An interesting idea - during a reversal of the earth's magnetic poles there is also a time flip catapulting 21stC American military into the Carthaginian-Roman embattled past of 218BC. Our Americans, aptly from the Seventh Cavalry, adjust remarkably rapidly to their new surroundings amongst a lot of archetypal 'squaddie' macho behaviour and backchat. Happily their Native American colleague can sign and the local girls can understand what she is saying! They can communicate. Sign language is probably far more likely to be a success in this type of scenario than the convenient Oxford Latin scholar Lieutenant in a similar time travelling story I recently read - Pax Britannica. She happily chatted to the Romans in Latin. The locals were essentially Hannibal and his troops, supporters, camp followers as well as inordinate numbers of goats, cattle, horses and, of course, his elephants.. All were heading to the great battles with the Romans at this time. There were a lot, really a lot, of battle scenes with our intrepid 21st century troops using their drone, conveniently solar powered, to help Hannibal, not to mention their - guns. The author clearly knows that part of history and that's why I gave it 4 stars. I reckon the audience would be young adults, probably (not pc but there you are) mostly young men who will avidly read the battle bits and hopefully pick up some useful history too. I liked the descriptions of the vast array of support needed to move an army of this size, the logistics of feeding everyone, their effect on locals and landscape alike although I did NOT LIKE THEIR USE OF POTATOES!!!! Thanks to NetGalley and BookGoSocial for an honest review in exchange for their providing me with a free electronic copy of this book.

Though published originally in 2013 this is the first review I have found on NetGalley and Amazon. That fact and the rather amateurish cover art led me to think that this would be a waste of time reading. I was wrong. The reader has to accept a certain amount leeway in the interaction between the Cav and the Carthaginians. Would the they really have learned English that fast? The subtle inclusion of actual historical facts kept me interested and the action is fast and constant. Do not expect the highest quality writing but do welcome the entertainment.