Customer Reviews

Eagle in the Sand

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

After a brief sojourn into the eighteenth century with the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon, Simon Scarrow is back to sorting out the problems of the Roman Empire with his two lead characters Cato and Macro. Cato was once Optio (something like the equivalent of a sergeant) to the Centurion macro, but they are now both centurions and have been through many encounters together. This has made them the closest of friends. Friendship that only standing side by side in battle can mould. Each would happily die for the other, though neither would admit it.

Both men have been sent on a mission to the Roman frontier, where trouble is brewing and the for once the troops seem to be in disarray. When they arrive a local revolt is beginning to grow in scale, with a local tribesman preaching violence and death against Rome

Macro and Cato must use their knowledge and expertise as centurions to stamp out the corruption in the cohort and get the men back to being a unified fighting force before the East Provinces are lost forever

I will read anything and everything about the Roman legions, be it fact or fiction so these books are like manna from heaven for me. Simon Scarrow's books are very authentic and an extremely enjoyable read.

This is the seventh book written by Simon Scarrow in the Eagles series. The other books are Under the Eagle, The Eagle's Conquest, When the Eagle Hunts, The Eagle and the Wolves, The Eagle's Prey and the Eagle's Prophecy. Each book details a campaign of Rome in the first century as she seeks to conquer and bring to heel, much of the known world at that time.

The two main characters are Macro, a veteran legionnaire and Cato, an aristocrat who was exiled to become a legionaire. The various campaigns were in Europe and Britain. The Eagle in the Sand was the first one set outside Europe in Judaea, in the present day Middle East.

The author, Simon Scarrow is a lecturer at the City College in Norwich. In his free time, he used to organize Roman History programs for students in taking them to the ruins and museums. It was his extensive knowledge of the Roman army life and of the various campaigns that makes reading his novels so interesting.

The Roman army was the most disciplined and well trained fighting force of that era making Rome the sole superpower. The infantry or legionaries were the backbone of the army. With their heavy body armour and the strategic teamwork in forming a modified phalanx with their shields and gladius (short sword), it was a formidable killing machine. Scarrow researched his various novels well; making the campaigns seems like CNN reports. His writing is similar to Conn Iggulden's Emperor series which narrated the life of Julius Caesar; The Gates of Rome, The Death of Kings and The God of War.

In this novel, Macro and Cato, both centurions now, were sent to Judaea to spy out whether the governor of Syria was planning a military coup. How they became unwilling agents of Rome's secret service was told in the previous novels. In Judaea they became involved in the great revolt of the Jewish people in AD 66. With a small contingent of soldiers, they were able to defeat the revolt of the peasants and their ally, the Parthians, who also had design on this part of the world.

Scarrow did not give too much details of Roman army life in this novel but instead spend more time describing the land of Judaea and Nabataea especially its capital Petra. Petra is in modern day Jordan. This is still an interesting read but the story telling is often distracted by information about the Jewish people. Somehow it lacks the continuity of the other novels. This series is comparable to the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell (Napoleonic wars in Spain, Portugal and France).

After reading some the negative reviews I decided to risk reading Eagles in the Sand because I had enjoyed the past books in the series so much. Well what did I find? For one, I came away with the impression that the negative reviewers never really read the book with care and attention. One refers to "bildings" made of wood, well they weren't made of wood but the roofs would be as in most Roman forts and in this case it was the living quarters which had wooden roof components. It was not as if wood appeared from nowhere after all Lebanon, which would not be too far away for the Romans, was famous for its trees. As for Christian references Scarrow never uses the traditional names as they exist in the Bible and indeed those who believe that Jesus is being discussed might look more closely at the details and realize that the character which they thought was Jesus may not be him after all. Admittedly the names are similar but the option is open that this "Christian group" which are never called Christians was just one of many factions making up the Palestine region. Scarrow does a wonderful job characterizing the fragmentation and feuds which existed at that time and still do. For those who are interested our heroes visit the mysterious city of Petra which was an unexpected pleasure. As for the same old scenes with just a little desert added, I a least found the conflict at the Temple in Jerusalem and with Bannus quite different with the story filled with plentiful twists and turns. You will NOT be disappointed with this book and in fact the greatest displeasure I felt upon reading it was the realization that I had come to the last page. One final note, I am a college level history instructor who teaches military history and I have found Scarrow's work refreshing and reasonably accurate and a true pleasure to read. Enjoy!

I was quite surprised by the plot of this latest of the series of adventures of Cato and Macro. Today, nearly twenty centuries later we tend to ignore the events between the Crucifiction and the Destruction of the Temple. Scarrow takes us to the Dead Sea exactly in the middle of that period, and tells us of what concerned the contemporary Romans, the Judeans, the Syrians, the Nubuteans, The Ideumeans, and the Parthians. The last thing on any of their minds, an obscure member of the endless chain of local prophets known as Mesiahs, enters the story only as part of the background for a group who both suffer under Roman imperial mismanagement and also help the Romans to defeat an agent of a common enemy. Historical figures who tower over their contemporaries in histories written long after their time on earth are prominent in this novel only as background to the solution of a problem assigned by the Emperor Claudius secretary, Narcissus, to Macro and Cato.

Simon Scarrow has in this novel set his characters on a path that will take him a lifetime to traverse. One day, certainly, Cato and Vespasian, and I hope Macro, will serve together at the siege of Jotapata, the prelude to the conquest of Judea and the ultimate destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Simon Scarrow is the best of contemporary writers at recreating the daily life of the ancient Roman world. This novel is just further proof of that.

