Rating: 
Summary: The more things change, the more they stay the same
Review: An interesting, if somewhat implausible, alternate historical novel. Unfortunately, Hannibal and the original Roman defeat - perhaps the most intriguing and interesting part of the story, and certainly ones which drew in many readers - are dealt with curtly in the first chapter. After that, the book skips forward over a hundred years, to characters we don't know and never really come to care about.
The climax of the book - in which Roberts seems to be trying to evoke Antony and Cleopatra's battle of Actium (Roman general and his Egyptian queen vs. Rome and, in this case, Carthage) - is stirring, but I wish Roberts had more confidence in it. Every character involved is constantly dismissing the Egypt-Carthage war as a routine, not-particularly important campaign. No one really seems to stand much to lose, thus the reader doesn't really care who wins.
My biggest beef is that the alternative history in this book is either a) absurdly improbable, or b) not really all that different from the way things actually turned out.
Rating:
Summary: Almost as Good as it Sounds
Review: Based on such a fascinating premise ("what if?") this books is bound to captivate the reader right off the bat. What the Romans accomplished in the North, how they adopted to the changes in their environment, how the rest of the world was affected by the power vacuum.. Unfortunatelly, the author seems to lack the attention span to delve deep enough into such detail. So the story moves along at a slightly rushed pace. We are only allowed glimses of Nordicum or post-Hannibal Italy. The characters suffer similarly: we get only a sketchy impression of both the hero and the main antagonist, to the point that at times their actions seem a bit innexplicable. I would disagree with fellow reviewers that the antagonist's persona is implausible, but I will agree that we were never quite shown why he is behaving the way he is. Other than that, the bulk of the book is very entertaining and at times rather insightful on the social and military structures of the era. The fast pace is also quite captivating and the technological "what if"s equally intriguing. I will also admit that the characters, cartoony as the may appear, they are certainly fascinating and "cool", in a Gladiator kind-of-way. Indeed, this entire novel feels like a Hollywood script, with beatifyl sets and masculine heros. The only other problem was the ending. The story ends quite abruptly I felt, most likely in anticipation of a sequel. I would have prefered a much longer first installment myself, but if there is a series I would follow it nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: Much to look forward to, but without submarines please
Review: Hannibal defeats Rome and drives her people into exile but they make a MacArthur-style vow. 115 years later the Romans send an exploration party to their ancestral lands and things start to happen. Alternative history usually prefers to play with scenarios much closer to our present time, so it is an interesting idea to go back 2200 years and then go fast forward again. Now all the events of the civil war between Marius and Sulla, but also between Caesar and Pompeius, the third Punic war, the Roman expansion in the east,... can be packed into one generation and one set of protagonists. Part of the fun for the reader is to guess which particular event is played out a little bit different now. This could become a series with the potential for much fun. If the SPQR-series is a yard-stick then there is much to look forward to.
I just hope that Roberts can rein in his enthusiasm for Alexandrian inventions. There is no need for submarines in ancient times to make a story more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Rome is back
Review: Hannibal's Children is an excellent work of alternative history. His Roman characters show the complex mix of patriotism and backstabbing ambitions that made the Roman Republic master of the world (well a good chunk of it) in our timeline. His new Cleopatra is also excellent. The Carthagians were less convincing, simply coniniving rich folks with little competence. That future for a victorious Carthage is credible but it made the story less interesting. The new mechanical technology of the Archmidians was a bit much, I mean a submarine in the first century??
All around it was an excellent book, lots of good action and credible historical detail.
Rating:
Summary: Clever alternative view of history
Review: I wasn't sure I'd enjoy this at first despite being a huge fan of the SPQR series. It took a while to get started but John Maddox Roberts knows his history and he has really thought through this alternate version, constructing a very 'real' world. Pretty soon I was completely caught up in the story and all I want to know now is when the next book in the series is due out, because I want to know what happens next.
And when you think about it - you can't ask more of a series-opener like this, can you?
Rating:
Summary: Clever alternative view of history
Review: I'm not sure what some of the other reviewers expect, 800 pages of character development and dialogue or far more of the focus on the Carthaginians when the Romans are really the focus of the story. Extremely well researched and the research is presented in a meaningful, interesting way that develops the tale (rather than just "see all the facts I learned today about Rome!". It's actually a richer plot and story with better character development than most speculative or historical fiction so I'm not sure what paragons or perhaps other genres are being used as a yardstick here. Readers who enjoy Harry Turtledove, David Drake, S.M. Stirling, and Eric Flint will enjoy this author as well. It makes you think, it makes you wonder, and most important of all it keeps you always asking "what's next?"
