A battle is like lust. The frenzy passes. Consequence remains. Hannibal is an epic vision of one of history's greatest adventurers, the almost mythical man who most famously led his soldiers on elephants over the Alps. In Ross Leckie's unforgettable re-creation of the Punic wars, it is Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, who narrates the story, and who is carried by his all-consuming ambition through profoundly bloody battles against the great Roman armies of early empire. In this breathtaking chronicle of love and hate, heroism and cruelty, one of humanity's greatest adventurers is brought to life, who learns through suffering that man is but a shadow of a dream.

I fought the Romans once. It no longer seems a prudent thing to do. Carthage concludes the internationally acclaimed trilogy that began with Hannibal and continued with Scipio. Here, Ross Leckie tells of the final Punic War: the story of a great city and a people's utter eradication under the relentless rise of Rome. But its chief characters, one the bastard son of Hannibal, the other of Scipio, would have wished it otherwise. Both seek peace, but are caught up in war. As they struggle between duty and belief, they stand to lose everything in the face of their fathers' devastating legacies. Written as a series of letters and entries, the multiple voices of the novel are woven into a masterful exploration of human drives, political intrigue and the process of history making itself.