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

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This is the next instalment, the twenty first book, in the brilliant ‘Eagles of the Empire’ series. The author evokes what life must have been like in the Roman Empire and in the Roman Army in particular. This, I have to say, is also the first in the series that I can remember ending in a definite cliffhanger ... The battle scenes are explicit, without gratuitous horror. The main characters Cato and Macro, are well-rounded and believable. However, having lived in Camulodunum, with a wealth of local knowledge I have a lot of sympathy for the Iceni and Boudica! They were horribly exploited and betrayed by the Romans.

I didn’t realise just how much I was going to enjoy this one, but I love to read outside my usual genres and this is why I do! I find something different that I enjoy immensely. I had read one of Simon’s books, so I did know the writing was going to be very good. Simon also judges the annual Scarrow Award in the Fiction category held in the school. The family of Simon has one more author in the form of his brother, Alex Scarrow, who has written a number of novels himself. Simon says that his passion for writing had begun at a very young age. It would be fair to say that it is a blood thirsty book, but then you have to remember the times and the people the Romans were fighting, the battles scenes are described in glorious detail, you can feel each sword and axe stroke being taken, again the writing gives you a sense of what was endured I found the descriptions of life in Britain in the I century very interesting and they made me wish I know more about the lifestyle. 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.Whilst Cato is with the legions at Ynys Mon, Macro is with other retired veterans in Camulodunum and their families are in Londinium. The developing events have a devastating affect on all of them. A really great work of fiction set against historical fact. A fab read. I will be sad when this series comes to an end and in this book we lose some great characters. But the good news for me is I have many unread books to get through in this series😉 As of today, he lives happily in Norfolk, United Kingdom along with his wife Caroline Scarrow and two sons. In the year 2006, Simon was selected as the Writer in Residence at the Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys. He says that he was honored to have been accepted for the prestigious post. As a part of his job, Simon is required to visit the school regularly and hold several creative writing sessions in which the students participate to showcase their writing talents. In the first book of the series,” Under the Eagle,” Cato and Macro are ranked as Optio and Centurion respectively in the Roman army. Emperor Claudius is on a conquest to capture Britain and has sent his forces to war. Some of the senior officers sent to this mission include Vitellius and Vespasian. At the battle front, Macro and Cato start witnessing strange happenings in their camp such as secret missions, betrayals and ambushes. Vitellius, a senior officer who has bad blood with Macro is the cause of all these strange happenings in the camp as he is not at the battle front to fight for Rome, but for his own selfish interests. Vitellius is planning to steal Caesar’s pay chest, that contains a good size of valuable gold. Macro and Cato’s army skills and survival tactics are put to test as they try to survive at the battle front and win not only the battle for Britain but also internal battles in their own camp. I go through genre phases, and historical fiction and Greek/Roman philosophy and history is where my mind was focused for a while. I finished studying stoicism and decided to read this novel by Scarrow that has been in my Kindle library for a couple of years. I am glad I did.

Meanwhile, Cato has been sent northwest to harry and conquer once and for all the Druids and their followers. By moving the major Roman army units away from southern England, the Romans inadvertently created the opening and window of opportunity for Boudica's rebellion. Again, we know that from history. Cato and the Romans must now counter-march and return to the southeast in an attempt to save Londinium (London). I wasn't a fan of Simon Scarrow's writings before, though several years ago, I did read the third book of his Eagles of the Empire series, 'Where The Eagle Hunts', where his protagonists Cato and Macro are assisted in their mission by a young Boudica. I often wondered reading that whether their paths would cross again with her during the events that made Boudica a synonymous figure in British history...Well now that moment has arrived, I knew I had to read this novel, set in one of the events of British history I know so well... Secondly, there was a real issue with the language. It was not simply the plethora of vituperations that peppered the text and may well have had a certain accuracy in conveying the men’s brutal attitudes, it was the inaccuracy of the character’s dialogue. The way in which they spoke about sex was peculiar– at one point Macro tells Cato not to consider him a ‘bum bandit’ for instance. Not only is this implicitly offensive to a modern audience, but it is quite the antithesis of the Roman attitude to homosexuality where it was often considered a normal part of life and where men frequently engaged in homosexual relations given the fact that many spent virtually their entire lives in the male exclusive military as was so sensitively depicted by Miller. The modernity of their language and attitudes was simply not in keeping with the time of the novel. Even in referring to Britain and Germany under these terms was inaccurate as this is not how the Germanic tribes or Goths were perceived at all.His passion for writing began at an early age. He spent most of his childhood traveling the world. Before becoming a full-time writer, he pursued his great love of history as a teacher firstly atEast Norfolk Sixth Form College, then atCity College Norwich. 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 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. I read a lot of roman story writers Anthony Riches, SJA Turney and they all say you can only work with actual real life people who were in the provinces at the time.

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