"Bloomsbury presents War at the Edge of the World by Ian Ross, read by Peter Noble.
AN EMPIRE IN DECLINE.
Centurion Aurelius Castus – once a soldier in the elite legions of the Danube – believes his glory days are over, as he finds himself in the cold, grey wastes of northern Britain, battling to protect an empire in decline.
Here he must face the barbarians beyond Hadrian's Wall, in a mission riven with bloodshed and treachery. Can Castus keep his promise to a woman he has sworn to help? And is anything about this doomed enterprise what it seems?
War at the Edge of the World is the epic first instalment in a sequence of novels set at the end of the Roman Empire, during the reign of the Emperor Constantine. C 2016 Ian Ross P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
"Bloomsbury presents Swords Around the Throne by Ian Ross, read by Peter Noble.
Rome is in peril...
The old order is changing. Centurion Aurelius Castus has been summoned back from Britain to find himself caught up in a treasonous conspiracy threatening to bring down the Emperor Constantine.
Rewarded for saving the emperor's life, Castus is promoted to the elite imperial bodyguard: the swords around the throne.
But he soon discovers the court to be as dangerous as the battlefield.
Behind the gilded facade of empire lurks a nest of traitors and one relentless enemy. C 2015 Ian Ross C 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
"The Roman Empire is on the brink of civil war...
Only Maxentius, tyrant of Rome, stands between the emperor Constantine and supreme power in the west.
Aurelius Castus is now a tribune in Constantine's army. But great honour brings new challenges: Castus is tormented by suspicions that his young wife has been unfaithful. And as Constantine becomes increasingly devoted to Christianity, he is forced to ask himself whether he is backing the wrong man.
The coming war will decide the fate of empire. But Castus's own battle will carry him much further... C 2016 Ian Ross P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
"Ross presents us with a vision of late Rome that is tense, exhilarating, complex and exotic...
When a treacherous act of murder throws the western provinces into turmoil, Aurelius Castus is ordered to take command of the military forces on the Rhine.
But he soon discovers that the frontier is a place where the boundaries between civilisation and barbarism, freedom and slavery, honour and treason have little meaning.
At the very heart of the conflict are two vulnerable boys. One is Emperor Constantine's young heir, Crispus. The other is Castus's own beloved son, Sabinus. Only Castus stands between them and men who would kill them. With all that he loves in danger, Castus and a handful of loyal men must fight to defend the Roman Empire.
But in the heat of battle, can he distinguish friend from enemy? C 2016 Ian Ross P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
"THE ROMAN EMPIRE HAS NO MERCY IN ITS QUEST FOR POWER.
Aurelius Castus is one of the leading military commanders of an empire riven by civil war. As the Emperor Constantine grows ever more ruthless in his pursuit of power, Castus fears that the world he knows is slipping away.
On the eve of the war's final campaign, Castus discovers that the emperor's son Crispus aims to depose his father and restore the old ways of Rome.
Castus must choose between honour and survival, and face a final confrontation with the most powerful man in the Roman world, the ruler he has sworn loyally to serve: the Emperor Constantine himself. C 2016 Ian Ross P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
"Ferocity, heroism, and savage bloodshed: the next gripping instalment in the Twilight of Empire series.
When the simmering conflict between Rome and Persia threatens once again to ignite into open war, there is only one man the Emperor Constantine can trust to hold the eastern frontier. Aurelius Castus, retired general of the empire. When the summons comes to command an army once more, he obeys with a heavy heart. Is he still a fearsome fighting machine? Will his young, ambitious officers respect and follow a great soldier of former days? When tragedy strikes, Castus must race to defend the last bulwark standing against the might of Persia. In the pitiless heat of the Syrian desert, engulfed by whirling sandstorms and facing a fearless, treacherous foe, Castus knows that the fight ahead will be the fiercest he has ever known.
'I was immersed from the very first page. Wonderful writing. Rich and evocative, astute and assured. Great stuff!' Giles Kristian, bestselling author of Lancelot."
"Aurelius Castus is one of the leading military commanders of an empire riven by civil war, but age is telling upon him. Castus discovers that the emperor's son Crispus aims to depose his ruthless father and restore the old ways of Rome. With a sadistic torturer on his trail, Castus must choose between honour and survival, and face a final confrontation with the most powerful man in the Roman world: the emperor Constantine himself."
"When an act of murder throws the western provinces into turmoil, Aurelius Castus is ordered to take command of the military forces on the Rhine. But he soon discovers that the frontier is a place where the boundaries between civilisation and barbarism have little meaning. At the very heart of the conflict are two boys. One is Emperor Constantine's young heir, Crispus. The other is Castus' own beloved son, Sabinus. Only Castus stands between them and men who would kill them."
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