Dark Eagle

by K.M. Ashman, Sam Legg (Narrator)

In the grandeur of the Roman Empire, Centurion Marcus Antonius Maecilius is a man of honour and valour. Yet, fate deals him a cruel hand when he is falsely accused of cowardice and sentenced to serve as an oarsman on a bireme, a slave to the rhythm of the waves and the lash of the overseer.

Broken and embittered, he resigns himself to the monotonous toil of the galley—until the day a mysterious group of five men board his ship in Hispana with orders for the captain to take them to Belgica in the northern seas.

Unbeknownst to Marcus, these elite operatives, selected from the best of the exploratores, are on a clandestine mission deep into the heart of Germania, and when the ship is forced to engage a Gallic pirate ship, his bravery shines through, catching the eye of Seneca, the man in charge of the exploratores.

Offered a chance to join their elite ranks, Marcus must make a decision that will change his life forever. Does he stay and live out his sentence before seeking justice, or does he join these secretive men, who, by their own admission, doubt they will come back from their mission alive?

Set against the backdrop of the ancient world's most formidable empire, Dark Eagle is a dramatization of the secretive world of those who fought for Rome in the shadows. Unknown to most, their battlefields were often behind enemy lines, clandestine missions to seek information and, where necessary, dealing death without hesitation.

In today’s world they would be called special forces but back then, they were known as the Exploratores.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Ebooks

Audible Audio

Published June 11, 2025

About the author

Kevin Ashman is the author of twenty-six novels including the best-selling Roman Chronicles and highly ranked Medieval Sagas.

Always pushing the boundaries he found further success with the India Sommers Mysteries as well as three other stand-alone projects, Vampire, Savage Eden and the dystopian horror story, The Last Citadel. These cross-genre books have now been added to by the two Sci-fi novels, The Legacy Protocol and The Seventh God.

Kevin was born and raised in Wales in the United Kingdom and now writes full time having been signed by a major publishing company. He is married with four grown children and enjoys cycling, swimming and watching rugby as his hobbies.

Recent works include the Blood of Kings trilogy and the follow-up books, Warrior Princess and The Blade Bearer.

The most recent project is a five-book series about the Templars during the 12th century. Templar Steel, Templar Stone, Templar Blood and Templar Fury are already on sale and Templar Glory is due for release in Oct 2021.

An exciting project is also underway, a three-book series chronicling the years leading up to and beyond the Battle of Hastings.

Reviews

[Viorel Mocanu · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is for children

[Steven Stanford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story, writing is a bit rough.

Good story, well paced. Found the writing a bit hard to digest at times and could have improved with some good editing.

The author has fallen into the modern trap of using got or get instead of perfectly good describing words. This creates mangled sentances from time to time. But overhaul a good read and looking forward to the next book. .

[Duane Howarth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, such a fantastic subject as well as damn fine storyline.
Seneca has formed a small, expert team of exploratores, who are sent to capture a blacksmith who is the only smith capable of forging Damascus Steel. Once the team endeavours to carry out their mission, things go from difficult to nigh on impossible partially thanks to back stabbing politicians within their own Senate.
I am totally taken with this series and look forward to reading the next one.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a lot of books by Mr Ashman. They generally are based on intriguing historical periods or events, which pique my interest. They are also written with a good deal of research clearly evident, but in an accessible style, making them eminently readable as novels in their own right.

This book is no exception and explores the existence of early “Special Forces” working for Rome - these actually existed. Kevin dramatises what is known, allied with good story telling & conjecture, during the last days of Caligula.

So far, so good. This in an Amazon produced volume - the type is clear & the book thoroughly legible. HOWEVER, it is let down massively by the obvious lack of diligent (or any?) manuscript proofreading.

There are typo’s (for example senator Umber as “Uber” more than once), misnomers (Raven being an example, where another character is often misnamed as he), grammatical and simple “continuity” errors (I gave up trying to work out the numbers in a group at any one time, eg. on one page three, then four, then six!). Basic independent proofreading would have addressed this, but as it is, examples blight almost every page. It was difficult not to let this get in the way of my enjoyment. For some this would have been a reason to leave the book unfinished.

However, the subject matter was interesting (as were the author’s historical notes at the end) and the premise for the series intriguing, which kept me reading. So, I look forward to further books in this series, as Claudius shuffles in from the wings, to set his sights on Britannia!

[Herbert Rosenblum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Behind enemy lines

Tough read for me. As usual I found the many fights tedious and repetitious. Many of the actions of this merry band of fighters were beyond belief. The time that they spent on horses or on foot were uninteresting. Their ability to hide under bushes was truly remarkable.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plus and Minus

Plus: The story is good. The characters are fairly well developed. Lots of plot twists. The story line kept my interest from start to finish.
Minus: The editing is atrocious, simply atrocious.

[Kevin Clancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, but far too many typos.

Loved the premise, but please, for the love of God, have someone proof read your work. The number of errors in this book are very frustrating.

[Rodney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have heard about the exploratores or Roman military scouts previously but like the author writes there is not a lot of historical information about them. I thought a fictional series based on this military unit might be interesting so when I came across this book being offered for free on Amazon I downloaded it. I enjoyed the book which since it is the first of the series spent a lot of time building the characters and explaining the role of the unit. I enjoyed learning about the Roman military terms for equipment, often taking a break from the story to research aka google various terms which I wanted to learn more about. Spoiler alert not everyone survives the book and also a large part of the book is about combating internal enemies of Rome rather than external threats. Also read carefully because at one point the author uses the wrong name of a character describing his actions. I enjoyed the book but am undecided whether I will purchase the rest of the series.

