Monday 20 July 2009

Attila: The Judgement by William Napier


In this third and final installation of the trilogy, Attila and Aëtius are lined up for the final face-off together with the rest of the empire at stake. Both sides did their best to rally alliances with kings and tribes across the land in their quest to destroy or defend the set target.

As mentioned in the second installment, this third book continued from the second book and the battle started from the word "GO" (in literal sense). Descriptions of battles are brutal and concise particularly in the first part of the novel. Subsequent battle descriptions are mostly briefly described with exception of the final two all out war.

Frankly speaking, this book is not as exciting as the first two books. In fact, I speed read some of the boring bits and sing-song/poetic moments captured in between the chapters.

The ending is supposed to be the climax but I was sorely disappointed with the outcome. However, I can’t comment much as this novel is loosely based on actual historical figures. It has sad ending for both sides but I won't want to divulge those details here as it will spoil the fun of reading through the trilogy.

Personal rating: 5 out of 10 (I bought it because it’s a trilogy)

Cons:
1) Book 1 and Book 2 are better read compared to this one.
2) Too many sing-song/poems mentioned in the novel.
3) Some battles are not clearly described and quite a number of pass-over paragraphs.

Pros:
1) Good description for first battle and decisive war between the two sides.
2) Heroic moments, devastation and after-effect of wars are captured in absolute clarity in key battles.

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