| The Scourge of God | 
 enlarge | Author: William Dietrich
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 359285
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2
ASIN: B000ENBR8W
Publication Date: March 1, 2005
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 (4.5 stars) It's the end of the world as we know it... June 24, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Generally speaking I have a policy about epic books and that is they have to be long. After all if you're telling a tale of an epic battle, or generations in a family life, or about two civilizations clashing together (or crumbling) shouldn't it be long? Shouldn't there be hundreds and hundreds of pages to mull over, to fit every detail into it and every perspective? Most of the time, it suits an epic to be long. But occasionally there comes around an author who manages to cram an epic into about 300 pages-and does it brilliantly with nothing lacking from the novel.
"The Scourge of God" by William Dietrich is one such novel. It is the story of the time leading up to and including the huge clash that was the battle of nations- the great battle where the Western Roman empire briefly united with the Visigoth's, Franks and many others in order to beat back Attila and his allies and keep them from conquering the West. Even though it's only 338 pages long it is an amazing novel of war, love and the beginning of the end from the Roman Empire. I loved it!
It's also an amazing education into the massive effect that Attila and his Huns had on the world. Considering that the same time they were ravaging the Eastern Roman Empire (which was functioning completely on its own) and the West was crumbling (Rome was essentially abandoned as the capital in favor of Venice) and all kinds of Barbarians were preparing to swoop down and end the empire for good-well people must have thought that Attila hailed the end of the world!
In fact they did. I believe that's how he got the title the scourge of god.
Unlike Dietrich's previous historical novel,Hadrian's Wall: A Novel "The Scourge of God" is told in first person by Jonas, a young man from the eastern Roman Empire whose life is forever changed when he becomes part of a failed embassy to the Hun encampment, with some scenes Jonas isn't involved in written in third person (but still, the whole story is being told by an older Jonas, so it's all first.) I liked Jonas quite a lot as a narrator-he's engaging, funny, and smart and doesn't mess around with his motives for doing things, but the fact that the novel was told exclusively in first person kind of led onto the fact that certain people must have survived in order to tell Jonas their part of the story, which cut down the suspense a little.
Still this was an amazing novel, about twice as good as "Hadrian's Wall" (which I still recommend) I loved and recommend it to everyone (though I should warn you-there is a lot of violence in this book) and I fully plan on reading Dietrich's other historical books. And anything else on Attila the Hun I can find.
But because of the little suspense downing problem mentioned above I have to dock a few points. Four point five stars.
"By many names he's known, but Scourge of God is the one that rings the darkest tone" January 23, 2008
Mostly following fictional Jonas Alabanda, the novel is a great historical fiction, not anything astounding like Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Steven Pressfield, or Colleen McCullough, but it was an enjoyable novel about a period of history I am unfamiliar with.
Attila is greatly portrayed as a mastermind of leadership and organization, without whom the Huns are as mindless as a pack of dogs without an alpha. At the same moment, he is still a Hun, and has his own flaws in the form of his short temper and reliance upon the so-called "Sword of Mars".
The main story of the novel is Jonas attempting to liberate a Roman woman, Ilana, from the Huns, and everything else serves to further along this story, which works beautifully.
My only complaint is not even a complaint, but an observation, how the Battle of Chalons is written, it passes time very quickly, and without much description as to the sizeable corps of the armies. Without imagination, it would seem as if the armies were threadbare and bleeding themselves out upon each other to barely handfuls of men on each side.
All in all, highly enjoyable, and well worth the low price available on Amazon.
The epic tale of the march of Attila as seen by a young man from Constantinople January 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Attila the Hun is, along with Genghis Khan, the most famous barbarian of history. Marshaling the nomadic Hunnish tribes under his banner, he marched out of the steppes across most of Europe, almost bringing down Rome until he lost to the Roman general Aetius at the infamous Battle of Chalons. A warrior's warrior, Attila is one of those rare figures whose real-life exploits can be used to frighten small children - be good, or Attila will come for you!
