Book excerpt: A warrior in enemy territory is on secret mission to raise an army in this historical adventure by the author of Wolves of the North. In AD 264, the Roman Empire has been torn in two. The western provinces—Gaul, Spain, and Britain—have been seized by Postumus, the pretender to the throne. To the east, on the plains of northern Italy, the armies of the emperor Gallienus muster, and he is keen to take his rightful place of power. A war between two emperors is coming, and everyone must choose a side. On a mission shrouded in secrecy and suspicion, Ballista is sent by Gallienus back to his original home of Hyperborea, the place of the people of his birth, to raise an army against Postumus. This means that Ballista must journey along the Amber Road to the far north. Along the way Ballista meets a fearsome, masked warlord who brings fire and sword against Ballista and his men. And in Ballista’s home of Hyperborea, not all welcome his return. In the battle between Postumus and Gallienus, only one can survive and be emperor. Renowned for their skilled blending of action and historical accuracy, Sidebottom’s Warrior of Rome novels take the reader from the shouts of the battlefield to the whisperings of the emperor’s inner circle. Rich in detail and punctuated by harrowing action, there’s no better way to transport yourself back to the days of the Roman Empire. Praise for the Warrior of Rome series “Sidebottom’s prose blazes with searing scholarship.” —The Times (UK) “Superior . . . fiction, with depth, authenticity and a sense of place.” —Times Literary Supplement (UK) “A storming Roman epic with explosive action and knuckle-whitening drama.” —The Guardian (UK) “I don’t think I’ve ever experienced antiquity so directly: the brutality, the directness of expression and feeling, the deep bonds formed amid unmitigated violence.” —David Konstan, Professor of Classics, Brown University “The best sort of red-blooded historical fiction.” —Andrew Taylor, author of The American Boy