Robert M. Kidd – Winter Of Winters

Winter of Winters by Robert M. Kidd is the second book in The Histories of Sphax. I have read and blogged the first book so I have been eagerly waiting for this tour to start so I could give you my thoughts on this book also.

218 BC. Hannibal’s exhausted army staggers down from the last Alpine pass like a rabble of half-
starved savages, the remnants of a once magnificent army that had set out from the Rhodanus with such hope. Now there is no way back. With the legions of Consul Publius Scipio closing fast, Carthage needs its Gaulish allies like never before. But where are the Insubres? Where are the Boii? Where are the thousands of warriors pledged by solemn oath? In the maelstrom of battle, Sphax, nephew of Hannibal, forges a reputation as the scourge of Rome. But will his ingrained recklessness and quest for honour set him at odds with the forbidding genius of his uncle? Only one thing is certain in this winter of winters, a great battle is coming that will decide the fates of Rome and Carthage.

A book I was so glad to be able to read, the first book was so good I was hoping Robert M Kidd had continued on his A-game for this one, well, for me he had. I was back with Sphax on his journey doing as he wanted to do from the minute he set of to find Hannibal and his army. A story as immersive and compelling as the first, with more detailed research as there was in the first. Everything about this book, again had me glued to it. I still enjoyed being in the midst of it all with Sphax and everyone else on the arduous mission they are in. The battle is an epic one and had me speeding through the pages faster than I was before that.

I do think it can be read as a standalone story but I am glad I started at the beginning, Sphax is a colourful character and worth getting to know on every level.

Another book that I feel like I have been educated as well as entertained again. Will be waiting for Robert’s next one and hoping it is soon. He has a love for this historical period and it shines through every word in the book.

Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and Robert M Kidd for my copy of this historical book.