Customer Reviews

Eagle's Prey (Roman Legion 5)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Scarrow's characters ring true, as do his on and off duty activities. I'd read these to my Latin classes, except his legionaries talk like legionaries. Nevertheless, they are on my recommended list for students, and anyone interested in the Roman army. Cliched as it sounds, this is most assuredly a page-turner I didn't want to put down.

Scarrow's fifth Macro and Cato installment, `The Eagle's Prey' shows a maturity in his writing that has not been in evidence in the previous four. It is also a trifle less formulaic as Macro and Cato decide to take a stance outside the usual regimented legion lifestyle and this allows their characters to flourish. In this latest installment we find General Plautius preparing to force the British army, led by Caratacus, King of the Catuvellaunians, into a trap at the Third Tamesis ford. The third cohort of Vespasian's II Augusta is commanded to get to and hold the ford in case the Britons move to cross it before the trap can be sprung. Sounds simple.
The third cohort has a new ex-praetorian, Chief Centurion, Maximius who is insecure and condescending to Cato, seeing polots and conspiracies whererever he turns. The other five centurions, Antonius, Tullius, Felix, Macro, and Cato are pitted against each other as his style of leadership forments a growing anger.
Fairly immediately the tone for the entire novel is set as Maximius diverts from his goal to reach the ford to hund down a band of Britons who have sacked the Batavian Fort (commanded by Maximius' friend) and the resultant debacle means Macro and his century fighting a heroic mid stream battle against the entire British army as the rest of the cohort arrive too late to prevent Caratacus escaping. A clear failure on Maximius part to do as ordered. As Maximius blames everyone else other than himself and with the reappearance of Narcissus, Claudis' freedman, means that only decimation of the third cohort will suffice.
Cato draws a black pebble and is sentenced to death. What ensues is a political struggle as Vespasian roundly refuses to condemn the men, drawing Plautius' wrath and Macro and Figulus (Cato's optio) take mattes into their own hands by helping them escape into the marshes.
What follows is a test of Cato's leadership as he leads a slowly reducing number of men into the marshes that Caratacus is hiding in to scavenge and get captured by the Britons. In the meantime Maximius, Macro and the rest of the third cohort are ordered into the valley around the marsh to brutalise the framers in order to draw Caratacus out. The remainder is an enjoyable romp through first century Britain as Cato and and Macro survive their ordeals, capture Caratacus and manage to get away with Cato's death sentence and Marco gross insubordination until we reach a climatic moment in the series as they are feted in the success and end up on a British port with Vespasian to head back to Rome.
The series has reached a turning point with Scarrow ready to chance his two heroes in more unfamilar surroundings (as he indicates in the Author's Note) and it'll be fascinating to see what comes next in the adventures. What is blatantly clear however, is that this Norwich Unversity lecturer must keep writing these novels, even if it is detrimental to the time he spends lecturing...

Once again Scarrow pleases!!. Marco and Cato almost seem part of the family now that I have blasted through the first 5 books. Scarrow almost puts you in a time machine and...poof... You are now part of the secnd legion chasing the Druids and blue faced Britons led by Caraticus.

"The Eagle's Prey" is Simon Scarrow's solid fifth volume in his "Eagle" series focused on roman military adventures in the early first century, AD. This is not the best of Scarrow's series, but it's an entertaining story of well-written action sequences held together by a reasonably solid, if not unique and totally cohesive, plot.

If you're new the adventures of now-Centurions Macro and Cato, you should look to "Under the Eagle" (#1) and "The Eagle's Conquest" (#2) for the best in terms of character introduction and genuinely fun and detailed action/adventure. This book stands alone in a self-contained story with brief character introductions, but can't be enjoyed fully without having the foundation of the first two "Eagle" books.

In "Prey", Macro and Cato are Centurions assigned to the 2nd Legion of the Roman Army. Led by Legate Vespasian (future Emperor), the 2nd is tasked with subduing native peoples in Britain in the mid first century, AD. Both are in their second seasons of campaigning on the Isle and look forward to the endgame in putting down what appears to be their primary foe in the barbarian Caratacus. Both Cato and Macro end up implicated in the 2nd's failure to contain Caratacus, and find themselves fighting an upstream battle against their superiors in a three-part conflict that's a running theme throughout Scarrow's series: 1) do what's moral and right; 2) do what's proper as a Roman legionary and for Rome; 3) minimize the personal and professional damage while often going against the grain.

