After the battle of Cannae, Hannibal refuses to follow and destroy the
Roman army, because he knows what it could cost his own army. A little
over two years later, he splits up Hanno and his two brothers, sending
Bostar to Iberia, Hanno to Sicily and keeping Sapho by his side.
Unbeknownst to Hanno, his former owner and friend, Quintus has also been
posted to Sicily. When misfortune occurs for Quintus' sister and she
receives a cryptic message from Hanno, she decides to travel to the toe
of Italy to be near those that she loves. More misfortune befalls
Aurelia when the ship she is on is captured and she is enslaved and
taken to Syracuse. There she becomes a concubine to one of the rulers
of the city.
Hanno accidentally discovers the position that Aurelia is in, and
desperately manages get her released, but shortly afterwards is sent off
to fight the Romans. Foolishly she follows his battle group, thus
endangering herself once more. Fortunately they manage to escape, but
the city they are in is threatened by the Roman army. Will they find
Aurelia's brother in the opposing army? How long can Syracuse withstand
the siege?
Author Ben Kane takes the reader one further step into the Second Punic
War between Rome and Carthage, which results in the fall of Syracuse.
Quintus, Aurelia and Hanno survive this portion of the war and will
live to fight another day in the next volume of this series. As a fan
of historical fiction, I look forward to reading it, too.
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