John Marco's Tyrants and Kings Trilogy

[Drachir]

The strength of John Marco's Tyrants and Kings Trilogy is in its character development. It is considered a military fantasy although from what I could glean from the trilogy Mr. Marco knows very little about ancient warfare. He has sailing vessels ramming enemy ships, a tactic that would be disastrous and was never used. He also has the captain commanding from the bow of the ship rather than the stern. This seems to indicate to me a complete lack of knowledge of maritime history.

His land battles are not much better. The armies he describes are little better than raiding parties. He seems to think an army of 200 men is huge. He also has cavalry used to attack forces in cities and forests, a tactic that would be suicidal in practice.

Apart from that, however, the books are enjoyable. his characters are well developed and the books are filed with intrigue and suspense. I found them quite readable once I was able to get past the miltary inaccuracies.

I am hoping that Mr. Marco continues to write fantasy, perhaps with a bit more attention to military realism.