Under the Eagle (Roman Legion 1)

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Customer reviews

review by: barnie884 date: 2008-10-22 rating:
Brilliant new series
I am an avid historical fiction fan, and in my search for a new author (as I have finished all the Cornwell, Iggulden and Manfredi books) I found Simon Scarrow. This is the first in an excellent series of novels about 2 unlikely friends thrown together in the heat of battle in the Roman army. These books are well researched, well written and extremely easy to read. These are like a cross between Cornwell's Sharpe and the Rome TV series. An excellent read!

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review by: date: 2008-10-18 rating:
Prepare to buy more in the series as rather addictive.
I am no literary critic, but I do know what I like, and this series of books fills a nice niche for me.
I have always enjoyed Roman historical facts, and yes there is a hint of some in these books, but they are not definitive articles, nor claim to be.
They are what can be best termed "easy reading" and that suits me fine as they help me to relax, as they fall into the category of - enjoy a good read.
The two main characters have a good mixture, of rogue, devilment, ethics, and never say die, about them.
There are enough sub-plots to keep me overall interested, and written in today's vernacular, which at first I thought strange, but just accept and the storyline then free wheels neatly along.

So book 1 meet the characters
Book 2 set the scene on various plots now and for the future,
Book 3 and subsequent books, off and running.

I can imagine extracts from the series would lend themselves to a good movie, so will predict here that we will see one, in next few years.

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review by: Book Tyrant date: 2008-01-26 rating:
Cornwell could only have been bribed for his endorsement of this.
I can not believe the hype around this novel. I bought this book based on the endorsement of Bernard Cornwell. I am beginning to suspect that he has never actually read it. The writing is poor, and it is filled with modern cliches. The liberal use of modern profanity was especially cringe-worthy. The story itself is mediocre at best, and a trial at worst. The two main characters are uninteresting, unbelieveable and under-developed. It seems as if it was written by a teenage boy for teenage boys, the latter may well be true. On the positive side, this book is so bad and yet so popular, that it almost inspires one to write a book of their own.

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review by: date: 2007-12-28 rating:
First Book in the Macro and Cato Series

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.

The year is AD42 and Cato has just arrived in Germany as a new and raw recruit assigned to the Second legion, well known throughout the Roman army as the toughest legion. After a life of relative ease and contentment Cato not only has the job of adjusting to army life, but must also contend with the scorn of his colleagues when because of his imperial connections he is immediately promoted to a rank above them.

But the men's attention is soon drawn away from Cato when they discover that their next campaign will take them to the shores of Britain, a land of mists, cold and forbidding where the people are barbarians in the true sense of the word. After the long march west, Cato and Macro are chosen to undertake a special mission that throws them headlong into a conspiracy that threatens the Emperor himself.


review by: fox5596 date: 2007-11-24 rating:
A good start
This is the first in the series of Simon Scarrow's 'Eagle' books chronicling the lives of Macro and Cato in the service of Rome's legions.

I found the book mostly entertaining and the (all too rare) subject matter to my taste. The author has a broad knowledge of his genre and keeps the action rattling along nicely. It is a great way to pick up a feel of life in the legions through their routines and equipment. That's the positive.

Now the negative. The characters were, for me, a little too cliched and the plots tissue-thin with the kind of pace and goon-ish bad guys usually reserved for video games. The rapid progression of Cato from a pencil-necked weed to a hardened warrior was just plain silly in its speed. Also, the language was too modern for my taste - I like to feel immersed in a historical story, not feel like I am watching a modern adaptation of it. There was the occasional very small historical inaccuracy, but nothing that can't be called artistic licence.

What really peeved me was the idea that Roman Legionaries were supermen able to hack their way through countless hordes of crazed 'natives' as individuals as well as tight formations. The fact is that they were very good soldiers, fought in well drilled units and had a logistical organisation that was centuries ahead of their rivals. You would obviously have the odd killing-machine, especially in veterans, but for the most part one-on-one, in individual combat, they were often at a disadvantage with equipment and training that was not suited, against practised warriors who fought in that very style and focussed on it exclusively from an early age. Mr Scarrow appears to have swallowed Julius Caesar's self-agrandising propaganda without question.

I have read others books in the series and found that these flaws remain, although to a lesser degree, throughout. Simon Scarrow has obviously warmed to his narrative a little more with practice, but without changing the essence of his style. They're a decent read and worth having, but I'm not going to be elbowing any grannies out the way for the latest release on the shelf. These books are fun fiction and should be treated as such, probably aimed at the younger adult audience rather than those who are looking for anything deeper.

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