Let's hope for a couple of sequels.
Rating:
Summary: great book, dying for the sequel
Review: John Maddox Roberts did an ubelievable job at building up the suspense for the oncoming war between Rome and Carthage. This book ceases to bore me. My only problem was the little obsession between Marcus Scipio and the School of Archimides. I mean it was an interesting way to help in the defense of Alexandria, but it really wasnt necessary in my opinion. This series will be awesome.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Read
Review: Once again John Maddox Roberts displays his extensive knowledge of ancient Rome (like in the SPQR series), and in this book Carthage as well. In this alternate Earth, unlike our own, Hannibal gets assistance from Philip V of Macedon during the Second Punic War and forces Rome to conditionally surrender. Rome's leaders agree to emigrate north out of Italy into the Roman province of Noricum: comprising most of present day Austria and bits of Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. The plot is revenge. After 115 years of forced exile the descendants of the Romans feel the time is right to send an expedition into the Italian penisula and down to Rome. The leader of the expedition is Marcus Cornelius Scipio, whose ancestor Scipio Africanus ultimately defeated Hannibal in actual history. The Roman party then visits the cities of Carthage and Alexandria and partakes in a war between the Carthaginian Empire and Ptolemaic Egypt. This book is very interesting and I found it quite a page-turner. Maddox gives eloquent descriptions of the gods of the Roman pantheon, as well as those of many Eastern religions (Carthage and Egypt's). The reader is also given thorough explanations of Roman military tactics and warfare in general from that era. In all, the book is quite informative. My only problems with this historical fiction novel are the development of the protagonist (M. Scipio) and the antagonist Titus Norbanus. Titus is descended from a Germanic tribe that is absorbed into the population of Roma Noricum. The Norbanus family is one of the "new" patrician families in the Senate who are at odds with the "old" patrician families that migrated from Rome, such as the Scipios. The author grants Marcus Scipio with all the virtues that Romans were noted for, while Titus is an incidious compilation of Marius, Sulla, and Caesar. I found these two characters simliar to John Maddox Robert's "Islander" fantasy series in that: the good guy is too good to be true, and the villain is so obnoxious that the reader (this one anyway) wishes that somebody would simply strangle the antagonist and remove him from the story. Further, I found the authority that the Senate gives Titus Norbanus not to be credible in the slightest degree. The author knows that Romans during the Republic were required to serve two magisterial positions and have some actual military experience before they are given the command that Titus gets, no matter how influential his family is. John Maddox Roberts glosses over this problem by saying that these were extraordinary circumstances, but that is poor justification in my opinion. All in all, I highly recommend this book and will definitely read the next book in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Eternal Rome in an Alternate World
Review: Rome's rise from a tiny group of clans to a vast empire that endured for centuries has something inexorable about it. So it seemed to the Romans themselves when Virgil talked of destiny, to the Christians when Augustine proclaimed the empire divinely ordained, and to the barbarians who encircled and attacked it, yet always desired it. However you interpret Rome's history, the City's survival was on a knife's edge more than once. If the Etruscans had conquered the new Republic or Alexander the Great had turned west to Italy or Hannibal had led Carthage to victory, all of subsequent history would have been different. Or maybe it wouldn't have been? What if the Romans were exiled after the second war with Carthage and sent into exile, still a nation? That's the premise of Roberts' novel. The book is fun, fast paced, backed up with lots of historical knowledge and some interesting characters. I'd like to see a deeper sense of contingency and human imperfection in the sequel, with Roman soldiers who are not so perfect and undefeatable and with two main antagonists who are not so completely Good Guy vs. Bad Guy. But mainly I want to see how Roberts works things out. Will history resume along the lines we know, making the Mediterranean a Roman lake and the Hellenistic kingdoms Roman provinces? This book is good summer entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: A good attempt at Alternative History
Review: The book starts off strong,with excellent military history details and good action,but the book is strongest when it focuses on the Roman people in exile and on the character Marcus Cornelius Scipio.Unfortunately the book doesn't develop the Carthaginians as strongly as the Romans,and the book completely loses steam when it reaches Egypt.Sadly the ending of the book leaves alot open and unfinished. The plot lines and characters hang all over the place,so much so,that it appears that the author suffered an appendicitus attack as he was working on the last chapter.I do recommend the book to anyone with an interest in Roman history,especially since he sets up the clash of cultures between Republican Romans and the Imperial Carthaginians very well.Too much emphasis was put on the Archimidean machinery however and not enough on the Library of Alexandria itself.
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