Secure A Copy Rising Sun (Magnus, #1) Penned By Robert Allen Johnson Ready In Digital Version

done full review ahead .
Pompey the Great I think the first time I heard or read about this remarkable Roman was at the tail end of the movie Spartacus, Of course in that scenario he was vastly overshadowed by the greed driven Crassus who, come to think of it, reminds me of Donald Trump, From that initial recognition of his name I had to wait until Colleen McCullough's magnificent rendering of the Marius through Gaius Julius period of Roman history to be fully introduced to this incredible, yet unlikely Roman icon.
In Magnus Rising Sun, Robert Allen Johnson brings to life the beginning of the story of Pompey's ascension to the pantheon of Roman greats, His is an unusual climb up the ladder as he is given commands that are usually reserved for serving Consuls or Senators, yet there we find him, a mere boy raising his own army to serve Cornelius Sulla.
The author kept me glued to the pages with his storytelling and his knack of making his characters ring true to the historical record, The speeches, for example, that Magnus delivers to his legions convincingly portray him as a General who cares more for his men than he does for his glory, . . at least until Sulla tries to deprive him of his men and that glory, I found myself extending my reading sessions of this book far longer than I intended and was immersed to the point where I would neglect that nice hot cup of coffee until it had turned cold.
Halfway through Rising Sun I picked up book two in anticipation of another fine read,It is interesting to see the story told with a positive view of Pompey, MAGNUS, RISING SUN a book a received free from the author through Goodreads, is a fine historical novel of Ancient Rome,
Usually historical novel of Rome are set in the time of, and deal with , the Caesars, whether Julius, Octavian or one of the many successors, MAGNUS is about Pompey, whose rose to great fame and power before Julius Caesar came on the world scene, Although later, if I remember history correctly, their careers intersect,
This novel, the first in a series of three, is told in the voice of Pompey's son who relates his father's reminiscences of a spectacular rise to fame and power.
We see Pompey learning how to lead men into battle, how to swim in the treacherous waters of Roman politics and how to confront the temptation of his own fame.
It is a book for anyone who loves reading of Roman history, of men who shaped the world and of the forces which determine a man' s fate,
The author relies on historical sources for the framework of his story, but he does not neglect to surround history with welldrawn characters, Pompey ,Sulla, his ally and eventual enemy, and Cicero, the famed orator are presented well, Details of Roman political, military and daily life add greatly to the reader's understanding of Roman times and to the enjoyment of the book, This volume is about Pompey's beginning his strides to fame he is a young man, His private life is sketched in, But the book is about how Pompey the boy became Pompey the Great, so the author concentrates on that part of Pompey's life, touching on his kindness to his servants, his fairness to his men and his love for his wife.

Pompey won fame on the battlefield, and the descriptions of combat are vivid and describe what battle between great armies of men hacking at each other was like without overly dwelling on blood and gore.

The cover artwork is eye catching and simply different from the usual fauxheroic style seen on novels for this period,
Pompey was a great general, as great as, perhaps even greater than the more famed Julius Caesar, though less known to most of us, This book, along with the following books will help to remedy that, I very much look forward to further books by Mr, Johnson about his hero, Pompey the Great,
Easily a fivestar rating,
to come Hi there, Rome lovers!

Here's some great news for the end of: the revised/updated version of Rising Sun is now available in both Kindle and print formats.
You can find it on Amazon or wherever you prefer to buy your books,

In January, the audiobook edition will be released, as narrated by Patrick Ussher,

Updated versions of Rising Sun and Triumphator are being reissued to herald in the release of Foreign Shores Bookin early, Keep your eyes peeled here, on Amazon, or Facebook for future updates,

Vitam aeternam!."An epic work of historical and military fiction, . . a prime work for Roman history lovers, "

InD'Tale Magazine


Caesar and Brutus, Marius and Sulla. Cicero, Antony, Clodius and Augustus, The century before the current era gave us a host of

largerthanlife characters hailing from Rome,

Only one was named Great,

In the yearB, C. E. , chaos and unrest erupts across the Italian peninsula, Rome's allies have rebelled and taken up arms against the most powerful military on earth, Leading Rome's legions and his only son to the city's defense, an unproven and unloved commander will taste victory and defeat outside the capital's gates, The name Pompey had yet to be praised and revered, but fate would soon alter the course of one man's life,  

