Fifth in a Sparkling Series
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The author, Simon Scarrow teaches at a leading Sixth Form College. He has run a Roman History programme taking parties of students to a number of ruins and museums across Britain. This is the first in a series of books about Quintus Licinius Cato, Optio (second in command) to Macro a centurion and veteran of more than one campaign in the Roman legions.
In this, the fifth book in the series Cato has recently been appointed as a centurion as reward for the services he and Macro have given to both the legate of their Legion and also the Emperor Cludius himself. It is Ad44 and Claudius is eager for Britain to be pacified and is commander in Britain, Plautius is clearly feeling the strain of trying to bring peace to the British tribes . . .
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Decimation !!
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In my own opinion, this - the fifth in the Eagle series of books about the adventures of Centurions Macro and Cato - is by far the best piece of Scarrow's writing to date. I admit to enjoying the first three, but felt a little let down by the fourth which I felt seemed to be inspired by Scarrow sitting down one Christmas after a healthy helping of X-mas pudding, watching the annual re-run of Zulu on the TV and then adapting it into The Eagle And The Wolves !
The book mainly concerns the aftermath of the disastrous attempt of the third cohort - under the leadership of the perpetual back-stabbing Maximius - to delay Caratacus from escaping from the main body of the legion, and ending the war with the rebellious Britain's as early as possible to keep the name of Claudius respectable in Rome.
After some serious passing of the buck by Maximius, Narcissus decides that a decimation of the legion would be best and the novel details the results, the escape of those facing death, the chase by the surviving members of the third cohort and the eventual final show down with Caratacus in the Marsh lands.
I found that when Macro and Cato's legion were facing decimation I could just not put the book down until I knew what was going to happen - and we all knew that one of our illustrious duo were going to draw the short straw.
Being a lecturer on Roman history the details of Roman society, political intrigue and army life in the legions are superbly written as usual and exactly what I have come to expect from Scarrow`s earlier novels. Scarrow's addiction to detail, mixed with adventure, political intrigue, friendship, blood and gore once again do the business for me.
The only down side I can see in this book, was that I wanted to know what happened to Figulus after he returned to Vespasian, and how much trouble Plautius got into politically after events of the final few pages of the book.
I would also like to thank Scrarrow for not flogging the British part of this series to death. The end of this book sees the duo departing for shores anew and new adventures - too many writers these days seem to flog a series to death just to sell books.
As a final note, I would like to ask the publishers of these novels to stop using Elizabeth Chadwick's praise on the back of these books. THERE IS NO LOVE in these novels (OK, Vespasian`s for his family, but...)!!! So if you pick this book up and think its romance, just ignore her !!
Excellent.
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Fifth in a Sparkling Series
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The author, Simon Scarrow teaches at a leading Sixth Form College. He has run a Roman History programme taking parties of students to a number of ruins and museums across Britain. This is the first in a series of books about Quintus Licinius Cato, Optio (second in command) to Macro a centurion and veteran of more than one campaign in the Roman legions.
In this, the fifth book in the series Cato has recently been appointed as a centurion as reward for the services he and Macro have given to both the legate of their Legion and also the Emperor Cludius himself. It is Ad44 and Claudius is eager for Britain to be pacified and is commander in Britain, Plautius is clearly feeling the strain of trying to bring peace to the British tribes . . .
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Tribute to Caratacus
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5th novel in the series and should you have read the previous four already: Simon Scarrow does not let us down in the fifth. A major part is played by the tribal leader Caratacus, a worthy oppponent of Macro and Cato. By the end of the story Macro and Cato sail away from Britain, no doubt to other adventures in wild places, but before you reach the final pages of the book you're in for a rare treat. Enjoy!
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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. 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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