Publishers: Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 470
Main Characters:
Cassius, Indavara, Khalima
When the
sacred Black Stone of Emesa is stolen by a mysterious enemy of Rome, Cassius is
set the task of recovering it for his Emperor.
The identity and location of the thieves are unknown. Nevertheless,
Cassius must create a small task force to gain information from an imperial spy
in Petra and then use that information to track down the stone. However, the
Corn Man soon finds out that the theft of the sacred object could be linked
with Rome’s allies the Tanukh: a confederation of Arabian tribes that
traditionally guards Rome’s frontier. Cassius must come up with a plan to
return the stone to Rome and ease relations with Rome’s old ally, ensuring
another rebellion does not spark in the Empire’s eastern provinces.
Yet again
Brown has managed to create a captivating and thrilling historical fiction
book. I think the Agent of Rome series
is by far my favourite Roman series out there at the moment. This is because
Brown creates excellent characters and actually gives them personalities that
make them feel human.
Typically
in Roman novels of this type, there are always two main ‘chalk and cheese’
protagonists that really shouldn’t get along. Usually it’s a young buck that
has been thrust into leadership and throughout the books that follow, the
youngster grows into an amazing warrior and leader. Then there is the old
veteran, who has distain for the young officer because of his quick elevation to command, but then over time gains a sense of
respect for the young man as he develops into this great leader.
I believe
Cassius and Indavara aren’t like that. Sure, Cassius was thrown into his
position but he was literally bred from birth to deal with these situations as
he comes from a rich family. Nevertheless, he is no hero and honestly not a
character I like, as he is cowardly and very self-centred. However, this makes
him a great character to read about as he is someone different from the usual
zero-to-hero protagonist that defines this genre of historical-fiction. His
partner in the books is also unusual because at times I don’t think he even
likes Cassius. In addition, there is an air of mystery around Indavara, which
I’m excited to learn more about in future novels. This again makes him
interesting to me because he is not the two dimensional character you usually
see in this genre. We don’t really know what his motives are because we
don’t know that much about him, which is great for the reader as this factor
sometimes makes him unpredictable.
Finally,
another character that shone in this book was Gutha, the German mercenary
working for the Arabians. I thought the small parts in the book about his past
were very interesting and I would love to read more about him in a short story,
so Nick if you’re reading this, please consider it because I’d be the first to
review it!
To conclude
this was a great edition to the Agent of
Rome series and I can’t wait to read the next two books. I would suggest it
to fans of authors like Ben Kane, Anthony Riches and Simon Scarrow. If you are
a historical fiction fan please check out this series, it is a true gem in a
genre that I am starting to feel more and more disillusioned with.
For the author's offical site click here.
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