The main idea is a strong one that could fill up a novel without getting tired, but it’s got too much ornamentation aspects of the plot that I would see as quite important – Cato’s adjustment from pampered scholar to at-least-competent soldier, for example – get skimped on or glossed over, which leads to some of the character development feeling rushed or unconvincing. The plotting, I felt, was one of the weaker aspects of the text – some of the subplots serve only to confuse the issue, taking up space in the narrative that could have been used to flesh out other aspects. There are also hints of a larger, series-wide plot, about plots on the Imperial throne, hints that presumably resurface and resolve in later books.

The book has lots of little interweaving subplots, from budding romance to imperial spies, all of which join up together as the novel progresses. The basic plot is mostly as above – Cato struggles to adjust to the roughness of army life, dealing with bullies and drill, and the invasion of Britain sends the two soldiers off on a special mission to recover lost gold while the Roman army is stalked by the British forces. Under the Eagle covers Cato’s recruitment and training, and the invasion of Britain in 43 AD. Cato – a freed slave from the Imperial court – joins the army and ends up under Macro’s wing. It’s the first book in a series that focuses on two main characters – the battle-scarred and earthy Centurion Macro, and the slight, fussy Cato. Under the Eagle is about a Roman Empire built on the backs of crude, common soldiers, not peerless rhetoric.

It is not a book about Horatian heroes on bridges, or honourable men, or emperors calling for their lost legions. Under the Eagle definitely focuses more on those practicalities, the seamy underbelly of the Roman Empire. There’s a constant conflict in the stories, tropes and archetypes between the glories and the practicalities of Rome. Disciplined legions spread across Gaul while insane aristocrats poisoned, stabbed, and seduced each other. The Romans brought the light of civilization to dark places, but their civilization was brutal and frequently depraved. Simon Scarrow’s books sat on the shelves in bookstores glossily, promising to be exactly the sort of book I love there’s something about that Empire, the contradictions and complexities of the ideas, that I find very appealing. Fiction set in the Roman Empire is a favourite of mine, ever since I first read The Eagle of the Ninth.

I’ve been meaning to read Simon Scarrow for a while.

Simon scarrow under the eagle series