BLURB
“Silk Road Centurion makes for compulsive reading due to its many colorful characters and twisting plot points. This book is not only the product of detailed historical knowledge, but is finely written as well.”
– Taipei Times
When Roman soldier Manius Titinius falls into the clutches of a nomadic warband, his forced march to the Chinese frontier plunges him into a new world of wonder and peril. Manius escapes captivity through the help of a Chinese family. In their village he grapples with the slippery language, learns a new way of life from a feisty child, and undergoes medical treatment by the healer Kang, her remedies as biting as her wit.
Gradually he forges a new life among the Chinese – only for his former captors to track him down and attack. Amid a grueling siege, daring rescue mission, and a hunt across the boundless steppe to save someone dear to him, the displaced Roman discovers a new meaning of family and of home.
“A riveting action-packed novel that is an ambitious attempt at imagining the meeting of two great civilizations.”
– Asian Review of Books
“A grand adventure I simply couldn’t put down. Crawford’s equally adept at stirring martial moments and calm ones that paint societies and the complex webs they weave over individuals. Compelling and powerful, it’s a testament to heroism, loyalty, and brotherhood. One of the finest things I read all year.”
– Howard Andrew Jones, author of The Desert of Souls and Lord of a Shattered Land
REVIEW
A compelling read that transported me to a time and place that made me feel as if I were there. The author has crafted a tale of brutal suffering, enchanting cultural differences, vengeance despite the odds, bonds forged by oaths, and love. I ventured into this book curious as to how a Roman Centurion was going to fare among people so different in a land completely foreign to him. I needn’t have worried. Each phase of Manius’ journey was filled with masterful plots brimming with detail, and mind-steeped emotional turmoil. So, my fellow readers, prepare for a breathtaking trek into the steppes and feel the wind as you gallop through the pages. 5 STARS
Historical Fiction reviews 