Publishers: Headline
Pages: 384
Main Characters:
Marco, Cato, Centurion
Quertus
Marco and Cato are back in another epic adventure in The Blood Crows. The novel sees our
heroes return to Britain after their secretive work in Rome and the Imperial
Palace is completed. Both soldiers
are looking forward to army life as they return to the province where they
started to make a name for themselves. With their new promotions, the duo hope
they can get back to some ‘proper soldiering’ and put the espionage of Roman
politics behind them.
The province of Britannia hasn’t changed much since the two heroes
were last there. Even though the Emperor has announced the province conquered
and peaceful, both Marco and Cato know that they have some tough battles ahead
of them. The Briton leader Caratacus has mustered a sizable army and has turned
to guerrilla warfare in an attempt to humble the Roman war machine. The Roman
army is too big and slow to catch the Briton’s hit-and-run troops which have
started to use the mountains of modern day Wales as their base.
Marco and Cato’s task is to take charge of the small fort of
Bruccium deep in the enemy territory. The Perfect of the fort has being killed
in a suspicious way and Cato is tasked to take control of the fort and hassle
the local population. However as Cato and Marco find out, not all is as it seems
in Bruccium with its’ temporary leader (Centurion Quertus) ruling both his men
and the local Britons with an iron fist.
This is the twelfth book in the Eagles series and I’ve kind of put off reading it for a
while because I thought the series was getting a little long in the tooth,
especially when the duo returned to Britain. However, after reading The Blood Crows I was reminded just how
great these novels are and how good the duo of Marco and Cato are.
The thing that really made this book for me was the dialogue
between Marco, Cato and Centurion Quertus. Firstly I loved Quertus’s character,
his ferocious nature and crazy streak reminds me of Jorg from Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns. Quertus’s challenge to
Cato’s authority leads to great dialogue
between the two soldier and builds so much tension in the novel, which I think
hasn’t been there in other books in this series. Quertus also adds ruthlessness
to Marco which we haven’t really seen before and I think these new influences on
both characters makes the series a lot fresher.
Even though this is the twelfth book in the series I can
honestly say it was my favourite and I’ve just downloaded Brothers in Blood and can’t wait to read it! I’d suggest this book to anyone who loves Ancient Roman fiction
and of course to people who have already read any of the other Eagle novels. In addition if
you’re a fan of author’s like Ben Kane, Anthony Riches, Gordon Doherty and Nick Brown you will love this series!
For author’s official website please click here.
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