Under the Eagle: A Tale of Military Adventure and Reckless Heroism with the Roman Legions

by Simon Scarrow

In this first book of a new historical fiction series, a crack Roman legion invades Britain in this brazen tale of military adventure, political intrigue and heroism

It is the year 42 AD, and Centurion Macro, battle-scarred and fearless, is in the heart of Germany with the Second Legion, the toughest in the Roman army. Cato, a new recruit and the newly appointed second-in-command to Macro, will have more to prove than most. In a bloody skirmish with local tribes, Cato gets his first chance to prove that he's more than a callow, privileged youth. As their next campaign takes them to a land of unparalleled barbarity - Britain - a special mission unfolds, thrusting Cato and Macro headlong into a conspiracy that threatens to topple the Emperor himself.

Filled with the kind of historical details that brings the adventure to life, Simon Scarrow's Under the Eagle is destined to become a military fiction classic.

260 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 6, 2002

About the author

Simon Scarrow is a UK-based author, born in Nigeria, and now living in Norfolk. He completed a master's degree at the University of East Anglia, and, after working at the Inland Revenue, went into teaching as a lecturer at City College, Norwich.

He is best known for his "Eagle" series. This is Roman empire military fiction, starting with the second invasion of Britain, and continuing with subsequent adventures in every corner of the empire. The stories are told through the eyes of two centurions, Macro and Cato. To date there are eighteen books in the series.

Scarrow has also written a series of four novels on the Napoleonic wars, focusing on the lives of Wellington and Napoleon.

Reviews

[TammyJo Eckhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was more slice of life in the Roman military of the mid-first century than really high adventure and heroism. Sure those appeared, but I really enjoyed the focus on two main characters. Marco is a Centurion who realizes that his position is at risk because of his lower class and uneducated background. Cato is a highly educated slave whose freedman father's status has given the son an opportunity to earn his citizenship through service in the ranks even though the Imperials seem to think they can just have him appointed to an officer position. Forced to work together right after Cato is enlisted, they come to rely upon each other in ways that I wasn't expecting. No, none of that is sexy, so don't get excited. The well-crafted characters and the circumstances through which they live made me care about both of them even if I had a few questions as an ancient historian about the realistic nature of their tale.

My only problem with this little book is that I really didn't need more than Marco and Cato as viewpoint characters, the short sections where others were highlighted wasn't really necessary. I would have prefered to learn more about the main two characters.

[Martin Seery · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exciting tale of Roman endeavour and intrigue

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a fun read. Scarrow clearly did his research (even if nobody in this book—Roman, German, or Briton—-seems to have any sense of self-preservation), and the legion does really come to life. That said, the political intrigue is a little incoherent, and while Cato and Macro are pretty great in this book, it’s a bit of a shame in retrospect that neither character meaningfully develops in the three books after this. Their characters just don’t have a ton of runway for interesting change, at least at Scarrow’s pace of development. Was a lot of fun as someone who’s been obsessed with the Roman army from a young age, but it’s not a story you really read for anything more.