The Blood of Rome

This book marks the 13th year of Cato & Macro's campaigning together (and the 17th book in the Eagles of the Empire series).

Scarrow's approach to storytelling is as solid as ever: brief, visceral action; light intrigue; a healthy pendulum-swing between lightheartedness and striking grimness, all supported by a reliably fast-paced plot. This makes for thoroughly engaging fiction, and the Blood of Rome is no exception.

With that said, the way in which Cato's mental anguish was handled wasn't satisfying or explicable - a fact mentioned by Macro many times - and it just seemed occur for no real reason at all other than to introduce tension between the two factions of Rome and Rhadamistus. The main body of the plot progressed without many of the events meaning anything; the real interest was in how the characters conversed and struggled against each other, wherein lies my main complaint. These conversations were short and largely uneventful. The story could have been much improved by having Bernisha play more of a role earlier on, or by having Rhadamistus present more of a threat than simply an angry manchild. (The entire death sequence of Glabius seemed utterly pointless as it affected literally no one's morale). Cato's mental instability could have been given greater weight if it had actually lead him to do something rash, rather than sit around dazed for a few days.

Four stars because Roman commando's are awesome, but Scarrow failed to portray compelling drama to a sufficient extent.