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David Blixt
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Stone and Steel (Colossus Book 1) Kindle Edition

by David Blixt (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 213 ratings
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"Historical fiction at its best." - S.J.A. Turney, author of Caligula and Marius' Mules

Judea, AD 66. A Roman legion suffers a catastrophic defeat at the hands of a band of Hebrews. Knowing Emperor Nero's revenge will be swift, they must decide how to defend their land against the Roman invasion.

Caught in the turmoil is Judah: a mason who now finds himself rubbing shoulders with priests, revolutionaries, generals and nobles, drafted to help defend the land of Galilee. Denied the chance to marry, he turns all his energy into defending the besieged city of Jotapata.

But with a delusional general, friends falling each day, and the Roman army at the walls, Judah must brave a nightmare to save those he loves and preserve his honor.

Praise:

★★★★★ - "In David Blixt's hands, history comes to bright, blazing life."

★★★★★ - "This novel has it all: political and personal intrigue, loyalty, love, betrayal, riveting action. Few novelists write such compelling action sequences - it's like watching them on film."

★★★★★ - "Captures vividly the tumult and tragedy of the struggles between the Romans and the Hebrews in ancient Judea. A wonderful read."

Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 2
    Colossus
  2. Print length
    527 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    September 19, 2018
  6. Reading age
    13 - 18 years
  7. File size
    2886 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"David Blixt is a man of many talents--an actor, director, author. Not all of you may be lucky enough to watch one of his plays, but you all can read one of his novels, which I recommend that you do as soon as possible. In his hands, history comes to bright, blazing life." - SHARON KAY PENMAN, The Sunne In Splendour and Lionheart

"Put this one on your short list! David Blixt makes the tragic tale of the conflict between ancient Rome and ancient Judea come vividly to life." - ROBIN LEVIN, The Death Of Carthage

From the Author


           Unlike my other books, COLOSSUS wasn't born from a line in Shakespeare, but in a very specific place. A place that never actually appears in the novel, that won't be seen until book five of this series. It's a rather small church in Rome, just south of the Colosseum - the Basilica of San Clemente.  
           I was overseas on the modern equivalent of the Grand Tour, a semester-long trip hosted by Eastern Michigan University called the European Cultural History Tour. It started in Oxford, and went to a staggering list of cities over four months. For brevity's sake, I'll only list countries or islands - England, France, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Greece, Crete, Rhodes, Turkey, Egypt, and Israel. It was amazing, a whirlwind tour with professors in tow, lecturing on art in the Louvre, on politics on the Acropolis, on history in the Roman Forum.
           One of the places our Art History professor Benita took us was St. Clement's. We'd just been to the Colosseum that morning, and I remember waiting outside on a bench and wondering what was so important about this sleepy church. Going in, the mosaics are pretty incredible. And being the home of the Irish Dominicans in exile is historically neat. But that isn't what makes Saint Clement's amazing.
           It's the excavation.
            They've dug down, and created a tour through the history of Rome itself. As a city that's always building up upon it self, it's often hard to see ancient Rome in anything but the famous edifices and the shapes of the streets. But here is Rome encapsulated. You start in an 17th century church, then descend into an early 12th century church, then to a 4th century church, a 3rd century Mithraeum (temple to the god Mithras), then finally to a 1st century Roman street and insula (apartment). You can hear the Tiber running just under your feet through the ancient sewer system.
            It was such an experience to travel through time that way, when I was looking for new matter to write upon, I thought about a novel tracing history through those layers.
            I never got past that 1st century street. Because I started looking into Saint Clement himself, and what was going on when he was living there - the fall of Jerusalem, the building of the Colosseum, the rise of Christianity in Rome. That was how the Colossus series was born. It starts small, almost intimately, with two Judean brothers at the siege of Jotapata. But in the next several books, the scope widens out, keeping those brothers as our base and our eyes as we explore how drastically the world changed in just that little span of time.
            COLOSSUS: STONE & STEEL. The start to a grand adventure.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07HHZH63R
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Next Chapter (September 19, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 19, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2886 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 527 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ B0882N61TB
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 213 ratings

About the author

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David Blixt

David Blixt

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"New readers, beware! Once you start reading one of David's books, real life comes to a screeching halt until you finish it." - Sharon Kay Penman

Repeated Editor's Choice from the Historical Novel Society (VOICE OF THE FALCONER, FORTUNE'S FOOL, THE FOUR EMPERORS) and 2015 Finalist for the M.M. Bennetts Award for Historical Fiction (THE PRINCE'S DOOM).

