Following his second amazing, mutually devastating blow to Roman forces at the Battle of Asculum, Italian cities court Pyrrhus for the help of his great military mind and equally mighty army. Sympathetic Greek towns at southern Italy’s toe and in political tumult on Sicily view his approach as their salvation, hoping he will deliver to them Greek independence apart from the Romans and Carthaginians. However, can the tactics of the best planning council of their generation hold up to tenacious resistance from stubborn tyrants, surprise mercenary assaults, the vast costs of raising a navy, storms at sea, and the loss of beloved men?
Fate, the third volume of the epic saga, A Pyrrhic Victory, converts dry history tomes into a generous tour of how personal affairs may have existed for Pyrrhus among private quarters and trusted counsel, as well as behind battle lines and inside the inner workings of his recognized tactical genius. Crouch takes special care to honor correct literary, cultural, medical, athletic, and military accuracy for the historic time and place of a pre-Punic War Mediterranean, taking limited liberties as historical fiction must to add or move persons for cohesive plot. The result is an ode to the quiet respect and gladness of male friendships amidst the scope of the machinations of war.
