However, unlike Marcerio, the new Centurion has substantial power over Quintus's future.
Gaining glory in the war against Rome and proving he is the most mature of his two brothers, Hanno is handpicked by Hannibal for a secret and deadly mission. Hannibal wants Hanno to travel to Syracuse and advise the two sibling dictators ruling there to ensure that the city does not fall into Roman hands. However, spying does not come easily to Hanno and he must balance the two different personalities of the brothers to ensure that chaos does not arise in the Syracusian defence.
Aurelia is the matriarch of her own household and busies herself with the care of her young son Publius. Although her marriage to Melito is loveless, it nevertheless has been successful.
However, when news reaches her that Melito has been injured in the city of Rhegium, Aurelia rushes to be at her husband's side. She must make the journey through perilous waters and risk the wrath of the Carthaginian navy and the Sicilian slavers if her vessel is caught.
I have to admit that this book has been my least favourite in the series so far. I get a feeling that this was a sort of 'filler' novel in the series between the more famous battles Hannibal faces in Italy. This is because it was based around the siege of Syracuse, in which for a long time nothing really happens. Kane tries to make up for this by adding the intrigue of Quintus's enemy Pera and by trying to make Hanno an undercover spy; even though he doesn't seem to do much spying!
I understand that this lull was true in history as the war moved to Sicily, with Hannibal hoping to ensure an easy route through the Mediterranean for his troops and supplies. However, I felt like this book was purely written to set up something huge to come in the next couple of novels, such as the war in Hispania and Hannibal's eventual defeat (sorry for spoilers).
Nevertheless, as the saying goes 'the devil's in the detail' and as always Kane packs this novel with historical depth and description. I especially like this in his explanation of the Syracusian defences and of Archimedes’s machines of war. The deadly crossbows, catapults and sea hooks give a sense of the formidable task the Legionaries faced when scaling Syracuse's walls, whilst also being historically accurate which I especially liked!
As I said above, this was my least favourite book in the series so far.
However, that isn't to say it's a bad novel. The detail was amazing and the sub
plots of Quintus and Centurion Pera did add a lot to this novel. Plus the story
of the massacre of Enna was very entertaining. Nevertheless, it still felt that
this book was a filler novel for later books in the series. If Kane had
released it as a standalone story with different characters I think I would have
enjoy it more. But in this series it didn't stand up to the first two novels
(because they were so good!).
The theater of war shifts to Sicily, where our three heroes become entangled on the island in the Roman effort to capture Syracuse from Hannibal's allies Hippocrates and his brother Epicydes.
Quintus is part of the disgraced Roman army exiled to Sicily and camped around the ancient city of Syracuse. After settling in to the life of a Hastati, Quintus's pride and arrogance get him into trouble with a new Centurion called Pera. Beating him in a horse race, Quintus has watch his back as he has another enemy in his own ranks. However, unlike Marcerio, the new Centurion has substantial power over Quintus's future.
Gaining glory in the war against Rome and proving he is the most mature of his two brothers, Hanno is handpicked by Hannibal for a secret and deadly mission. Hannibal wants Hanno to travel to Syracuse and advise the two sibling dictators ruling there to ensure that the city does not fall into Roman hands. However, spying does not come easily to Hanno and he must balance the two different personalities of the brothers to ensure that chaos does not arise in the Syracusian defence.
Aurelia is the matriarch of her own household and busies herself with the care of her young son Publius. Although her marriage to Melito is loveless, it nevertheless has been successful.
However, when news reaches her that Melito has been injured in the city of Rhegium, Aurelia rushes to be at her husband's side. She must make the journey through perilous waters and risk the wrath of the Carthaginian navy and the Sicilian slavers if her vessel is caught.
I have to admit that this book has been my least favourite in the series so far. I get a feeling that this was a sort of 'filler' novel in the series between the more famous battles Hannibal faces in Italy. This is because it was based around the siege of Syracuse, in which for a long time nothing really happens. Kane tries to make up for this by adding the intrigue of Quintus's enemy Pera and by trying to make Hanno an undercover spy; even though he doesn't seem to do much spying!
 |
| One of the defenses of Syracuse |
I understand that this lull was true in history as the war moved to Sicily, with Hannibal hoping to ensure an easy route through the Mediterranean for his troops and supplies. However, I felt like this book was purely written to set up something huge to come in the next couple of novels, such as the war in Hispania and Hannibal's eventual defeat (sorry for spoilers).
Nevertheless, as the saying goes 'the devil's in the detail' and as always Kane packs this novel with historical depth and description. I especially like this in his explanation of the Syracusian defences and of Archimedes’s machines of war. The deadly crossbows, catapults and sea hooks give a sense of the formidable task the Legionaries faced when scaling Syracuse's walls, whilst also being historically accurate which I especially liked!
 |
| Example of Archimedes Sea Hook/Claw |
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