Author David Blixt's work is consistently described as "intricate," "taut," and "breathtaking." A writer of Historical Fiction, his novels span the Roman Empire (the COLOSSUS series, his play EVE OF IDES) to early Renaissance Italy (the STAR-CROSS'D series) through the Elizabethan era (his delightful espionage comedy HER MAJESTY'S WILL, starring Will Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe as hapless spies) to the Victorian age with his series following daredevil journalist Nellie Bly. His novels combine a love of the theatre with a deep respect for the quirks and passions of history. As the Historical Novel Society said, "Be prepared to burn the midnight oil. It's well worth it."

David continues to write, act, and travel. He has ridden camels around the pyramids at Giza, been thrown out of the Vatican Museum and been blessed by John-Paul II, scaled the Roman ramp at Masada, crashed a hot-air balloon, leapt from cliffs on small Greek islands, dined with Counts and criminals, climbed to the top of Mount Sinai, and sat in the Prince's chair in Verona's palace. But David is happiest at his desk, weaving tales of brilliant people in dire and dramatic straits. Living in Chicago with his wife and two children, David describes himself as "actor, author, father, husband. In reverse order."

For more about David and his novels, visit www.davidblixt.com.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
213 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Robin E. Levin
5.0 out of 5 stars Kaddish
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2012
Verified Purchase
Yis'gadal, v'yit'kadash sh'mei raba. . . . May his great name grow exalted and sanctified. . . The Jewish mourner's Kaddish, spoken in every Jewish prayer service. Unlike other prayers which are in Hebrew, the mourner's Kaddish is in Aramaic, the language spoken in Judea at the time of the Roman conquest. I always assumed that this was because the Romans gave Judeans many thousands of opportunities to say it.
David Blixt's Colossus: Stone and Steel brings the struggle between Rome and Judea vividly to life. The fictional heroes of the story are twin brothers Judah and Asher ben Matthias, both master stone masons. The twins are identical but have very different personalities: Judah is a warrior while Asher is a scholar. Judah remains in Jerusalem with his father while Asher goes off to Alexandria to pursue learning.
Judea is governed by Gessius Florus, a Roman equite whose rapacity and brutality are extreme even by Roman standards. Florus has provoked the Judeans to arms by profaning the Temple of Solomon. Judah has taken up arms to avenge his brother, whom he believes has perished at the hands of the Romans in Alexandria. A battle takes place at Beth Horon, and Judah heroically manages to capture the Roman eagle, the sacred standard of the 15th legion. Judah wishes to marry Deborah, the brother of Phannius, another mason, but even the capture of the eagle doesn't persuade the girl's mother, who thinks Judah's family beneath hers.
Ancient Rome might occasionally lose battles, but it did not lose wars. When Caesar Nero gets word of this rebellion while on his concert tour of Greece, he appoints his general Vespasian to bring several legions to Judea to put down the rebels. Vespasian is only too happy to comply because he knows he has deeply offended Nero by falling asleep during one of the Caesar's performances, and if he doesn't get a command his days are numbered. This also gives him a chance to promote the career of his son Titus by giving him command of a legion.
The Judeans are profoundly disunited. There are several factions, each at odds with all the others. The Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Nazarenes. The people of Jerusalem have little in common with the rough-hewn peasants of Galilee. An ambitious priest, Joseph ben Matityahu, known to history as Josephus Flavius, is assigned to the command of a Judean armed force in Galilee. Although wounded, Asher has somehow survived the conflict in Alexandria and returned home. He and Judah answer the call to arms and join Joseph in Galilee.
The struggle between Rome and Judea has a sort of David versus Goliath quality to it, but it is very clear that, in this instance, David has no chance to win. Nevertheless, you have to admire the zeal and courage of Judeans who fought the colossus of stone and steel. David Blixt's fine novel makes it all real.
10 people found this helpful
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Robert Paterson
4.0 out of 5 stars Captivating
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2013
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Blixt sets himself a very complex task and pulls it off. He sets the scene in Rome and in Judea for a turning point in the history of Rome and our world. The great source for the Vespasian period is Josephus. We see how he rose in the revolt and his connection with the Flavians. We see the nightmare that is Rome - where no man or woman is safe. And while we learn these things, he grips us with an unfolding narrative and characters we care about.

