Anthony riches empire series

The Empire series of novels is a set of seven titles that tell the story of Marcus Valerius Aquila, a Praetorian centurion and a high standing member of a prominent senatorial family. His world is suddenly turned upside down when his father and entire family are massacred leaving him in a fight for his life, and on a quest for revenge.

Set in second century Britain, the novels portray the life of a soldier trained to be a gladiator and soldier from his youth, who must now ingratiate himself into the Roman army in Northern Britain, and hope to survive the ravages of a brutal civil war. As a military studies major, the setting of the novel in the late second century is a perfect period for the writing of great narratives.

It is the time of the Emperor Commodus, who roamed the provinces looking to trample real or imagined threats. It is also the time of the thirty-year civil war and the two-day great battle in which , trained soldiers took to the field of battle. What makes the novels so exceptional is the fact that Riches is a well-studied military historian who not only does meticulous research before writing, but also lives the experience.

The result is that the novels descriptions of the ancient cities of Rome and Britain are fabulous. Anthony Riches, technique for churning out great novels is pretty much standard. Given that he knows a lot about the period, much of his research will usually be on the individual provinces such as Sarmatae and Dacia in which the novel he is writing is set.

For his research, the Osprey books and Wikipedia come in handy as they have a lot of information of the different historical periods. Since his writing involves different units of armies such as artillery, scouts, infantry, cavalry, and archers, he has had to live out these roles just to get a feel of them before putting them on the page.

The auxiliary infantryman is the most common character in the novels. An auxiliary infantryman offers some of the most compelling storyline given that these are soldiers that were forced to fight far away from their places of birth. Moved around for the sake of preventing any rebellion or clashes in loyalty, and with only a shield, sword and the soldier on either side to depend on, Riches presents the brutal nature of being a fighting man during the period.

Anthony Riches lives in Hertfordshire with his three children and wife of 25 years, Helen. When he is not writing or working his job, you will find him listening to some music, or surfing and reading car reviews, which he does on the plane when he is from or going to work. He also loves working as an IT professional, particularly the meticulous nature and challenges that it throws at him every day.

Reading in order is recommended. An avid reader who likes order! Read a lot of Sci-Fi, but also hardboiled fiction, and non-fiction mostly about the history of cinema. My favorite authors are John Wyndham, Arthur C. Anthony makes his home in Hertfordshire with his wife and three children. Get notified when Anthony Riches releases a new book at BookNotification.

Wounds of Honour is the first book in the Empire series. Marcus Valerius Aquila lands in Britannia, but finds himself quickly condemned to death by the power-crazed emperor Commodus. The position proves to be less quiet than he imagined when a rebel army sweeps down from the wastes north of the Wall. Now, Marcus will have to take the lead of this century and head to the front lines of this brutal war.

Author Riches has said that he developed the interest in writing this exciting series when he heard fascinating stories from his father about the Second World War. Eventually, he went on to use all his knowledge of the historical facts about the Roman Empire to develop the series.

Anthony riches empire series

Riches laid the foundation of the first book after visiting the fort of Housesteads Roman in To their surprise, they find a lot of chaos in Britannia. The legions get overstretched while struggling to employ as many men as possible to the northern frontier forts sighting the increasing resistance from the barbarians. The Tungrians seem to be the only soldiers who could be sent to the northern wastes, way beyond the abandoned wall that Antonius built.

The eagle is hidden in a high mountain fortress and is protected by the impassable swamp. If the eagle has to be recovered, all these difficulties must be overcome. Marcus Valerius and his company were known to have become successful in overcoming such difficulties in the past and are expected to do so once again. For this purpose, they must cross the deadly wilderness, which is patrolled by the vicious huntresses.

Marcus must try and breach this all but impregnable fort in order to rescue the venerated standard of the legion. But, the escape is going to be twice as difficult and perilous because of the presence of a tribe full of barbaric people in the path. This book was also released by the same publishing house in At the beginning of the story, it is shown that Marcus Valerius and his Tungrian men enter into a battlefield that turned to be one of the most disastrous defeats of Rome.

No sooner did the Tungrians return back to Rome from their mission than they get tasked with another mission of the desperate exploits of Parthia. They are ordered to go across the Rhenus river and enter the barbarian territories of Germany. From there, the Tungrians must capture a priestess from one of the tribes, who is known to be a dangerous person throughout the northern border of the empire.