Rating: 
Summary: This is what alternative history/fantasy should be!
Review: I picked this book up in the bookstore out of a desperate need to read something. Initially, I was somewhat skeptical, I had been a classics major in college and have very good understanding of the history and life of the late Roman and early Byzantine Empires. This book did more than pleasantly suprise me, it enthralled me! The author's representation of the time period is incredible, but lest that put off some reader because they think this book might be pedantic, believe me it is not! This is also a rip roaring story filled with magic, monsters and mayhem. Forget other writers of this genre and buy this book! My last comment is that I hope Mr. Harlan has the creativity to finish this series in the vein that it has started - and produce many more books after that.
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Summary: Empire Lives Again!
Review: I really enjoyed this book! Harlan has skillfully combined "what if" quality of the alternative history genre with scope of epic fantasy and created a sweeping saga of magic and war detailing the brutal conflict between two great empires: Rome and Persia in which will be fought with both armies and magic.This is seen through the eyes of some unforgettable characters: Prince Maxian-roman prince and healer who dabbles in magic and finds out of a sinister curse against the empire.Thyatis Julia Clodia-a lethal young centurion/spy sent behind enemy lines.Dwyrin-a young hiberian student of magic sent to the legions.Harlan has a talent in describing battle scenes in cinematic quality that you can visual in your head and his magic system is both fascinating and chilling especially in detailing scenes of necromancy.Great entertainment!
Rating:
Summary: Empire Lives Again!
Review: I really enjoyed this book! Harlan has skillfully combined "what if" quality of the alternative history genre with scope of epic fantasy and created a sweeping saga of magic and war detailing the brutal conflict between two great empires: Rome and Persia in which will be fought with both armies and magic.This is seen through the eyes of some unforgettable characters: Prince Maxian-roman prince and healer who dabbles in magic and finds out of a sinister curse against the empire.Thyatis Julia Clodia-a lethal young centurion/spy sent behind enemy lines.Dwyrin-a young hiberian student of magic sent to the legions.Harlan has a talent in describing battle scenes in cinematic quality that you can visual in your head and his magic system is both fascinating and chilling especially in detailing scenes of necromancy.Great entertainment!
Rating: 
Summary: Very good read, despite horrendous editing
Review: I would first like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and that I look forward to the sequels. I especially loved, as a very passionate Roman buff, that the reader gets to see the Roman military and political apparatuses marvelously displayed. I particularly found amusing of his back-history that Zenobia I of Palmyra married the Emperor Aurelian, who in real life destroyed her insurgent kingdom! I have no major problems with either his illustrative passages or his characterization: remember that this is fiction, and if the author wants to make a Centurion in the Legion, then so be it! Having given due praise, I must give the following admonition: The editing was atrocious! The text was riddled with errors in grammar and historical conventions. The most glaring example is that Harlan uses both Coliseum and Coloseum. While either spelling is acceptable, they should not be used together! Either TOR's editor or Harlan himself needs to be more studious in mechanical and historical revision. No text needs to or can be perfect, but the errors on the scale of this book are unwarranted, and at times they seriously mar the pleasure of reading. Make no mistake, this is a book to read and enjoy, but the sequels need more attention to mechanical detail.
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Summary: I was impressed!
Review: I'm not a fan of alternate histories on the whole, but after reading this book, I'm becoming a fan. The book's major shortcoming is the fact that Mr. Harlan's descriptions tend to be frequent and verbose. However, if you have any appreciation for J.R.R. Tolkien, you'll love it. If you have enough patience with his verbosity (or if you're a big Tolkien fan) to get to the last third of the book, you'll be amply rewarded. His battle scenes are the best in literature. He loses his verbosity and cuts to the very heart of the action in these pages. Another strong point of Harlan's is his ability to weave many, intriguing plots into a cogent, coherent and engrossing whole. Not all of them converge, which is a pleasing step away from the totally expected in modern literature. The intricacies of his plots will give fans of Roberto Eco something to delve into. The plots and characters are many, but easy to keep up with because they're all involved in most interesting events. You finish the book dying to know what will happen next. This is one series I'll be eagerly anticipating. This is an impressive beginning for a man that will undoubtedly become a household name. Buy the book, you'll be impressed.
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Summary: A great blend of history and fiction.
Review: I'm used to read either dry history or full fiction, so it took me a bit to get used to Thomas' style. Once I did, though, I was hooked. Great historical detail blended into a story of magic, power struggles, spies and wars. The masterful use of latin names and phrases and the level of geographical detail give this novel an unusual, but refreshing, flavor. I can't wait to read the next one.
Rating:
Summary: Hopefully this guy will only get better!
Review: I've always been a fan of alternate history novels, so I picked this one up, hoping it wouldn't be just another Classical Age thud-and-blunder what-if. I'm glad to say that I wasn't disappointed! It took only a couple of chapters for me to be firmly hooked, and I generally don't take to first novels that well. The characters are more than simple cyphers, and the plot is compelling--a combination of history, mystery and ghost story that will keep me waiting for the next book in the series. Well done!
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but it could have been better
Review: Not a bad attempt for a new author, it had an interesting concept and lots of well thought out details with the battles but it could certainly have been improved. One of my main complaints with this books is that I hardly felt sympathetic to any of the characters at all. They didn't interest me very much and the actual plot didn't seem to be going anywhere. Of course it was, it is just that it was hard to follow and the different story lines didn't seem to fit together very well. There should, perhaps, have been more detail in the story its self because it seemed to move far to fast and not give enough attention to things that would have been interesting and should have been paid more attention to. I am usually a pretty harsh critic and I tend to point out all the bad things in a book and make them seem a little worse than they usually are. So I guess that even with the flaws in this book it was still worth the time I spent on it and I shall be looking forward to the next novel even if I might not buy it in hardcover.
Rating: 
Summary: Good military plot line, poor character development
Review: Perhaps Mr. Hamlin should stick to running a PBM wargame, his first book is less than impressive. On a good note, The author has a fine grasp of the time in a strategic sense. The war plot line is sound, if hard to follow at times as it is wollowing in all the slop that surrounds it. But thats the only good note. The characters are contrived. The plots erratic. The writing forced. I had trouble even believing this world existed, and that is the first objective of this type of book, yes? The author had servant slave girls acting as if they were transplants from a suburban mall. I actually laughed at the realtionship between Maxian Ceasar and the K girl slave. Utterly without base or merit. Further, characters seemed to wander about with no apparent reason, forming bonds of love or friendship based on a forced implication that such a relationship was plausible. In many many cases it was not. I will not be reading the next edition. I advise you, the reader, to not read the first.
Rating: 
Summary: Dont believe the five star reviews, they must be family
Review: Poor characters, weak relations, unbelievable plot. I will not be reading anything else by Harlan. It looks as if he has read a lot of Turtledove and wants to emulate his style. He fails. Do not waste your money on this book, and I cannot believe all the five star reviews. Di we all get the same edition? Must be family of the author. HA
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