Marcus the Last Living Roman by Robert W Barker

Interesting story premise but the reading is tedious due to unusual sentence structure, odd spellings and lack of common grammar application. I find it essentially unreadable based on the above. I do not understand the lack of editing for common readability for the marketplace.

I really loved this novel. Marcus, the Last Living Roman is a tour de force. It is an in-depth look at a four year period of Roman history in the early first Century B.C.
Mithradates VI Eupater was the King of Pontus. He had great ambitions to conquer Asia Minor and to bring the Hellenistic world under his sway. His ambitions were thwarted by Roman interference. In 88 B.C. he soundly defeated the corrupt Roman General Manius Aquelius and ousted the Roman military from the region. Not content with this, he decreed that all Romans and Italians living in the region should be slaughtered and their bodies left to rot. He carefully arranged the day of slaughter with the Greek speaking subjects of his realm. In some cities the inhabitants took part in the massacres, while other cities, such as Smyrna, hired hooligans to do the job.
Twelve year old Marcus Tutlius was sleeping under the stars as was his habit when the hired band of Paphlagonians came to kill his family. They killed his mother, his father, his older sister, his young brother and a Latin-speaking slave woman. Marcus could hear their pleas and their screams but was helpless to do anything to stop the slaughter of his family.
The next day a Greek wine merchant named Victor and his slave Arturo come upon the scene of carnage. Victor was a friend and business associate of Marcus’ father Decius. When he tries to bury the bodies he is told that that is forbidden. Marcus follows Victor and makes his presence known. Victor agrees to help the boy despite the obvious danger to himself. The same Paphlagonian thugs who killed Marcus’s family kill Victor for his possessions, but Arturo and Marcus manage to escape to the home of Victor’s wife Hera, and she arranges for Arturo to take Marcus to a friend in the mountains of Cappadocia for refuge. Since Marcus speaks Greek with a Latin accent, she persuades him to pretend to be a mute.
This book is rich with narrative detail and the stories of various people impacted by these events. There is Demetrius of Priene, an athlete who helped some Romans escape to Rhodes at great risk of his life. There is the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla who is involved in a power struggle in Rome but now has vowed to subdue the Pontic King. There is Eloham, a Jewish inhabitant of Ephesus who declines from fear to help Romans but soon finds himself victimized by Mithradates’ governor. These events bring out the worst in many and the best in a few.
I would love to give this book five stars but, unfortunately a gift for story telling does not necessarily imply a gift for editing and this book cries out for professional editing. There are a lot of misspellings, miswordings and other mistakes, and the text would benefit from some judicious trimming. Also, a writer should not appropriate the fictional characters of another author. Lucius Cornelius Sulla was never married to the sister of Julius Caesar’s aunt. She didn’t exist but was an invention of the inimitable historical fiction writer Colleen McCullough.
Despite its flaws, Marcus, the Last Living Roman is highly satisfying and well worth reading. In the hands of a gifted editor, this book could become a masterpiece.

I have to agree with Judy Kreloff and say she is being very generous with her critique. The inability of the author to form an intellectual conversation is belied by his apparent smugness. Don't waste your time or your money. They are both better spent on anything else.

Marcus is a Latin lad living in Asia Minor when Mitradates takes over and starts a genocide of all Romans in that vast area. His parents and siblings killed he escapes and becomes a mute sheperd to cover his Latin accented Greek. He remains in that role far from Rome for over four years until Rome returns. His adventures and the exciting battles and struggles of other blend into a great tales of historical accuracy. The story that lead up to his Roman return is wonderful. A great summer read, Mr Barker's style is colorful and rather odd at times but is certainly well told.