"Prey" is a fine book...the story moves along swiftly and the characters have that familiarity like a cousin that was close when you were younger but whom you now only see 3 or 4 times a year. That familiarity is borne from their growth throughout Scarrow's series, but also because their characterizations are a bit flat and predictable.

All of the "Eagle" books have a tv-movie feel. Think about the original "Star Trek" or "Star Trek - The Next Generation"...they were both cutting edge in their own rights, but at the end of the day they were built on TV budgets and to fit in TV schedule lengths. Compared against the stronger or newest Star Trek films, they appear a little shallower in production and storyline. Following the analogy, I'd compare of Scarrow's "Eagle" to TV's Star Trek as compared to deeper and more emotive film "Gladiator".

I've found that I genuinely enjoy picking up the next story in the ongoing saga of Cato and Macro. I look forward to peeling back the next layer of their personalities, and uncovering the next chapter in their journeys in the Roman Army. Overall, I recommend this book.

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 . . .

I don't know how Simon Scarrow does it, but this book continues to thrill in his great 'Eagle' Roman military adventure series. The brutality of campaign life and the consolidation of Roman control in Britian is brought to life so vividly in this story, and you find yourself unable to stop reading just to find out how the story ends. A brilliantly written, gripping, and entertaining novel. It's so hard to believe the two heroes, Macro and Cato, are fictional characters. Or perhaps they are so real because between them, they embody the Roman ideal! A 'must have' for Christmas!

Excellent Roman military adventure, in the spirit of the Sharpe series. One of the best of this series so far.

I have enjoyed all of the "Eagles" novels that I have read so far. Simon Scarrow has the ability to bring to life the characters in his books. He makes history come to life and one feels as though one is in the midst of what is going on with the Roman legions. I hope that he continues to write books concerning this time period because he makes it so exciting and interesting.

Simon Scarrow has caught my soul with his Legion serier He's upto number 10 now and I have read them all. I just can't stop turning the page. The adventures of Coto and Marco will keep you right on the edge waiting for the next book. The Roman Legion was a army of blunt force trama. Simon leads you in to battles all over the roman empire. Ever wonder how 10,000 Romans could face a apposing force of 30,000 and win. Read any of the legion series and you will hear the commands as centurion Marco and opto Coto step to the front to lead there men into battle. The Delta Force would hard pressed to keep up.
Gary K.

After finishing The Eagle and the Wolves I couldn't wait to dive into The Eagle's Prey. As with the earlier books, our heroes Centurions Macro and Cato are in England fighting with the 2nd Legion trying to subdue the Celts. Having recovered from their wounds (When the Eagle Hunts) and training local auxilia (The Eagle and the Wolves) our now centurions are now serving in the 3rd Cohort of the 2nd Legion under Centurion Maximius, trying to trap the Celts under Caratacus to end the fighting in England.

Over the past few books we've seen Cato mature from a bumbling youth who's book wise but not sure on dealings soldiers to someone who's starting to accept the mantel of centurion. Because of tensions in the 3rd Cohort, we see Cato's maturing accelerate like never before. Without Macro's support, Cato takes control of a unit and leads it where he couldn't have in earlier books. Complementing Cato's maturing is that of Macro's. Macro has been a steady career soldier who often projects a simple look at the world. This time however we see Macro in a different context; his dealings with Centurion Maximius show us that Macro is capable of more than being a simple soldier who stands in the ranks (Centurion Maximius is very reminiscent of Sergeant Major Dagineau or Sergeant Markoff from Beau Geste). This maturing of characters is important since the 3rd Cohort is in a tight position with Centurion Maximius being prepared to put his unit in a bad position for personal glory I couldn't help but be reminded of Fort Zinderneuf and Beau Geste. I couldn't help but wonder if Mr. Scarrow was watching one of the Beau Geste movies while developing his book and couldn't help but put Cato and Macro into a similar pickle. A very solid 4 star book that makes for a good read!