RISING SUN is the first book in Robert Allen Johnson's captivating MAGNUS trilogy, Narrated by the last living son of Gnaeus Pompey, RISING SUN sets the stage for the man historians would later name the Roman Alexander, While the story started out slow, once the Pompey's father Strabo died and Pompey started carving his own path, things got really interesting, Even the tone itself improved and was more interesting to read it was somewhat, . . dry in the beginning, but livened up after Strabo's death,

The historical groundings of everything seemed very solid to me, and in the few instances where Johnson took liberties, he said exactly what he did at the end of the novel in the afterword and usually, why he did it.


It sort of read like a 'first novel'type of book, with the writing basically warring with itself on show vs tell, The narrator Pompey's son often said how levelheaded, difficult to anger, and lacking in huge emotional expressions Pompey was in, but then a few pages later Pompey would be overcome with emotion or even extremely angry.
Admittedly the circumstances definitely warranted him having an emotional outburst, but it contradicted the 'tell' we had gotten from the narrator, In the second half the writing did seem to "settle" and become more confident in its expression though the emotionshowing scenes of Pompey happened more often at this time,

As for the dialog in the novel: I didn't find very much noteworthy about it, it seemed more rather the cutanddrytype of dialog, However, there were a few bits that especially stood out for me at the end of the novelunder the spoiler:


Father to Hortensius:
    "You should be more careful with your attempts at humor, my friend.
Do I need you to remind you of the heads hanging within walking distance of this house What's one more head among a few hundred"
    "A few hundred Try more than fifteen hundred as of the last count! And if I found myself on that list hanging from every temple, tavern, and brothel from here to Tarentum, I would know it's time to fall upon my own sword and leave this city to burn.
" said Hortensius
    "Not if the sword is drawn on you first, "
    Hortensius stopped dead in his tracks, Father turned and the two stood motionless in a dark portion of the hallway, "I hope that's not a threat, dear boy not from you, Of fall my dearest friends, not you, "
    The tension of the stressful day departed with the reproach, Yes, this was a true friend who stood before him, a friend that could speak honestly and without fear in his presence a friend he needed, "No, not a threat at all, Just an illphrased warning. I apologize, Hortensius. It's been a long day, Or perhaps a long year, I should say, Let's speak no more of dark tidings, shall we Instead, let's speak of Rome, "

And possibly one of my favorite comeback lines:
    Sulla's pale skin began to turn red, but he withheld his anger, "What do you know of rules and traditions You are just a child, a false imperator who has yet to sprout so much as a hair on his own face! And who are you that you should stand before me and beg such a foolish request for a triumph"
    It was Father's turn to simmer in his indignation.
Almost under his breath, he said, "Need I remind you that more men worship the rising sun than its setting"


All told, when I started this book and up until about halfway through it, I didn't think I would either seek the second book nor suggest it to a friend of mine who loves Roman history.
But from the second half it changed my mind, and I found myself wanting to read the next book to see what happens for Pompey Magnus, I really enjoyed this book, The author covers a very well known but rarely written about figure on Roman history, Historical fiction most often only mentions Pompey as he interacts with Julius Caesar, That is what makes this novel unique and fun, I didn't know the story going into it, I enjoyed the novel so well I plan to immediately move on to the second book, Received a signed copy from the author on Goodreads, Rising Sun is a historical account of Rome, This book does not focus on J, C but on Pompey. His story is told by his son, The book starts off a little slow, but picks up as it goes a long, If you love to read about Rome and are looking for a different view point, this is the book for you, An epic work of historical and military fiction, told like an autobiography and narrated by the last living son of Gnaeus Pompey, “Rising Sun” is the first in the exciting “Magnus” trilogy.


Read full review in the sitelinkJune/July Double Issue of InDtale Magazine, I actually really enjoyed this book, there not a lot of books out there truly devoted to Magnus Pompey and that baffles me, he was main part of roman history.
The book was well written and cant wait to start thend one Robert Allen Johnson is an award winning social entrepreneur and the author of three books, His first two novels, Rising Sun and Triumphator, were released to rave reviews in, His third novel, Wraith, was released in late, His followup to Rising Sun and Triumphator will be released in early, He lives in Indiana with his wife and two children, .