On the plains of Zama, Hannibal of Carthage is finally defeated by the Roman legions. Precipe Felix kills an elephant during the fight but triumph does not last long and after an error Felix and his brother are dismissed from the army. In Rome Flaminius is looking for power and a defeat to get into the Senate does not stop him - he has his eyes on the conquest of the Hellenic region. Philip of Macedon is running amok over the eastern mediterranean, his troops gaining cities and territory. Lowly Demetrios dreams of becoming a soldier in the phalanx but as an orphan he is merely an oarsman until a chance encounter gives him an opportunity. These four characters will come together as two empires clash.

At his best, Kane is an excellent writer. He manages to put together a fictionalised plot about events in history where fictional characters rub shoulders with known figures. In the first of this new series of books Kane has turned his attention to the Hellenic Wars around 200BC, a period of history not often covered. The research is excellent, the battle scenes bloody and the characters rounded. My only criticism is that I felt the book took a long time to really hit its stride.