Truly, I did not enjoy reading this book. I had previously read Volume 1 and thought it was okay. I voraciously read Simon Scarrow, Colm Iggulden, and M C Scott and this reads and feels different but not in a good way. It's written mostly in present tense (which can accord with the middle voice of 1st century Koine Greek) but here it... just doesn't work. The middle voice gives the sense of something going on but not yet finished but that tense is basically unused in English. But rather than sounding ancient it just sounds annoying. Everything is happening now. I appreciate the enormous amount of work that goes into a historical epic but honestly this device just felt like a flea in my ear and I couldn't enjoy the writing.

Scipio Rules is a fun read. And I learned quite a lot in the process, mostly about Scipio, but also plenty of tidbits concerning Carthage, Numibia, and the messy politics of Rome at the time. Prior to reading this book, I didn't even realize that King Phillip V of Macedonia had big ambitions at the time, nor that there was a threat from Syria, nor that the Romans used Numibian horsemen and African elephants in battle. So this book is informative as well as entertaining, which is the definition for good historical fiction in my mind. Be sure to read the author's introduction, as he will tell you up front some things that are inventions of his mind. That way you don't mistake those items as historical, too.