Valerio Massimo Manfredi,
MacMillan, 2006, £10.00 hb, 401pp, 1405052007
The book begins in Edessa, an
outpost of the Eastern Roman Empire in 260AD. Metellus and his men faithfully
serve the Emperor, Valerian, but even they cannot save him from a trap laid by
the Persian King Shapur I. Captured, they serve their time in the mines before
escaping and travelling much further east than they could imagine – to China.
Here they become involved in a dynastic clash that costs some of them their
lives.
The premise of the book
promises much. The clash of cultures, of two great empires. But it does not
live up to concept. This is due in the main to the quality of storytelling. The
tale essentially a light read, and is told in broad brush strokes, so that the
reader does not really care what happens to the characters. The dialogue is clunky, and the
characterisation minimal, though the occasional vivid picture does emerge. This
book is a fast-paced adventure story, with ingenious weaponry and heroic
fighting techniques very much to the fore.