The Last of the Romans

by Derek Birks Book 1 in the The Last of the Romans series.

First published 2019

Amazon

4.1(2,510)

In 454, Dux Ambrosius Aurelianus has become an inconvenient survivor of Rome’s wars. His small band of bucellarii helped secure a fragile peace in the western empire, but once their usefulness has passed they are pushed aside. When political enemies move against him, Ambrosius is branded a traitor and forced to flee northern Italy with his soldiers, members of his family and Inga, a Saxon woman whose fate has become bound to his own.

The fugitives cross the weakening imperial provinces towards Gaul, where Ambrosius hopes family connections will offer shelter. Instead he encounters towns under pressure, Frankish raiders and a political order that is disintegrating faster than anyone can replace it. The novel places a soldier trained by Rome at the moment when loyalty to the empire is becoming less a protection than a liability.