Attila by William Napier

As dictated in the synopsis at the back cover, the novel is about the war waged by Attila the Hun against the Roman Empire during the dawn of 5th century AD. Amidst this imminent war (plus a lot of politicking amongst the Romans), the Roman Empire relied on one of the most illustrated Master General, Aёtius "The Last of the Romans". But in this first novel of the trilogy, the author did not touch on the grown up version of Attila and Aёtius yet.


This book started off with an old pedagogue named Priscus of Pannium; recounting his earlier days spent with both Attila and Aёtius from their childhood onwards. The book is written in third party voice-over (by Priscus as story-teller) and first party characters; Attila and Aёtius. As Roman history is long and somewhat complicated, I will touch only on the main characters.
In this novel, we could see the upbringing of both Attila and Aёtius as prisoner of alliance between Roman and Hun Kingdom. Attila was trained in Roman ways and vice-versa for Aёtius.


Attila was mistreated as a child by the hate-filled Princess Galla and this serves as a mould for his revenge against the Roman Empire when he grew up. He tried and finally managed to escape his confinement and made his way back to his homeland gathering friends and foes along the way.


It is then he met his future enemy, Aёtius, in which they spent some time together until Attila was framed for a sin he did not commit and was banished from his own tribe by his uncle Ruga whom has usurped the King's seat (Attila's father) during Attila's absence.
The end part will set precedence for the next novel which is called "Attila; The Gathering of the Storm".


Personal rating: 7 out of 10 (recommended buy)

Cons:
1) Gets a bit long winded particularly the middle portion of the novel

Pros:
1) Good characters build-up
2) Historical lessons in a glance without the boring bits :-)
3) Ancient warfare at its best