Until I read "Eagle in the Sand" I was a Scarrow fan. His books have reasonable historical accuracy and are exciting adventure stories (as long as one suspends disbelief with the careers of the two main characters). In fact, I bought the first 7 of his books when I usually get books at the library.

This book has all the elements that I liked about the first 6, but then he spoiled it with religious speculation and revisionism a la the "Da Vinci Code". His excursion in this realm interferred with the plot by setting up questions in my mind as to his motivation. Was he trying to gain a new readership? In succeeding novels will Macro and Cato find evidence of extraterrestrial visitors or perhaps time travelers? Or is Mr. Scarrow just taking himself too seriously and trying to write a pretentious "great work". Sincerely, Fred Orman

This is a typical "Eagle" novel; if you enjoyed the others you'll like this one! Be prepared to be offended if you are Christian Jewish or Arab.
Scarrow does base much of his research on Faulkner's "Apocalypse"; a very bad book.

Having just finished reading the latest in the legion series ( book 7) in paperback, in my opinion it is a worthy addition to what I feel is an excellent series of books. The books moves a different pace to the others but is no less gripping from the first page, as the author sets out in detail the new lands and cultures which his protagonists find themselves facing, and as he develops their characters further. Although this novel stands on its own, I suspect it is is probably a stepping stone and an introduction for the novels to come, to this fascinating land and period on history. Another excellent novel, well researched and written.

The Eagle in the Sand by Simon Scarrow was the worst book yet! He seems to have done no research at all. Scarrow says,"Some readers might feel that I have taken a few liberties with the story of the most famous of the Judean rabble-rousers executed by Rome-Jehoshua,or Jesus as he has come to be known." He used crude-humour in describing Jesus. He did not research the life of Jesus one bit. Why he even thought of putting Jesus in this story is beyond my comprehension. Scarrow then says in his "Author's Note" that he gets his evidence about Jesus from Neil Faulkner's APOCALYPE~has anyone ever read this book? It is a very poor account of Judea in the first century. The thing that I do not understand is how he describes "Judas" as betraying Jesus in the book. In the story Judas betrays-Jesus by accident~Judas was given a note by a couple of followers of Jesus and told to bring the note to the Sanhedrin~in the story Judas did not know that the note told the Pharisees and the Sadducees just where to find Jesus. When Judas realized what he had done, he hanged himself. Obviously, Scarrow has read the Bible, but has twisted Jesus' life around in such a distorted way in order to make more money for himself~a little like the real Judas wouldn't you say?

As a recent reader of the Eagle series, I flew through the first books, enjoying the protaganists mature if not really develop. The plot lines remained much too predictable and pat but they were a good read. All of the books had great action and some nice twists. Therefore I was surprised to see the number of early negative comments about this Scarrow's latest, and hesitated. Figuring it's better to read a clunker then watch Dancing With Stars, I picked up Eagle In The Sand and was pleasantly surprised.

The change of venue to Judea is a cultural bonanza and much needed. As interesting as the early setting in Britain was, it wore thin after four novels. The Eagle's Prophecy (a Roman Galley setting) was a bit of a twist, but it can't match the diversity and the background of the Middle East, circa the first century. In addition to standard cultural and religious clashes the author (finally!) begins to develop the character of Cato as one who questions the perceived wisdom and benefit of being part of the Roman juggernaut. A theme only hinted at in early books is give full sway here. Cato's struggle with his part in sustaining the Empire is long overdue for a pair who by my unscientific estimate have killed thousands of subjugated peoples, all in the name of Rome. What worthy hero doesn't have doubt?

The introduction of Miriam, mother of Jehosua (yup, you can figure out who they are) is contrived, and actually made me wince, but it's no worse than Macro and Cato bar-hopping and double dating Boudicea and her cousin back in Britain. I really don't understand what the beef was with this book. In many ways it's a great transition, letting in some much needed frest air. Give it a try.

After taking a nice cruise in the Adriatic (The Eagle's Prophecy) Marco get's his fond wish of a posting to Syria (really the border area between modern Israel, Jordan, and Syria). Of course Cato is with Macro, after all, what would either of them be without the other. Continuing the thread of The Eagle's Prophecy Macro and Cato are working for Narcissus, the Imperial Secretary of Emperor Claudius. As such Cato and Macro's mission is to determine if the governor of Syria is plotting to overthrow Claudius or not.

The Eagle in the Sand is an action packed adventure for Macro and Cato. Mr. Simmon starts with action in the first chapter (a market place confrontation between Macro and some zealots) and continues to his usual thrilling ending. While the plot isn't complex, as always there a little twist since Macro and Cato are now working for Narcissus. Interesting twists include that Macro and Cato are assigned to an auxiliary unit (the 2nd Illyrian, I'm surprised with how Mr. Scarrow is having them bounce around a little) and the interactions with the local Jewish population given that the story is set post crucifixion of Jesus and pre-Jewish Revolt (66-70CE). This makes for good story that's a quick read. When merged with the further expansion of Macro's character (I'm impressed that Mr. Scarrow is developing Marco and making him a more complex and complete character) this becomes a good 4.5 star book that I'll reluctantly call 4 stars (sorry, 5 stars should be for the special ones and while I enjoyed this it just couldn't quite rise the extra little bit...).