The Fort

City of Victory, Book 1

By: Adrian Goldsworthy

Narrated by: Stephen Perring

Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

From best-selling historian Adrian Goldsworthy, a profoundly authentic, action-packed adventure set on Rome's Danubian frontier.

AD 105: Dacia

The Dacian kingdom and Rome are at peace, but no one thinks that it will last. Sent to command an isolated fort beyond the Danube, centurion Flavius Ferox can sense that war is coming but also knows that enemies may be closer to home.

Many of the Brigantes under his command are former rebels and convicts, as likely to kill him as obey an order. And then there is Hadrian, the emperor's cousin, and a man with plans of his own.

©2021 Adrian Goldsworthy (P)2021 W F Howes

Another attempt at affirmative action.

Amazing that author needed to put today's politics into Roman times. Bad enough that the story bounced back and forth but trying to keep the many strange names straight was difficult. I understand that Marvel needs to make women stronger than men. But this is a story built on history. I know of NO women in history that could stand toe to toe in hand to hand contact and survive. Ending was as disappointing as the rest of the story.

In the top tier of historical fiction.

Goldsworthy is a rarity in historical fiction: someone with a catalogue of dedicated academic works. His true appreciation for historiography enables the building of an environment for his story that powerfully captures the era as well as anything can hope. Thank you again, Adrian Goldsworthy.

good book

I can't get enough of this series. I can't wait for the next one.

Falls a little short of the 3 previous Novels

Changing the reader was a disappointment for me Stephen Brand is among my very favorite performers. This was also good but I found it lacking compared to the first three novels which are among my all time favorites. I hated the end and the entire story was a let down compared to Vindolanda etc. I believe I have read everything Goldsworthy has written and will continue to do so. A terrible way to treat such a loved character. You left him no way out. The entire premise was off from the start. Not Mr. Goldsworthy’s best work. It just didn’t fit and screws up the future. I guess I just didn’t like it.

Terrific novel. A delightful portrait of Hadrian.

Though he is not the central character, Hadrian is a major character and I kept waiting for him to reappear.
I also enjoyed the description of life in a Roman fort on a dangerous edge of the Empire and the various British soldiers far from home, but the politics of Rome and the early career of Hadrian gave me the most pleasure. Mr. Goldsworthy is not only a great historian but he also has the imagination and talent of a wonderful novelist. Bravo!
Mr. Perring did an excellent job with creating the many different voices in the novel,with again Hadrian being a most surprising one.

I hope this series continues and Mr. Goldswothy’s muse prods him to hurry.

Good but not great

This is the fourth book in the series. The prior three books are outstanding! This fourth book seemed a little too cliché, but it’s still worth the read. The ending seems to be setting up for more books to come. Hopefully the rise to the level of the first three.

Interesting continuation

This continuation of the saga of Flavius Ferox is well written and narrated. I did not find the story as compelling as the Vindolanda saga, but it was still a treat to be reunited with the Centurion and some of his friends. I think the best scenes were those between Ferox and Claudia Anica, who lightened the tone of the story while carrying great narrative weight as a character.

The narration was good, although the pronunciations have all changed.

Awful Narrator

Love the series but unfortunately the narrator change is a disaster for me. Voice never changes, you can't tell whose talking so constantly trying to piece the story together as your not sure who is who.
Please bring back the narrator from previous books

Give Me More, Give Me More

I really enjoyed the Vindolanda series and this new series continuing the great experience. It was really hard to stop listening. Can't wait for the next installment

Another good book

I loved this book just as much as I loved the first series I just wish they made it known it is a continuation

Really disappointed

I am an avid reader of , for the use of a better phrase, Roman fiction/ history. This book came to my attention and I thought well why not even though the author was not that familiar to me.
It was a lengthy story but after around 8 hours listening I couldn’t take anymore. And this was largely because I hadn’t a clue what was going on. There were a plethora of events, characters,wholly over the top, in my humble opinion, detailed description of incidents which were difficult to link leaving me totally confused and bewildered. Undoubtedly, everything probably comes together in the end, but, to be honest, I hadn’t the energy or desire to wait around .
Good luck to the author but I, for one, will not be revisiting his works
Sorry but honest
.

excellent for seeding me to sleep

very slow going ,any thing exciting happened in the last three chapters .
what a pity .

Gripping story, and a world rich in historical detail.

This is another great book from Mr Goldsworthy that’s rich in historical detail and brilliantly read by Stephen Perring.

Audible disappoints once again

Loved the story. Loved the Narrator.

However, I am sick of Audible using different Narrators for for continuations of a series. I respect this technically is separate from Adrian's previous trilogy but it's the same characters.

This is an on going issue with many series and sadly using a different narrator completely changes the characters. VERY ANNOYING

Good entertainement and change of narrator

Good book and change of set, instead of Britannia is Dalmatia with interesting historical background. Lively action and more importantly a speedier narrator. The previous narrator from books 1 to 3 was good but slower reader and the change is most welcome.

Didn't love it

Bought this book after hearing the authors interview on the podcast " emperors of rome " as he came across very Interesting so was excited to hear what he had wrote. After listening to it i must agree with one if the other reviews that was given. i found the book quite hard to follow in places, not sure if it's the way its wrote or the way the narrator is reading as I felt like he was in an a rush to finish. The book has an extremely strong finish but the first 8hrs felt like hard work as opposed to an enjoyable listen.

Struggled to finish this one...

Overall, wasn't much impressed with the story in this one, except maybe for the last 30 mins or so. it just didn't grip me in anyway and am not sure why to be honest. It wasn't that I found it slow just dull and uninteresting.

After a point I really was not keen on listening to it at all (which is quite rare for me), though I did finish it to give it a fair chance. Maybe the next one might be better, but based on this one I wouldn't feel excited to listen to the next installment.

I have listened to all of Scarrow's books and the Marius Mules series so far (which I highly recommend) but I honestly cannot really recommend this series so far. hopefully it improves.

Great storytelling

Excellent plot line and narration superb. will continue with this authour's work and look forward to the next rendition