Another Adventure for Young Cato and Macro
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Simon Scarrow is a teacher at a Sixth Form College. He has run a Roman History programme that takes parties of students to a number of sites and museums across Britain and I assume that while doing this he gleans lots of useful information for his books on the Roman Centurion, Macro and his Optio, Cato.
First published in 2002, this is the third book in the series. The book opens in Britain in the year 43 AD. The Emperor has returned to sunnier climes leaving the Roman army to continue its rape of Britain. After a protracted effort the Second Legion have been instrumental in quashing resistance in Camulodunum, leaving time for Macro and Cato to rest with the rest of the Legion.
Their General, Plautius has had the distressing news that the ship carrying his wife and family to Britain has been shipwrecked in storms off the south coast. The survivors have fallen into the hands of the Druids, who now wish to use them as a bargaining tool for the release of members of their sect who have been captured by the Romans.
Unless their demands are met in full within one month, Plautius's family will be burned to death. The general decides to give Catp and Macro the opportunity to seek out the hiding place of the druids with a view to rescuing his wife and children before the month runs out. The general sees this as his only hope, as bowing to the demands of the Druids is not the Roman way . . .
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Enjoyable, just not great!
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Having heard rave reviews of Simon Scarrow's novels, i was somewhat dissapointed by this book. Although it was enjoyable to read and I would not hesistate to pick up another by this author, it simply failed to enthrall me the way other historical novels have. I found it depressingly easy to get distracted whilst reading this book and it was too simple to find better things to do.
The story itself is well written and interesting, but I feel Scarrow is somewhat out of his depth when being compared to Cornwell and Iggulden.
This book is worth a look at, but there are better books and authors out there.
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Superior, realistic 1st C AD Roman Army historical fiction. Highly recommended.
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This is the 3rd book in Scarrow's Roman History series. The other books, properly numbered, are: 1. Under the Eagle, 2. The Eagle's Conquest, 4. The Eagle and the Wolves, 5. The Eagle's Prey, 6. The Eagle's Prophecy, 7. The Eagle in the sand.
This novel is set during the reign of Emperor Claudius (full name Titus Claudius Nero Germanicus) and follows the fictitious lives of two Roman Army Officers during the campaign season of AD 43 in Britain, Optio (Sgt.) Quintus Licinius CATO and Centurion (Cpt.) Lucius Cornelius MACRO.
Centurion Macro and Optio Cato are serving with the II Legion Augusta, one of the historically most famous Roman legions that played a crucial role in the conquest and subjugation of Ancient Celtic Britain. They are under the command of Legatus (Legion Commander) Vespasian,the famous future emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus.
One of the characters starring in this book is Boudicca, a.k.a Boadicea or Boadicaea, none else than the historically famous later queen of the Iceni tribe (lived in the vicinity of modern Norfolk), as well as her husband-to-be and future King of the Iceni, Prasutagus. A statue of Boadicaea stands today near Westminster Pier, London.
In this novel, the family of Gen. Aulus Plautius, Commander of the Roman Expeditionary Force in Britain are kidnapped by servants of a fictitious druid sect that honours the dark Celtic God Lud (actually LLUD, a dark deity honoured as the ruling God of Celtic Britain whose temple once stood in London's Ludgate, named after him). It falls to Macro and Cato to attempt a commando operation with the help of both Boudicca and Prasutagus in order to save them.
I highly recommend this book, as well as each and every book in the series, to fans of Roman military history. Scarrow does a very succesfull job in recreating the atmosphere of the era, and it actually feels like as if you, the reader, are actually a member of the "third century sixth cohort" there side by side with Macro and Cato, living their life, fighting their battles, experiencing their agonies. I have just finished reading the whole series (all 7 books) for the third time, and I still want more of it.
My sole complaint of Scarrow is, that he writes his books from the Roman historical perspective (it is as if you read an account of the lives of two Roman Army Veterans written by a third Roman) and he sometimes fails in writing more detail about the fascinating ancient indigenous European cultures that his heroes encounter, namely the ancient Celto-British culture and the ancient Germanic and Celto-Gallic cultures.
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DO NOT COMPARE WITH C. IGGULDEN
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Yet again S. Scarrow delivers a great piece of action- (and mistery-) packed historical fiction. Fiction it is, yes, but it c o u l d have happened like this, since Scarrow always stays true to the bigger picture of what we really know. Whereas Iggulden blatanly "bends" the facts... It is obvious much, much harder to remain within the bounds of fact and still deliver a very enjoyable read than just adjust for the sake of story telling.
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Brilliant
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AD 44 and Macro and Cato have been on sabbatical, but in typical Scarrow style, not for long! They are soon thrust into the action as the wife and children of General Plautius are taken hostage by the Druids of the Dark Moon, and only this Centurion and his Optio can save them from an unpleasant end! Scarrow continues the adventures of Macro and Cato in confident style and as is typical of his series the pace gathers inexorably as the book progresses, to the point at which I could quite literally not put it down! If you enjoy high adventure, and non stop action then this series is without doubt for you.
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