**Perfect for fans of action-adventure and historical
fiction--including novels by such authors as Bernard Cornwell, Steve
Berry, Naomi Novik, and Harry Turtledove--this stunning work of
alternate history imagines a world in which the Roman Empire has not
fallen and the North American continent has just been discovered. In the
year 1218 AD, transported by Norse longboats, a Roman legion crosses the
great ocean, enters an endless wilderness, and faces a cataclysmic clash
of worlds, cultures, and warriors.
**
Ever hungry for land and gold, the Emperor has sent Praetor Gaius
Marcellinus and the 33rd Roman Legion into the newly discovered lands of
North America. Marcellinus and his men expect easy victory over the
native inhabitants, but on the shores of a vast river the Legion clashes
with a unique civilization armed with weapons and strategies no Roman
has ever imagined.
Forced to watch his vaunted force massacred by a surprisingly tenacious
enemy, Marcellinus is spared by his captors and kept alive for his
military knowledge. As he recovers and learns more about these proud
people, he can't help but be drawn into their society, forming an uneasy
friendship with the denizens of the city-state of Cahokia. But
threats--both Roman and Native--promise to assail his newfound kin, and
Marcellinus will struggle to keep the peace while the rest of the
continent surges toward certain conflict.
Praise for Clash of Eagles
"That rarest and best of alternative histories: the one you believe,
the one that makes sense. Alan Smale has a storyteller's flair for
character, and presents an ensemble cast with a depth of detail of which
George R. R. Martin would approve. It works as a novel, as historical
speculation, and as cultural extrapolation. But its real value is
singular: It's a ripping good yarn, and one that will keep you reading
long past your bedtime."--Myke Cole, award-winning author of the
Shadow Ops series
"Just when it seems there is nothing new in [alternate] history comes
this debut."--Library Journal (starred review)
"An intriguingly original alternate history."--Kirkus Reviews
"[Smale] breathes life into the New World civilizations and offers up
a compelling view of what might have happened had these two continents
collided. . . . I found the New World of 1218 AD
fascinating."--Historical Novels Review
"Authoritatively researched, compellingly told, and with pleasing echoes
of L. Sprague de Camp, Clash of Eagles is a modern masterpiece of
what-if speculation."--Stephen Baxter, Philip K. Dick Award-winning
author of The Time Ships
"Smale has done remarkable work with the worldbuilding in Clash of
Eagles, dropping the sole Roman survivor of a massacre into the complex
civilization of the Cahokian Native Americans in the thirteenth
century."--Harry Turtledove, New York Times bestselling author of
How Few Remain
"My favorite kind of alternate history: epic, bloody, and hugely
imaginative."--John Birmingham, author of Without Warning
"Epic in its sweep, exciting in its narrative, and eyeball-kick sharp in
its details."**--Nancy Kress, Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author of
*Beggars in Spain
"The first book of Alan Smale's trilogy introduces the series with a
lightning bolt. Bracketed between two breathtaking and meticulously
strategized battles is a sensitive evocation of a lost culture, an act
of literary archeology like no other I've read."--James Patrick Kelly,
Nebula Award-winning author of Burn
