The story of how a Spanish community handled Caesar's fury in 45BCE
Set in southern Spain in the First Century BC, Libertas introduces the people who live in the idyllic mountain community of Munda and the ancient Kemeletoi people who thrive in the surrounding countryside. But the world is ruled by Rome, whose generals have a score to settle - Julius Caesar has force-marched eight crack legions from Italy to subdue the sons of Pompey, and two huge armies will clash in the wide upland valley that stretches before Munda. The final, savage battle of a remorseless struggle for world dominance. A battle that will leave 30,000 dead and a community devastated. But there's an unlikely hero who refuses to give in to the despair and horror of war, who believes his family can be rescued from slavery, who refuses to accept that Roman cruelty and greed has changed his beloved Munda forever. This is a story of bravery, love, invention and hope.
Excerpt
‘Good morning, Melqart the Mighty.’
I hadn’t noticed Sextus return. He wore the most flamboyant armour I have ever seen, a jewelled breastplate over a fine mail shirt with gold shoulder-pieces, a ridiculous bronze codpiece and ornate greaves strapped over shiny leather leggings. A long sword hung at his side and his customary curved dagger was strapped to his thigh.
‘You going to a party or fighting a battle, General?’ I looked at him askance.
‘Very funny. Actually, I’m toying with the idea of having you charged with dereliction of duty.’
‘What do you mean?’ I looked for the usual spark of humour on his face.
‘Is that, or is that not Gaius Julius Caesar over there looking somewhat aggressive? If I’m not mistaken, it’s your job to signal his approach.’
I decided to play Sextus at his own game. ‘Have your men rustle up some breakfast first. I’m starving.’
His face cracked with a smile. ‘And how would “sir” like his eggs today? We have some rather fine cured pork and preserved peacock tongues all the way from Rome, and as today is the Feast of Bacchus, maybe we should open one of my brother’s vintage wines?’
My stomach turned at the thought. ‘Maybe I’ll wait until after this is over,’ I said ruefully and, gathering my sword belt, started for my position below the hillcrest where the signal flags were stored.
‘Let’s get started then,’ Sextus replied cheerfully. ‘Remember, my men will be here guarding the track to this position, so you just concentrate on flagging the orders I give. Just you and I, controlling the fate of the world together.’
‘I just want the old world back,’ I muttered, but I don’t think he heard me.
I picked up the black flag and signalled the approach of Caesar, but the generals weren’t even looking.
Professional Reviews
That's All She Read
My regular readers are watching me spread my wings and read novels from other than the Middle Ages. Thanks to the proliferation of independent publishing, and in the case of Libertas, many more small publishers, divers authors' love for and knowledge of so many more times and places is becoming available. This novel is a case in point.
The time is the first century BC, the place Roman Spain. I should say "grudgingly Roman" Spain, but then that is one of the themes of this novel. Pito is a young boy whose heritage goes back to the seafaring Phoenicians. He lives in a town in south central Iberia which has been "civilized" by Roman influences. The Romans did an excellent job of coming in to a culture, offering the best of their civilization, sewage disposal, clean wells, communications systems, and so forth, and winning their tacit support of "the Roman Way". The trouble is that the Romans did not stop there. Ultimately it was the sword they wielded to command loyalty. In Libertas what Pito and his people face is Julius Caesar just as he is angling to be God and Emperor. The two sons of the great Pompey are in Spain to try to keep it Julius-free, part of the on-going and fascinating struggle between republicanism and dictatorship throughout the Roman Empire. The younger, Sextus, is a charismatic and fun-loving fellow, very clever and just flexible enough to be a survivor. He befriends Pito, who turns out to have a flair for engineering and invention in general. He develops a signaling system to warn the republican armies of Julius Caesar's movements. Sadly the resistance is not successful, many of the leaders are killed, and the rest are refugees. Pito's family is enslaved and he leaves with no less a celebrity as Agrippa for Rome.
Thanks to mischance Pito winds up in Sicilia, which just happens to be where Sextus has flown. He remains and helps this old friend to develop some improvements in weaponry in exchange for Sextus finding and rescuing his family, who are now slaves in Rome. It is the downfall of Julius Caesar, "Et tu, Brute" and all that, that facilitates their emancipation. Pito and family return to Spain where they discover that in Caesar's wake the petty warlords they set up have gone to town, especially Arsay, Pito's long archenemy. Arsay is a real S.O.B. and is crucifying people right and left. The mountain people, Celts I assume, are only too happy to help Pito and his friends fight Arsay's force. They are outnumbered and "outgunned" and though encouraged by a talking eagle who tells Pito to get over himself, Pito is not so sure they can win.