[Bob Phillis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 1 of the Exploratores.

When I read the blurb, this book seemed to be my kind of story, one that revolves around fact which makes the book seem more real, when you can imagine what the characters go through.
Rome did expand and conquer, and the fact that the book adds in the Explotores was to me intriguing.
No spoilers, but some good turns. Fast paced and full of action and suspense.
I very much enjoyed it and will be passing it on to some friends who have asked to read it.
There were a few sections where I got confused as the names of character seemed to change, but once you get past this, and it only happened for 2 characters, the rest is great.
Off to find my next escape now.

Spoiler.

Bad guys lose and good guys win 😄

[Ian Robert Woolger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent in every way

I've been a great fan of "Roman" based fiction for some years and thanks to Amazon have been lucky to read the works of many authors. I'm glad to say that K M Ashman has certainly provided an excellent plot, and a superb core of characters. His writing style was fast paced, with no time wasted on trivialities to slow the flow of the story. I've just read through the night to finish this story, which was definitely one you wanted to follow to its conclusion, and I wasn't disappointed. Give stars from me and on to the next in the series.

[Gary Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exploratores

This book is the first in a series about a group of soldiers, and the like, some Roman, some not, that are sort of like special forces, operating for a high ranking Roman, to carry out undercover missions.

There are six or seven of them and each has a back story, some more in depth, as the series has just started.

This book is somewhat fast paced and if you enjoy historical fiction, military thriller, partial political intrigue, or books from this genre, than pick it up and have a good read, but be forewarned, it's hard to put down.

[Studebhawk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bravery & Betrayal
This is a tale of brave men sent on a dangerous mission. From the very beginning, betrayal followed them with every obstacle they faced along the way. The author describes a story of determined men who, despite their courage & bravery, were betrayed by their political leadership.
This betrayal upended the successful completion of their mission. Therein lies a cautionary tale for us today. When you commit military forces, politicians need to mirror the commitment of the military that they send into harm's way.

[TishR · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book to the extent I then ordered the series to follow the team thru their next adventures. If you like military and history then you will like this book especially if you like following books on special forces in the current times, because this is based around the similar type of ‘special forces’ during the Roman era.

[Martin Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining read

I have read other books from the author and enjoyed them, which is why I picked this one.

The storyline is very well laid out, and is built on as you go through the story. The character's are well written and likeable, if you enjoy ancient history and suspense then you like this book.

I look forward to reading further adventures of the characters.

[Richard Norcliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roman SAS.

Roman SAS, what more could you want. How about intrigue ,mystery , Roman politics, great fight scenes, and a leader that any soldier would follow.

I can't wait for the next instalment by the author, who writes as though he had been on the mission.

Superb writing, superb reading.

[Helen Everett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok book not very historical but trots along nicely. I'll read the second one. Maybe should be 3 star


Twenty words or more is a lot to say about this book and I cant think of anything to say other than I gave said already

[Mike Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark Eagle

Excellent story and well,written. It’s been a while since I had a book that had me entranced for hours. Very enjoyable and worth the five stars hopefully the author has written a sequel.

[Stan Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting tale, very detailed and outcome was a good finally

The hero was part of a believable scenario, very interesting group of hardy fighters capable of being able to defeat enemies when outnumbered. Overall unable to put book down to determine outcome.

[Sierra Serinese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical fiction at its finest

Great read and wonderful characters. Unique concept of Romes special forces. Action was intelligent and interesting throughout. Look forward to more.

[Ray O'Brien]

I have read most of this authoors books, and enjoyed them all. This one though, has a lot of mistakes.
The plot is good, the explanation, not so. I felt that it was rushed. Hopefully number 2 is better.

[Fermena Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

As a avid fan of historical fiction but based on in depth research found the author very enjoyable reading. I will look forward to finding another reading adventure and strong believable characters.

[Nigel Virgin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read, just started the second book. These are really good books. Especially if your interested in special forces. I was not aware that the Romans used groups that resemble today's special forces. Very interesting and enjoyable stories. Would definitely recommend.

[Shirley Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qi began the book withuite mesmerising!

I began the book only because I was looking for something different to read but quickly became so engrossed in both the storyline and the fascinating details of Roman life that I read the book all in one go! And now on to the next!!

[Suki Rickey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 1

Book 1 had errors throughout, but was an okay read. A lot of the book is setting up for the soldiers to do a job, but can get confusing on where they are and which character is which. It was a bit predictable, but overall it was interesting.

[John T · Rating 4 out of 5]

🌝🌝🌝🌝

While I’m always partial to a bit of Roman historical fiction, this presented a different take to the usual fare. The concept of a special forces unit hidden within the military combined with great character-building made this a cracking yarn.

Hope do you like them apples?

[Don Maker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical 'thriller'

I liked that it was set in Roman times. But the action was the typical 'amazing escapes' and dubious deeds of ultra-heroic characters, especially the backstory of the central character.

[Alun Roger Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

revenge is sweet I guess

Good start to a interesting tale with so many sub plots to keep you interested. I wonder if the term incarcerated actually derived from the carver as in the story but onwards to Britain and another exiting tale

[09/01 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to put down

A brilliant tale of Rome's unknown army,working,behind the scenes. It's a rip roaring adventure,so many twists and turns,roll on the next adventure.

[Kevin Burnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Excellent Storyteller.

[mr w donaldson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Another great book from the author plenty of action found it was a real page Turner looking forward to reading next in the series keep them coming