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15. August 2013

Format: TaschenbuchVerifizierter Kauf

For this novel, I could have picked anything between one and five stars. In the end, I decided to treat this as a novel, not as history (which is a stretch for a historical novel), and only dock two points. I'll voice some of my misgivings further below.

The Good:
Durham's writing is enjoyable, fast-paced where it needs to be, witty, and overall the very, very strong point of this book. He inserts a few characters to illustrate the story from several angles - half-known types like Silenus and Hannibal's wife Imilce, or his sister and mother; his own characters like a Spanish soldier and a girl from Saguntum. All of these work really well, and the frequent changes of place and perspective keep the story on a fast-paced drive. He writes dialogue very well, making the characters truly come alive. And he manages the considerable feat of inserting a homosexual relationship that is entirely believable and down to earth without being in the least voyeuristic.
If that's what you're looking for - a thrilling story set 2200 years ago, with bloody (well written!) battles that manage not to repeat themselves, and solid characterization, buy this book. If you like stories that add non-historical characters to augment the actual history, buy this book. If you're not bothered about reading "real" history but just want a great tale, buy this book.

You can stop reading here if that's all you're after, but for me, who has been fascinated with the Carthaginian commander for over twenty-five years, this novel was hard to swallow, for the following reasons.

The Bad:
In historical novels, there are always some things that are made up - of course. Who records classical toilet-breaks or small talk dialogues? That is absolutely not a problem. Still, most people when they pick up a historical novel expect something based on actual history, that could have been like this, though a few things are, of course, always made-up. In the case of this novel, if you actually know a bit about the life of Hannibal Barca (and the back cover actually says that the war lasted from 218 to 202!), you are in for a shock. Yes, the author says that he has taken liberties with history in the service of the story - but a war that lasted for seventeen years is vaporised down to five, major events turned around, just so that Hannibal can return from the war and be reunited with his seven-year-old son (who should have been nineteen at least, if, indeed, he had survived the war). The entire novel is based on the idea of Hannibal as husband and father, which results in a bit of rather mushy letter-writing, a lot of history-pimping, and in the end, in complete absurdity, as the novel ends when Hannibal is reunited with wife and child after his defeat in the battle of Zama, and the reader is left with no idea of what will become of this reunited little family. The well-read reader has a feeling the son will end up as a hostage in Rome or at the end of a spear, but Durham, in an epilogue, only gives us the bleak last years of Hannibal's life without mentioning his family again. Thus, the end of the novel is left hanging, and all the tampering with history doesn't even get you anywhere.

All things considered, it is still a great read, rewarding if you're into historical or classical warfare, thrilling tales and some seriously good writing. But don't read it unless you're willing to put up with serious tamperings with history.

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rwu

heavy and bloody

30. März 2017 - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com

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This is an interesting book but so crammed with details, often bloody ones, that it is not an easy read. The author describes it as fiction, based on historical events, and he has filled in the blanks, so to speak, with such detail that it is impossible to know where fact stops and fiction begins. In that respect it is worth reading, accepting the fictional nature of much of the material. Battle descriptions are very detailed and often filled with gore and violence. It is a tragic history. Recommended only to those with a real interest in the subject and ready to plod along in the sea of information.
The author's style of writing is almost classical, and often very impressive.

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Robin E. Levin

Capturing the Spirit of the Second Punic War

6. April 2013 - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com

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If anyone were to ask me which book I would most recommend as capturing the heart and soul of the Second Punic War, I would, without hesitation, recommend this one. In my humble opinion, David Anthony Durham has written a masterpiece. Durham gets into his character's heads in a way that few novelists can. His multilayered account brings to life all the major participants in the war, Hannibal, his brothers Hasdrubal, Hanno and Mago, Scipio Africanus, Fabius Maximus, Tarentius Varro, Masinissa, Syphax, and Sophanisba, as well as a wide variety of fictional characters, such as Imco, the Carthaginian soldier, Teselo, the castrated Numidian escaped from the Romans and intent on revenge, and Aradna, the beautiful camp follower. His narrative is enthralling from beginning to end.
A caveat to historical purists, however, is in order. Durham departs quite a bit from historical details in the interest of the story. He condenses a sixteen year war into about five years. The Hanno captured at the battle of Cissa was not Hannibal's brother, Hannibal had only two brothers, Hasdrubal and Mago. Gaius Tarentius Varro was not Fabius' Master of Horse, that was Marcus Minucius Rufus. Sophanisba was not Hannibal's sister, she was the daughter of Hasdrubal Son of Gisco, a Carthaginian general not mentioned in the book. It is this general who met Scipio at the court of Syphax, not the fictional Hanno Barca.
Nevertheless, the devil here is not in the details. If you want a grand impression of the scope and meaning of the Second Punic War, this is the book to read.

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BigRose

nice angle...

23. Oktober 2010 - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com

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although a historical fiction the author gives you a good idea of what the barca brothers mustve gone thru while in iberia(before descending on rome itself)thats where im at in the book right now.ive read a few books on hannibal and this is a new angle for me.all his brothers get their own personal character's developed(of course,we'll never know if they were really as described)but it does give a more human side to these warriors.we also get the roman side as well(dont forget to throw in the gauls).without going into too many details the battle scenes are well written and described well.im also happy that the trip over the snow covered mountains was not long,boring and tedious like many other books.an incredible feat just thinking about it!!talk about a determined general! we've just landed in rome,fought and won some battles against local tribes and scipio and his romans are poised to begin their 3 prong attack against carthage....good stuff!

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Seachranaiche

Fortune's Fate

29. März 2005 - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com

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Make no mistake, there are issues with this book, but David Anthony Durham has done such an incredible job of bringing Hannibal and the Second Punic War to life that I rate "Pride of Carthage" five stars anyway. Hannibal's story of war, struggle, revenge, and hate is one of the most fascinating and evocative stories in human history, but Hannibal's story comes to us through only a couple of classical sources: the larger events of the period are known, but the details passed into antiquity after the Romans razed the city of Carthage and Carthage's entire culture during the Third Punic War. To know Hannibal, then, we must resort to fiction. Several authors have taken on Hannibal's life, including John Maddox Roberts and Ross Leckie. Their books are good reading, but Durham has taken Hannibal's story to an entirely new level, with a fully developed, multi-dimensional Hannibal character, and supporting characters who become so real we feel that they must be historical people rather than fictional characters.

Remember as you read that this is a fiction-Durham has developed his characters so well that it is hard to know what is fact and what is not. This is the first issue I have with the book. While this is a novel and should not be considered a historical reference, Durham does not include the usual pages of explanations and qualifiers: he does not tell the reader what he has invented. The reader unfamiliar with the history of the period probably will not care about this, but they risk passing on what they have read as fact. Secondly, Durham starts to run out of steam toward the end. Events that covered fifteen years are compressed into a period of time that cannot be calculated until a single sentence in which Durham mentions how long Hannibal had been separated from his son. Durham pours so much into Hannibal's early story that it seems as if Durham was just worn out by the time the story comes to an end. Read the book anyway-it is still very enjoyable-and remember that at the end of this book, Fortune and Fate were not yet done with Hannibal-he would go on to live for another nineteen years or so in a life so tragic that Shakespeare couldn't have written it more so. This later period of Hannibal's life could warrant its own book.

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