There are several things I really liked about this novel. One is that it takes place in a new time and place for me. I mean, I have read about the depredations of Julius Caesar in Gaul in Druids by Morgan Llywelyn, and about the Peninsula Wars in Portugal and Spain in Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels, but putting Spain and the Roman era together was fascinating. I am starting to want to know more and more about more and more times and places. I personally find historical fiction offers a more human and identifiable way of telling about a place and time, so I am in hog heaven with books like Libertas.
One thing I have discovered about myself is that I am most drawn to novels with what they call in Hollywood "a good ensemble cast". Translated to novels, that means distinct characters who are believable because they think differently, they talk differently and they act differently. Forrest did a fine job with this. Besides Pito, who is daring but painfully aware of the odds he is up against, and Sextus who is not surprisingly bound to become a sort of swashbuckling pirate, there are Liandra, Pito's early girlfriend who becomes a leader and warrior in her own right - nicely done, Alistair! - Ziri, the Berber who is mystical, Pito's mountain friends who are rather like Native Americans in that they live on the land, value it, and stick to themselves, Agrippa, valiant and capable, and, of course, Arsay, the epitome of the big dumb bully who is nevertheless able to take over.
The spirituality in this novel tends to an amalgam of polytheism, angels, mystical monotheism, and Earth religions. Eagles symbolize for Pito and the reader the overwhelming power of the elemental. One eagle promised Pito he would be a light to his people. And in regard to that, the next thing I liked about this novel is how Pito handles this knowledge, not at all the brave and bold hero but with self-doubt, fear he has to fight to control, and plenty of humility.
"Libertas" in this novel is not just freedom from oppression of the Romans but Pito's invitation to and initiation into what the author calls "covenant", a bonding and promise between people that is their free choice, and the sort of freedom symbolized by the eagles and their flight, their oversight of all below. In contrast, the villain Arsay subscribes to eagles as a spiritual force, but he wore eagle feathers, as a way to co-opt the power for himself.
My single favorite thing in the novel is one line, describing Agrippa's men's departure from the nomad camp where they have stayed for some days: "the hardened soldiers among us were moved, waving last farewells to the women each had befriended." Befriended! What a wonderful way to describe the bonding, even temporarily of sexual partners! What a female-positive and refreshing approach to the whole issue of soldiers and the women they take to their beds while in foreign places. I think Richard Sharpe would understand that line. Along with Liandra and her companion Cassia it is clear from this characterization of friendship between the sexes that Forrest embraces the strength of women. Bravo!
A thoughtful and at the same time exciting novel.
Historical Novels Review
Review by Lynn Guest, Historical Novels Review (Issue 48 May 2009):
"Southern Spain in the 1st century BC. Melqart and his family live in the prosperous town of Munda under a benign Roman procurator. In the surrounding mountains, the Kemeletoi, a mysterious ancient tribe, live in harmony with the townsmen. Although isolated, Munda cannot escape Roman politics and the ambitions of Julius Caesar. When the sons of his rival, Pompey, take refuge in the valley, Caesar and his army pursue them. Munda’s peace is shattered and its citizens are taken to Rome as slaves. Melqart, no warrior but gifted with an inventive mind, must call on all his courage and skill to rescue his enslaved family and to liberate Munda. His adventures carry him from Spain to North Africa to Sicily.
"Forrest is good on landscape, especially on southern Spain, which is lovingly described. Melqart makes an unusual but attractive hero, resolute even when scared half to death and maturing as the novel progresses. Forrest brings the Mediterranean world and its various peoples alive. Daily life and that of the soldier are well depicted; casual cruelty and torture are balanced by a strong sense of nature worship and mysticism. The complicated battle scenes are particularly excellent and easy to follow.
"Libertas is a good read: pacy, exciting and often funny. Forrest makes us care about Munda. He captures the tragedy of a people dragged into the horror of a vicious war brought about by circumstances over which they had no control and could hardly understand. And three cheers for Quaestor2000 for supporting off-beat historical fiction."
Douglas Jackson, Author
Douglas Jackson, author of Caligula and Claudius:
“Alistair Forrest's Libertas is a fast-moving tale of fortitude, survival and eventual retribution told against the background of Rome's bloody civil war. In the mountains of southern Spain Melqart grows up unaware of the unseen forces which are drawing the armies of Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great's sons towards an explosive collision in a valley close to his beloved village of Munda. As the action sweeps dramatically between Spain, Sicily and the shores of Africa Melqart is drawn ever deeper into the conspiracy by his friendship with Sextus. The young Spaniard must fight for his life and his family's freedom and Forrest vividly recreates the epic battle that gave Caesar the prize he sought so avidly.”
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