) for a princely tenner... foolish not to...After a hiatus of three or four books where the pair were stuck in Rome playing spies and politics, Macro has got his wish and they are now back doing some solid soldiering...
In the last book [clicky] Cato had been given command of a unit of Auxiliary cavalry, and a cohort of legionaries - after the events at the end of the last book both are much reduced in numbers, and they are now attached to the Roman army hunting Caratacus as the baggage guard... you can imagine Macro's thoughts on the matter...
A strong Roman army has finally hunted down him down, and at a bloody, frontal, river crossing engagement, Cato's quick thinking saves the day and the Romans win capturing the British leader and his family..
All is not well however, the long tentacles of their former lives in Rome are reaching out and they learn of a plot to foil discredit the current Caesar buy foiling the conquest - there is a traitor in the Roman camp...
Caratacus escapes while under Cato's guard, they strongly suspect the traitor has helped in this, and Caratacus goes to seek refuge with a tribe supposedly allied to Rome. As Cato let him escape in the first place, the baggage guard are sent to go and request his return... it won't be easy however, as there is a rebel faction against dealing with Rome and the Queen of the tribe is only just retaining control...
Sure enough - they rebel - and in another bloody engagement, Cato and Macro's force manages to break into the tribal fort and overcome the rebels while also taking Caratacus prisoner again.. in the process they discover who the spy is.... and it really wasn't who they weren't expecting it to be!
Brilliant book, most enjoyable, but a little too similar to the previous book which cost it a few points ... 7/10....
I must say I have not read any Scarrow books since my "big break"...basically I read the books during the day because it was that or watching TV. However I was so full of painkillers I kept having flashback dreams when I tried to sleep! After two years perhaps I could dip my toe once more into the Cato/Macro adventures!
ReplyDeleteMatt - they are a simple, uncomplicated pleasure... they aren't pushing literary boundaries, but they aren't written to... and for the price of three pints how can you go wrong?
DeleteOh no! I'm still reading Praetorian! Better get a move on!
ReplyDeleteLegatus - you're clearly not flying enough if you're that far behind in your reading.. :o)
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