Valerio Massimo Manfredi – “Empire of Dragons”

Publ: 2006 ISBN: 9780330438261
Rating: ***


Beginning in Persia this historical novel, set in 260AD, sees Romans travelling East to the Chinese empire. I enjoyed it but sadly it did not live up to the previous Manfredi novels - Tyrant and The Last Legion. The English seemed a bit stilted at times despite the translator being the same person – Christine Feddersen-Manfredi.

Valerio Massimo Manfredi see The Last Legion

Valerio Massimo Manfredi – “Tyrant”

Publ: 2005 ISBN: 1 4050 4091 2
Rating: ****



A novel about Bravery, brutality and adventure. And the rest is history. Sicily 405 AD: the infinite duel between man and superpower begins. Dionysius, Tyrant of Syracuse, will face Carthage, mercantile megalopolis and mistress of the seas. Dionysius brutal military conquests transform Syracuse into the most powerful Greek city west of the mainland. Building the largest army of antiquity he marches to Carthage to fight a war to end all wars.

A thundering historical epic from the Sunday Times bestselling master of the genre. Valerio Massimo Manfredi is described as the leading brand-name author of historical fiction.

Valerio Massimo Manfredi see http://bookeverysixdays.blogspot.com/2008/08/valerio-massimo-manfredi-last-legion.html

Valerio Massimo Manfredi – “The Last Legion”

Publ: 2003 ISBN 978-0333907696
Rating: ****
A brilliant new historical epic from the best-selling author of The Alexander Trilogy. As the Western Roman Empire begins to collapses in 470AD, a small band of Roman soldiers, rescue a young Romulus Augustus, the last Emperor and his tutor..... A mix of ‘The Decline and Fall’ with the beginning of the Arthurian legend – brilliantly written and researched.
(The summary of the plot in Fanatstic Fiction suggests that the writer read a totally different book!!!)



VALERIO MASSIMO MANFREDI (born 1943) is an Italian historian and archaeologist and was voted Man of the Year 1999 by the American Biographical Institute. Manfredi's books have been translated into several languages. He is the author of the enormously successful Alexander trilogy.