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.

Attila: The Gathering of the Storm by William Napier

In this second installment of the trilogy, the outlook of the novel is somewhat "compressed" because of the usage of smaller font size. Apart from the external appearance, the novel picked up quick nicely from the first part but it was fast forwarded to 30years later after being banished into the wild by King Ruga (Attila's uncle who usurped Attila's father's Kingly seat).

Having served his banishment sentence, Attila (with his loyal sidekick Orestes) longed to return among his people and exact revenge to those who've wronged him along the way. upon consolidating his hold over his people, he trained them relentlessly and set out together with them to create an alliance with the rest of the Hun people scattered all over the land.

Meanwhile, Aëtius (the Roman) has carved a solid reputation of himself as a no-nonsense kind of legionnaire. Solidarity among his troops and serving the Empire of Rome are main priorities of his life. On his end, he did his best to maintain the legionnaire’s morale amidst the breakdown of the vestige of the Roman Empire.

The end part of the novel set the precedent of the last installment in the trilogy. The book is called "Attila: The Judgement".

Truth to be told, I’m amazed by the author's ability to describe visible differences amongst the Hunnish people from Kutrigur Huns, Black & White Huns and so on. It was so clearly described that it felt like you've seen them in flesh and blood the moment you've read them. Apart from that, the novel is a so-so read, unlike the first installment.

Personal rating: 6 out of 10 (I bought because it’s a trilogy)

Cons:

1) Getting more long winded particularly on the character build-up

Pros:

1) Historical lessons in a glance without the boring bits :-)
2) Ancient warfare at its best

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