I immediately bought the next book
4 people found this helpful
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C C Cedras
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Addictive Series by David Blixt
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2013
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I've read and enjoyed every one of David Blixt's novels, particularly the Star-Cross'd (Master of Verona) series, and I had a fairly superficial understanding of the events and personages of the historical period covered in the Colossus novels. Once again, Blixt brings history to life with a hearty blend of actual historical figures and some fictional, illuminating actual events and locales in a way no history class or text ever could. His use of language, dialogue and geographical description immerses the reader in the time and place; his characterizations, including breathing life into the real historical actors, makes the reader feel like they are walking in the shoes of the characters, whether protagonist or antagonist. Few novelists (none better in my estimation) write such compelling action sequences -- so riveting it's like watching them on film.

This first novel introduces the fictional Judah and Asher ben Matthias, identical twins who are masons by trade (Asher is a scholar as well), but who become warriors in the heroic defense of Judea against the oppression of Nero's legions under the direction of Vespasian ... more about all of them in book 2 of the series: The Four Emperors.

These novels have it all: political and personal intrigue, internecine struggles to maintain religious and secular control over nations and people, loyalty, love, betrayal, riveting action ... when this book ends you'll want to immediately pick up where it leaves off with book 2 in the series and hope that Blixt has book 3 coming quickly down the pike!
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars What came after Nero?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 2023
Verified Purchase
A cracking story line packed full of actual history but cleverly woven into the fictional lives of the main characters. I enjoyed it for the history as well as the drama. If you like tales of Roman and her legions, and leaders, this is a must read. Simon Scarrow and Alex Gogh fans will love it.
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Hilda Joel Victor
5.0 out of 5 stars Stone and Steel
Reviewed in India on July 26, 2019
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Highly recommend this book... Very good book with clear historical details...
Beautifully told story. Characters give a real feel of the times and culture of those days ....
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Daniel Kelly
4.0 out of 5 stars Would certainly recommend
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 30, 2018
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Very well written story. Great characters and descriptions. Goes into much more detail on the judean revolt than most Roman historical fiction writers with cities and battles, leaders of different factions and consequences of decisions. Well done David
One person found this helpful
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Sashadoo
5.0 out of 5 stars A truly colossal read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2019
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The author's obvious research and attention to detail had the effect of virtually convincing me that I was reading a true to life narrative and I had to keep reminding myself that I was in fact reading a fictional novel. It was a truly awesome read, with battle scenes that were realistic without glorifying in the obvious blooe and gore associated with warfare in Biblical times. Judah and Asher, twins and masons, though of totally different temperament, find themselves thrown into war against the Romans. Judah is a fighter, Asher a thinker, each with a part to play in the conflict.
As the story unfolds and zzz I include no spoilers here, it looks for a time as if the jews are about to secure a momentus victory of sorts against the mighty Roman Empire. You'll have to read this great book in order to find out. One clue, Judah and Asher appear in the next book in the series. Brilliant!
2 people found this helpful
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Andrew Davies
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 16, 2015
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A different slant on normal historical fiction, well written with just enough factual content and the same for action and adventure.
I'm pleased the author decided to split the series into more readable smaller books, I hope the next few are as enjoyable
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