While Turtledove is probably best known from his wonderful works of alternate history, he has also been known to create wonderful novels in teh genre of historical fiction. He did a wonderful job with Fort Pillow, the story of a black regiment during the Civil War as it captures and holds a Confederate base in Tennessee. He has also written a number of works tied to ancient Greece and Rome as H.N. Turtletaub.

Now, he uses his real name to highlight one of the biggest losses that faced the ancient Roman armies. The events took place toward the end of the rule of Emperor Augustus Caesar. Since the time of Julius Caesar, the Romans have been trying to bring the lands of Germany under their control. To do so, he assigns the task to Publius Quinctilius Varus, the husband of his grandniece and a former governor in the Eastern province of Syria. To help, Augustus has given him control of the XVII, XVIII, and XIX Legions, which made up one tenth of the Roman military of the time. Everyone expected it to be a successful campaign even if it was likely to take a number of years, such as it was in Gaul.

Turtledove does a wonderful job of presenting the events from the perspectives of a number of interesting players. Not surprisingly considering the time, all of them are men. Obviously, varus plays a major role, as do many of the men who make up his military leadership team. Turtledove does not set out to make the Romans the heroes or the villains of the tale. He balances their perspectives with those of Varus' Greek slave as well as a number of major players among the German tribes.

One of those German players is Armenius. He had a number of experiences serving in the Roman legions and has brought back his knowledge to his people. He has every hope that his experiences and military knowledge will help them fend off the Roman plans. He has the support of his father, but he greatly offends another tribal chief when he runs off and marries the chieftain's daughter while she is promised to another. While this convinces the chieftain to side with the Roman, it does not ruin Armenius' plans.

Through guile and dishonesty, Armenius is able to gain the trust of Governor Varus, which allows the German to persuade events that will set the Roman legions to on a path to the Teutoburg Forest. It is there that the German tribes lie in wait to crush the Romans.

History proved that the plan was a success. It was a rout that set the history of Europe on a path in which Rome had little influence on Germany. This led to the fall of Western Rome to the marauding Germanic tribes.

The true strength of this story is in how Armenius and the other other players arrived in Teutoburg. Great events in history rarely happen in one occurrence. Instead, they tend to be the beginning and the end of a series of events, bringing about change. They are basically turning points.

As usual, Turtledove does a wonderful job of capturing the tone and feel of the time being presented. He captures the details of everyday life for his characters in a way that bring a sense to realism in that is usually romanticized on film. I would definitely recommend this one for those of you who are fans of ancient Rome.