William Dietrich ("Hadrian's Wall") fleshes out the skeletal historical record with his novel, "The Scourge of God." While several intriguing characters - some real, some fictional - populate the novel, Dietrich tells the story largely from the perspective of young Jonas, an amateur historian from Constantinople. At the outset of the book, Jonas has done little to commend himself to historical achievement, foregoing the martial studies for scholarly pursuits. But he has a gift for languages, and since he speaks passable Hunnish, Jonas is sent as part of a desperate diplomatic mission intent on staving off Attila's march against the West.
Attila, of course, won't be bought off. He has the split Roman Empire in his sights, and he desires nothing more than to bring death and destruction to these craven merchants and city-dwellers. This is known to the leaders in both Rome and Constantinople, and so Jonas unwittingly joins up with "diplomats" who are trying to assassinate Attila. This ploy ends badly, and Jonas ends up a captive of the Huns.
From here, the novel becomes an intrepid tale of escape, romance, and heroic resistance. Dietrich may not always write the best dialogue, but his characters are well-sketched and the story is always interesting. Dietrich also does a passable job of keeping a vast canvas in check. While it's true that "Scourge of God" may skip a little quickly through certain events (this is no mammoth epic like "Taiko" or "Shogun"), Dietrich's novel never spins out of control or flags. Dietrich also does an excellent job fleshing out the Hunnish culture even though we know virtually nothing about these nomadic, illiterate people.
All in all, "Scourge of God" is an entertaining, if sometimes illogical lark. Jonas, for example, often questions how he survives his various scrapes and combats in the novel even though he is not a very good soldier. And there are more than a few coincidental meetings between key characters that defy the odds when one considers the millions of square miles of territory that are being covered. But these are minor quibbles with the book. The battle scenes are well-drawn and, while bloody, not gruesomely so.
If you are fan of historical fiction, and in particular of the later Roman Empire, you will surely enjoy this book.
Excellent Epic August 23, 2007
Ancient history comes vividly to life in this novel of a dying Rome and its great battle against the forces of Attila the Hun. Most interestingly, Dietrich took real historical events and wove them into a colorful tale with very few fictional characters.
Jonas Alabanda is a young scribe living in Constantinople, the eastern seat of the Roman Empire, when he is given the opportunity of a lifetime to join an envoy to Attila the Hun's court as a chronicler and interpreter. Unbeknownst to Jonas and most members of the Roman party, treachery is afoot. Underestimating the loyalty of the Huns to their king, one of the Romans approaches a Hun soldier with an offer of gold if he will assassinate Attila. The Hun tells Attila of the Roman plot, however, and Attila murders part of their party, sends others home in disgrace, and keeps Jonas as a hostage.
Also hostage in Attila's camp is a young Roman woman named Ilana, taken after the siege of Axiopolis. Along with a dwarf who befriends them, Jonas and Ilana form an alliance and make plans to escape back into the Roman Empire with a relic sacred to the Huns. When their plans go awry, Jonas must still get back to the Romans and tell them what he knows of the Huns. Rome must gather its allies and prepare to fight the battle to end all battles, believed by many at the time to be the Apocalypse.
I am not an avid reader of respected historical fiction, but I like to read a little bit of everything, and in my opinion, this was a darned good book. The fifth century came brilliantly alive, giving a picture of everyday life 16 centuries ago in a way that made me feel as if I was there. The harshness of life, both with the barbarians and "civilized" Romans, was quite evident in almost every scene, yet it was easy to relate to the timelessly human characters. I'm lucky I discovered Dietrich when he was writing modern thrillers, and bought this book on the strength of his name. It was well worth reading, and I look forward to experiencing his other historicals, as well.
Just get past the first 150 pages... May 4, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
So this book was recommended to me by a little old lady in a small independent book store. I bought it because she was really nice and the store needed the business. So the book starts off really slow. It took about 154 pages until something interesting happened. Granted the author needed to set up the storyline, but it would have been nice to have some action happen during the set up. After the story got going it did get better and I enjoyed it. If you can get past the first 150 pages then I think you'll enjoy this book, especially if you like history. If you follow Roman history then you'll really love this book.
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