Rebellion (Eagles of Empire 22) (Eagles of the Empire Book 108)

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At this point, I am not sure where Scarrow will be going with the next book. We know that Boudica disappears from history; her exact fate was never determined. There is a bombshell revelation which I will not say to avoid spoilers. After Boudica's rebellion, the next crisis to face the Roman Empire was a renewed war with Parthian. Will we see General Corbulo again? As ever, the level of historical research is astounding and the pace is frenetic. The ending had me gasping and the twenty-second book cannot come soon enough! Boudica’s rebellion is described in a lot of books but I think this one that describe is it could have been. It was gory, violent, sometime very cruel insurrection, a sort of guerrilla that nearly defeated Rome. The first half of the book follows this and the eventual start of the rebellion by Boudicca and Macro as senior centurion at Colchester has to deal with the fallout.

This story kept me reading till late in the night as I wanted to be sure that my favourite characters were going to survive. The Roman army are made aware of Boudica leading a rebellion, where thousands of rebels are joining her to rid the country of the invading Romans.The tale is set in the year AD 42, and we find Macro in Germania with the 2nd Legion, when a new recruit will be introduced as second in command to Macro, his name being Cato. The main thrust of the story is, inevitably, about the military. We join Cato as he undergoes strenuous training (Gemmell's LION OF MACEDON sprang to mind) and is then involved in some action. There's a wonderful extended set-piece in the middle of the book as the Romans battle Germans in a run-down settlement, and then some massive battles at the climax against the Britons. The action is well written and bloody, without being excessive. Scarrow ably balances the small scale front-line work with the strategies undertaken by the commanding officers.

This author is a master of writing combat sequences and making the reader feel the confusion that participants would. There were times that I felt tension and unease along with the characters as situations grew tense and dangerous.The novel is set in AD43 and involves the heroes in our legion attempting to invade Britain. Behind the scenes there's plenty of murky political plotting going on, and Scarrow gets plenty of mileage out of the sinister machinications. Half the game is trying to figure out who bears what hidden allegiance and then seeing if you're right. It all gets rather complicated but not uninteresting. What is to follow is a very exciting and suspenseful Roman adventure, in which Cato will be looked after by Macro, as a kind father and son, and together with their army unit they will encounter various devious and treasonous actions in Britannia, and in a desparate attempt to stop these actions they will have to give their life for Rome and the Emperor, if they want to survive and live for another day. This is a sweeping novel, a novel for me which is all about the characters and the story. Simon Scarrow is a supreme storyteller

The story itself includes less military action than I expected, though there are intense action scenes in it. There is a fair amount of political intrigue, mainly because many army officers had political, even imperial, ambitions. I thought that balance was good and was glad it wasn’t a long battle bloodfest.

The tales follow the life and careers of Centurion Lucius Cornelius Macro and Prefect Quintus Licinius Cato. It’s the year AD60 and both protagonists are once again in Britannia, tasked in maintaining Rome’s tenuous hold of the province. Simon Scarrow is a popular novelist from the United Kingdom, who is best known for his novels based on the Historical Fiction genre. Till date, he has written a total of 5 novel series’ and the most notable novel series written by him is the Eagle Series. I wondered into a local branch of Eason's, and saw Under the Eagle on offer, sold for an introductory price (which I can't even remember), and with a blurb that sounded interesting. That, and a quote from the king of historical action-adventure fiction Bernard Cornwell that 'I really don't need this kind of competition ... a great read'.

This eventful Roman historical adventure is the 21st volume of the wonderful "Eagle of the Empire" series, featuring Cato & Macro. The plot isn't groundbreaking but allows for some great action such as the siege in the German village which was excellently done and allowed Cato to really shine and show his potential, especially with his bravery. Facing disaster, Cato prepares his next move. Dare he hope that Macro - battle-scarred and fearless - has escaped the bloodthirsty rebels? For there is only one man Cato trusts by his side as he faces the military campaign of his life. And the future of the Empire in Britannia hangs in the balance. He visto que son un montón de libros la serie del optio protagonista este, Cato. Voy a continuar con el siguiente a ver si merece o lo dejo.This is the first in Scarrow’s Eagle series and I am a little anal about always insisting on starting at the beginning of a series rather than jumping in half way through even if, as in the case of Scarrow, he has already written some 11 novels as part of said series. However, I was really excited about discovering this. I studied A Level Latin and some ancient history at University. I am intrigued by all things Roman and Spartan in particular and having absolutely adored Madeline Miller’s ‘The Song of Achilles’ last year, was genuinely looking forward to discovering a series that I could read over several months or even years given Scarrow’s productivity. Sadly, this is not to be…I doubt I will be returning to Macro or Cato or their ludicrous legion. This book serves as an introduction to series of books focused around the exploits of legionary Marco, a grizzled and gruff mentor to soon-to-be seventeen year old Quintus Licinius Cato, a freed slave who has been sent to Germany, as an army recruit by Emperor Claudius ( of "I Claudius" fame), to satisfy a debt to Cato's father on his death bed. Cato has no interest in becoming a soldier, and has been trained to be an academic at the imperial court. Military life is not what he wants, nor does he think he can adapt well enough to survive, let alone advance through the complicated ranks within the highly-structured Roman military organization.