Gratuitous violence is piled on in a way that quickly becomes tedious. It is almost as if he tried to produce a piece of rabid anti Hannibal propaganda - except that everyone in this novel is deeply unpleasant - Romans included. You might expect that with such an interest in violence, his descriptions of battles would be excellent. However it is mindless violence that attracts Leckie so the description of Cannae is vague with Hannibal morosely wandering round not doing very much useful.
It is simply not believable that Leckie's Hannibal could have inspired men and led them to victory as the real Hannibal did ( )

Most interesting story of a remarkable man, with great persistence in planning and a lot of guts. He deserved better. Typical of petty trading politics as displayed by European colonisers all over the world. ( )

Probably as close as we're likely to get to a portrait of Hannibal and his age, very satisfying both for the authentic feel of the book and as an exciting, moving story. ( )