Alan's "Whatever" Blog

Have you ever wondered what would happen if an elite group of Navy SEALs went up against the Ancient Roman Empire?  If you have then your in luck because that's exactly what happened's in this book.

Overview

This book is set in the not so distant future, 2021.  Russia is the new superpower of the world, and the US has lost it's superiority due to years of the government cutting funding to our military.  Now that the Russian's are the new bully's on the block they are starting to take over some neighboring countries, and the US could be next.

This story follows a young man named Jacob Hunter, who comes from a military family, but never really wanted to go into the "family business", instead he went to college and studied history.  Upon seeing a news bulletin telling about Russia invading the US he decided it was time to join the military and protect his family.

Now fast forward five years.  Hunter joined the Navy, then joined the SEALs, and is now a SEAL team leader.  Life is great until an official from the Vatican shows up and wants him to join an elite group of soldiers whose purpose is to find and eliminate threats against the pope before they start.  He decides to join, and is whisked away to Rome to get to know his teammates.  Only a few days after arriving in Rome they are sent on a mission to capture a terrorist leader and eliminate any munitions they have acquired.  While on the mission he comes across this strange artifact, and accidentally activates it.  In doing so, he transports his entire team and their supplies into 38 A.D, ancient Rome.

Characters

I'm a big fan of character driven novels, if the characters aren't done well, I probably won't finish the novel.  Needless to say these characters are very well done, and I enjoyed watching them grow closer through their trials of combat.

I especially liked the dynamic between Jacob and Helena.  Helena is the unit's sniper, and because Jacob is the only other one to have sniper training he becomes her spotter, also because Helena has the least amount of experience in the water, and Jacob has the most, they become swim buddies.  This is ironic because at first they don't like each other.  We get to watch as they eventually become good friends who rely on each in combat situations, and then move into a more romantic relationship.

My Final Thoughts

On a whole I really enjoyed this book.  There was a lot of historical figures, and events, that made it an interesting to read.  It has a good combination of history, action, and character development.  However there was a couple times during this that I felt like I was reading a history text book, but they were few and far between and I really didn't mind because I find history interesting.  Anyone who likes historical fictions, or even action/adventures, this is defiantly a good book for you.