River of Gold

Empire XI

By: Anthony Riches

Narrated by: Saul Reichlin

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

The 11th novel in Anthony Riches' best-selling Empire series takes Marcus Aquila and his most trusted allies to Egypt. 

After saving the emperor's life in Rome, Marcus and his comrades have been sent across the sea to the wealthy, corrupt Greek metropolis of Aegyptus, Alexandria. 

An unknown enemy has slaughtered the garrison of the empire's last outpost before its border with the mysterious kingdom of Kush. Caravans can no longer reach the crucial Red Sea port of Berenike, from which the riches of the East flow towards Rome. 

The emperor's most trusted and most devious adviser has ordered Marcus' commander Scaurus and his trusted officers to the south. With orders that are tantamount to a suicide mission and with only one slim hope of success. 

Can a small force of highly trained legionaries restore the empire's power in this remote desert no-man's-land, when faced by the fanatical army of Kush's iron-fisted ruler? 

©2020 Anthony Riches (P)2020 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Keep them coming.

I have enjoyed this entire series. It often repeats itself however, there is most always an interesting tactic in play unknown until the end. I often laugh out loud at the banter and we surprising lose a key character unexpectedly. I look forward to more because there is some unfinished big time revenge yet to be leveled. I enjoy the reader I have a lot of hours listening and he has grown on me. I have listened to several more than once. I enjoy historical novels based in the last century BCE through third century CE. We know so little and I enjoy an honest effort to fill in the gaps I fine it just great fun. To take a fragment and build upon it and plug it into a storyline well the authors guess is as good as anybody’s. Because we just don’t know thus Historical Fiction.

Great Story!

Can't wait for the next vol. in the Empire Series #12! Quickly we hope, PLEASE!

Every new book turns out to be a gripping adventur

When you have read the series, each new novel turns into a familiar, new adventure by the A Team of the Roman world. They keep on coming back for more and provide hours of entertainment. Thank you Anthony!

A bad day at the office!

If all the other books in this series were different models of Ferrari's, then this book is an old rusty mini. Apart from the regulars there are no characters with any character that you can believe in or can invest in. Plot? forget it! Not much in the way of military action either. I am sorry that I say this because I had enjoyed this series so much but either this was one book too far or just a bad day at the office. I hope the next one is back on track? Thanks.

worth the wait

I have gone through the empire series using a mix of hard books and audible books, the narration is awesome throughout. the story is gripping and detailed...I cant wait for the next one

A new area of the empire well described

Another great and engaging listen. Lacked a large fixed piece battle that I thought it was building up to and felt like the story dropped off to quickly but enjoyable

Brilliant

An excellent series. I can’t wait for the next book. Anthony riches does not ever disappoint. Thank you

Fails to deliver on the quality of previous books

I'm a big big fan of this series, but on this occasion the pace of the book and the depth of the plot failed to impress. In many ways this reminded me of the Hobbit film. 3 movies for one book, With the first 8 chapters in the first movie. After listening for 40 minutes to a scene that should have lasted 5, and seeing this pattern constantly repeated, I began to realise the entire book was based on a single idea, with precious little sub plot to support.
Very little fighting, characters see little mention, with too much emphasis on unimportant events. In TV terms this would be considered a "filler" episode. That isn't to say it isn't enjoyable to listen to - but it is well below the authors usual standard.
The ending sets up what promises to be a more exciting next chapter. Narration excellent as per usual .

Excellent as always

If you enjoyed the previous books you’ll be in no way disappointed with this one.

great book from a great series 👍

have really enjoyed all of these books right from
the wounds of honour book. top series 👍

Another cracker from Riches.

Loved the book, and reading the next chapter in Aquila/Corvus's path to vengeance. 'Bit of a sudden stop at the end, but still a very good book! Plenty of action, twists, turns, and even surprises. Gutted to see another favourite character killed, this one lost to a fluke ricocheting bolt, but that's war and if you can't take a joke... (Regular readers of the Empire series will get this one.)

A tad disappointed to find another incidence of legionaries being called 'legionnaires', Marcus being addressed as both tribune and centurion by the same person in the same 'scene', as well as Cotta's name being thrown about like confetti when it was supposed to remain secret and to use his pseudonym 'Centurion Lucius' to keep his true identity hidden.