Winter Quarters

War is business. It's a basic theme to Alfred Duggan's epic tale called "Winter Quarters." I had been looking for a shorter book to read in the interim before I moved onto something longer, and I came across Alfred Duggan, and this book came in highly recommended, and it was the perfect length, so how could I resist? Well, temptation is the hand of the devil, and I must say that I was extremely impressed! Taking place during the time of Caesar, Caesar is waring in Gaul, and soon moving eastwards towards the Germanic tribe area. However, our story is not about Caesar, but of 2 Gaul nobels, Camul and Acco. On one particular day, Acco was off hunting when Camul saw him running down the mountain in a terrible freight! Acco had killed the bear of the goddess Pyrene! After talk amongst the nobels and family, it is decided that Camul is going to leave and join the Roman army, and Acco will follow. They will leave their home while the wrath of the goddess dies down, before returning. Over the next few years, we read about how Camul and Acco join up with Caesar, the cavarly, and eventually move into "The City," aka Rome. Through their eyes, we see how roman lifestyle was like, the desire for blood, but only blood that was well deserved. And how the romans went to war not so much to defend themselves, but more because it was business. They simply invaded a country which was not hostile, because it would better suite roman needs. We see how Camul and Acco travel from Rome, out to the Middle East, through Saudi Arabia, and Jerusalem. They give an incredible retelling of what life was like all across their journeys. Winter Quarters was a fantastic book. One of the points which captured me first, was how the book opened at "present times," and one evening Camul has his friend write down his telling of how he came to be where he was. I really felt what life was like during these times, and the pain and pleasures that these men went through, and experienced during their odyssey. We see how their cultures are different, how politics are played, and how the Gaul lifestyle is much older, than the new roman ways. I plan on continuing reading Alfred Duggan's novels, and I would recommend this book for people who enjoy historical fiction, and need something light. This book is not very deep, or difficult to read. Enjoy!

Winter Quarters tells a familiar tale from an unfamiliar point of view. With so much research and interpretations of late-Republic Rome, this book recalls the Rome of Caesar, Pompeius, and Crassus, from the point of view of minor noble Gauls Acco and Camul. In their home village, Acco's love Grane is mauled to death by a bear in the woods, and Acco then kills the bear. From the warning of an old woman who witnessed it, he believes "The Goddess", whose name is almost never used, has cursed him for slaying her bear. To avoid her wrath, Acco and Camul go to join the Romans, with whom their tribe is at peace with, and join Caesar on his campaign against the other tribes. From there, they join Publius Licinius Crassus, and his father Marcus's campaign east to attack the Parthians. The text is very plain and humble, without Pressfield-esque literary richness, or McCullough-esque description of politics, people, and history. The narrator, Camul, is very optimistic, relatively untouched by traumas of hard marches and fierce battles, with only honor and pride in his head and heart. Despite this lack of lush writing or historical density, the book is far from dry, as the story holds enough interest to keep one reading through all its 234 pages, from the distant Gallic tribe bordering Iberia they come from, to the deserts of Syria and the battlefield of Carrhae, and to the barren Sea of Grass in the middle of Asia, where the narrator's story ends. Not a phenom of a novel, but an entertaining read.

This was a fine and accurate depiction of the Roman army. This Latin teacher recommends it highly.