Attila: The Judgment

Attila is the first book of William Napier's Attila the Hun trilogy, and takes place during the boyhood of the legendary conqueror. The story opens while Attila is a political hostage in Rome, to ensure the cooperation of the Empire's new Hun allies, a barbaric tribe of horsemen that have a fearsome fighting style never before seen. Attila is unhappy in Rome, far from the open skies and grasslands of his home, and attempts escape at every opportunity. He is extremely proud of his heritage and very derisive of the Roman way of life, chafing at the constraints put upon him. While to the Romans Attila comes across as a troublesome child, we see right away that he is very serious and determined to make it back to his homeland. From the first he is a brilliant strategist, but is occasionally tripped up by the impulsiveness of his age and his pride. Despite his dislike of all things Roman, Attila does come to respect and trust Stilicho, a Roman general, and his wife, viewing them as surrogate parents. They too feel deeply for the boy, but are no match for the intrigues of the court. Attila finds himself bereft of the only people he trusted, and at the mercy of the Emperor's paranoid sister, the true mind behind her ineffectual brother's rule, who has taken a complete dislike of him. Attila makes another unlikely friend in the Roman soldier Lucius, as they survive an ambush together. Attila ultimately does return home to the Huns, but faces unexpected challenges once there that continue to shape his personality and purpose. I truly enjoyed this story, the character of Attila is single-minded in his purpose, and yet complex in his emotions. Stilicho and Lucius and characters that pull the heart strings, completely loyal to their ideals and companion soldiers, yet betrayed by Mother Rome. It is this nobleness of character that Attila respects in these men, enemies by culture, but allies by circumstance. There is also a wry and sometimes desperate humor present between Attila and the soldiers. I recommend this to lovers of historical fiction, and look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy. *I received my copy of this book as a giveaway on [...], given by St. Martin's Press.

This tale of a young Attila the Hun is told by Priscus of Panium who is ninety years old. The scribe introduces himself in a few pages then gets on with his story. The next chapter introduces us to a battle where General Stilicho sees for the first time that not all tales told of the fighting style of the Huns is myth and he is amazed at what he sees. Next, we meet Atilla who is being held captive in Rome. During one of his many escape attempts we also meet the cruel hearted shrew that is Princess Galla and one of Atilla's protectors, General Stilicho's wife Serena. The rest of the story details the beginning of the fall of Rome and Attila's fight to make it home to his tribe, the feared Huns. I thought the book was well written, there is a lot of violence both to animals (which I flinched through) and humans (which is expected) but there isn't as much swearing as some other reviewers report. This is the beginning of a trilogy detailing Attila's life and I can't wait to get my hands on the next two installments. I really like how the first book is just about young Attila leaving the reader eager to add more to the story when the book is drawn to a close.

This is an action-packed, totally gripping and very well written epic account of the life of one of history's ultimate Bad Guys: Attila the Hun. Yet what do we really know about him? He lived in the Dark Ages, after all, when everything is pretty murky. In fact, as you'll learn from William Napier's blood-soaked epic, Attila virtually CAUSED the Dark Ages, leading the most fearsome of all the barbarian tribes, the Huns, against the once great, now tottering and decadent Empire in the West: The Empire of Rome. (You can see creepy modern parallels too if you want to.) This first book takes us through Attila's boyhood, amid the first Sack of Rome by another tribe, the Goths. In this blazing, burnt-out, war-torn world, Attila's hard character was formed. And he started dreaming of revenge, on a massive scale .... Great characters, especially the decent and honorouble Brit legionary officer, Lucius, and loads of colour and atmosphere, I absolutely loved this first instalment and can't wait for the next. Awesome.

I thought this book was very well written. Napier paints a vivid picture of life during the fall of Rome. Attila is the first book in a trilogy and follows Attila the Hun through his childhood. Reading this novel is like taking a giant step backward in history. Attila is a slow-moving story. Napier takes his time and captures the essence of life in a world that was battling for land and religious dominance. And because Napier is such an incredible storyteller, I was more than happy to take that slow stroll along with him

In the first book The Scourge of God, the Vandals and the Visigoths, large barbarian nations have sensed that the time is right for them to challenge the right of the Roman Empire but a new power has been rising in the East. A nation of horse riding warrior who have just found themselves a new leader. The nation called the Huns are led by Attila. The boy exiled thirty years ago, is now a man. A man who lived away from his own people for such a length of time that he almost began to believe he was no longer one of them. That was only when he despaired that he would ever see his own people again. But that was then and this is now . . . Attila is now preparing to ride out to unite all the feuding tribes under one single banner, his own. Attila has chosen his time well. His strength of character and iron will mould the petty squabbling of the tribes into a horde of warriors the like of which the world has never seen before or will again. An empire, full of gold and silver. Grown fat on its own rich pickings lies waiting for them . . . The Roman Empire, once invincible but now a shadow of its former glory.