Review: Servus

Emma Southon, Servus, (Hodder Press, 2026)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8962835839

Hanno and wife Aurelia during Hannibal’s wars

The Second Punic War during the Spanish Campaign of 215-206 BCE. 212 BCE Rome has triumphed over Carthage in Italy and Sicily, but in Spain…

Aboard a ship from Sicilia to Iberia after the sack of Syrako (Syracuse), Carthaginian commander Hanno and his Roman wife-to-be Aurelia are seeking Gadir, Qart Hadasht or some ‘safe Carthaginian-held city’, when they are boarded by Lusitanian pirates and taken captive. Their escape relies on hoodwinking the local ruler Barekbaal the Fat into believing Aurelia is a Roman noblewoman worthy of ransom.

Quintus, Aurelia’s brother, and Jug, Roman principes, dock at Emporion intent on joining the new legion of the Scipiones brothers at Saguntum. They are ambushed en route by Suessetani tribesmen and rescued unexpectedly by a troop of Celtiberians.

Aurelia supports neither side, wants war to cease. In between battles, she and Hanno marry. Hanno’s commitment to Hannibal’s cause is unshakable, but Aurelia’s ambivalence concerning the conflict comes between the newlyweds.

Romans, Carthaginians, Numidians and various indigenous tribes of Iberia come to battle. I liked that it was not only successful military manoeuvres which are discussed. Mistakes are made on each side, Hanno’s own included, and lives are lost. So, we get an insider’s view of different battle strategies and tactics. Scipio’s conquest of Carthago Nova (Qart Hadasht), for example, relied on a lightning advance and local intel that the lagoon was shallow and marchable. Spoiler alert, Rome wins in the end.

Battle scenes are exciting, with good suspense building to short, sharp sentences and sensory clues. The hardships of marching and the horrors of war are not skipped over, accentuating the resolve and the bravery of the soldiers. The soldiers’ feelings about victory and defeat are sympathetically conveyed. The different cultures are portrayed well.

Book 4 in the Hannibal series.

This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.