I love historical fiction and found this book very interesting though a little hard to read at times

I loved the other books in this series and loved this one.
It's action packed, gripping and I loved the well researched historical background and the fleshed out characters.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Rounded up to 4.5 stars.

I’ve been on a historical fiction kick lately, and while some are hit or miss, this one didn’t let me down. However, I didn’t realize that this was the fourth book in a series until I downloaded it and began reading. There was some information provided about events that happened earlier in the series, but it was done in a way that didn’t feel like an info dump, and also made me want to go back and read the earlier books in the series.

The story is told from the point of view of two main characters, Silus and Atius, and it takes place over a period of several months in 213 AD. At first, it jumps back and forth a little bit, from one point in time to three months prior, as we follow Silus on his journey to find Atius, and we learn what happened to Atius on his mission in Germania.

There’s a lot of action throughout the book, and it’s fairly fast paced. I was riveted, and was surprised at how interested I got in this period of history. I always found history classes somewhat interesting but kind of dry, and I’ve learned that well-written historical fiction can bring the past alive in a way that my classes in school never managed to. This book also had the added bonus of touching on history that I never even learned about in any of my schooling. We learned about the highlights of the Roman Empire, but I don’t recall any of the specifics. I actually wound up calling my nephew while reading this to name drop the series to him, since he’s always been a huge fan of Roman history.

There’s one battle scene that is fabulously written, and I was often on the edge of my seat while reading tense scenes. The characters are realistic, displaying complex emotions, and reacting to situations and conflict much like people do today. As I’d expect in a novel set in the Roman Empire, there’s no shortage of plotting, greed, and political maneuvering. But that’s part of what makes this so intriguing.

While there was one plot twist that I figured out quickly, the majority of them were unpredictable, which I always like in a book. I mean, if I could figure out what is going to happen, why bother reading the book, am I right? I’ve never heard of this author before, but by the time I finished this book, the rest of the series was already added to my wishlist, and I’m heartbroken that my library system has none of them!

Alex Gough has once again graced us with a fantastic historical fiction novel!
I won't write much for fear of spoilers, however, book four of "The Imperial Assassin" reunites us with Silius as we creep into the era of Rome's decline (a sad, sad time indeed). Silius is called out of retirement by the Emperor in order to search for a friend who has gone missing.

Was a missing friend really the reason the Emperor dragged by Silius from his civilian life, or was it a well thought plan by the Emperor to set in motion in an ever larger set of events to change the course of history forever?

"Emperor's Spear" is the latest novel featuring Silius, the emperor's assassin, during the beginning of the period when Rome was entering its era of decline. The legions that the nation still fielded were among the best trained fighting units the world had seen so far. During the time Mr. Gough is writing about these legions were involved in wars in territory to the north of Rome in what is roughly now Germany. Silius, who is now a civilian, and living peacefully at his estate is called up by the emperor who tells him that his close friend Atius is missing while on a mission for him. He asks that Silius travel to the area Atius has visited and attempt to find him.
The book is one of those that Alex Gough has done as much research as is possible regarding a period that does not offer that much contemporary writings extant Also the reader must understand that in writing a novelized book the author has to use literary license to provide supposed conversations between characters as well as describing events that while retaining credibility are not adhered to 100%.
Silius travels to the last area Atius is known to have been in and is able to locate him. Sirius, is of course, curious about the reason his friend traveled to an area that is actually a war zone and dangerous. For some reason Atius is reluctant to go into the reasons and indicates that he will divulge them "soon" The reason for his trip turns out to be part of a plot by the Roman emperor and something that literally changes the course of history when it occurs. Needless to say the description of the events unfolding in Mr. Gough's novel makes it a definite all nighter providing a possible insight into a 180 degree turn in a major historical event.