The author's series just keeps getting better and better! Valerius is torn between his friendship for Vitellius and his feelings of duty to support Vespasian, the latest contender for the purple. Valerius fights on the side of Vespasian, even commands a legion temporarily, then is tasked by General Primus: to talk Vitellius into surrendering. To rescue his lady love, Domitia, and to destroy his rival for her affections, he ends up fighting on Vitellius's side and when Vespasian's forces win, he is sentenced to exile as a traitor.

There was not much I could fault in this episode. Outstanding and heart-stopping were the night battle termed by one of the characters as "blindfold combat"; the Battle of Cremona and during its incendiary aftermath, the rescue of a family from a burning insula. We found out a little more about Serpentius. Valerius's freedman and friend. I am so glad Olivia was a bit more than a minor character in this story. My bête noir, Domitia, was not as loathsome as before; I finally began to see some humanity and some empathy for others in the last part of the story. There is the same mixture of action, loyalty, treachery, deceit, and love as in the previous volumes. I feel you can read the book as a standalone; the author gives enough backstory. If you've read the volumes in order, the backstory might feel like a bit of overkill. I'd give it a 4.5, not enough to round it to a 5, mainly because of Domitia's personality through most of the whole novel. ( )