Eboracvm: Carved in Stone

The Eboracvm #3

by Graham Clews

It’s the final battle as a new century dawns.

Book Three is the last in the Eboracum series. The story takes us to Britain in A.D. 105. A new century is dawning and Rome’s frontiers are in turmoil again. The Celts are eager to free themselves from Rome’s crushing rule. However, loyalty does not always stand with the father.

An ageing Cethen Lamh-fada and his still sharp-witted wife Elena sense weakness in Rome’s occupation of Britannia. Many Romans soldiers have been ordered to other parts of the Empire leaving forts under strength. This is the time for the Celts to strike. But Cethen finds his family once more straddling both sides of Rome’s ambition.

Carved in Stone is a powerful story about family and fears: the same fears and failings that haunt us today. Readers will be happy they followed the trail of time and history starting with Eboracum: The Village, to Eboracum: The Fortress and finally to Carved in Stone. These books were written with the sharp insight and dark humour that makes tragedy bearable; and the lust for life and living that surpasses time.

528 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2010

About the author

I’m a retired chartered accountant, who loves to write.

My tales include fascinating award winning fiction novels: well rated tales about first century Roman/Celtic Britain and the violent, yet poignant, clash of cultures; an accidental hero, a 60 year old accountant with a tainted past; a tongue in cheek look at the political mayhem in Canada; and finally, an unique magical world for YAs where time is destination, not a state of mind.

Click here for books: http://graham-clews.com/bookstore/

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This final book in the trilogy continues the story of the two families whose lives intertwine despite being on different sides of the colonisation of Britannia. I've thoroughly enjoyed each book in the series as they've all been excellently written and I've found myself invested in the fates of the characters.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the conclusion of the family sagas of Cethen Lamh-fada and Gaius Sabinius Trebonius. The obsessive commander of Eboracvm, Marius Appius, is rebuilding the fortress in stone: hence the subtitle. Cethen's two youngest sons, Mordan and Bryn, half brothers to each other and to all of Cethen's older children, still oppose Romans, whereas Cethen's two oldest sons, Rhun and Tuis, are firmly in the Roman camp. We follow Jessa, Marcus' daughter, now in her twenties, a healer and medica. Jessa is kidnapped by Mordan to be his personal physician then is returned to the Roman fort, Blatobulgium by two of the locals after Jessa saves Cethen's sight through couching, a delicate eye operation. The zealous, 'bone-brained' 'gormless toad' Mordan, wants to attack Romans violently as did Venutius and Galgar years before, although those battles had ended in failure for the Britons. Mordan foments an uprising of Britons resulting in violent attacks and razing of a number of Roman forts and siege of Bremenium. Mordan brings his final fate on himself. Bryn, his down-to-earth brother, is more much more level-headed and finally wants out of the fighting completely; he sees which way the wind is blowing and doesn't want to fight kin. An important subplot involves a golden torc from antiquity. Black humor abounds, especially about an operation on Mordan that goes drastically wrong [all because of a spelling mistake and misunderstanding] and there is plenty of humorous wordplay about that. Finally with the death of Gaius one generation is passing away. Only Elena, Cethen and a few others of their generation are left. Their children and granddaughter Jessa have made decent lives for themselves. On his Britannia trip, at a reception in Hadrian's honor at the commander's residence at Eboracvm fortress, Emperor Hadrian speaks extensively with Elena, Gaius' widow, now a grande dame highly respected by both Roman and Briton. By golly, he asks her advice on the Briton/Roman situation, especially the wild northern tribes...

I was sad when this trilogy ended because I won't be reading any more about these people, but I'm glad the author ended on a positive note. I don't see how else the author could carry on with these families, so I'm glad he stopped here. I did try to stretch out my reading to make it last as long as possible.

I loved how everything meshed together so seamlessly through all three novels. The whole trilogy was plotted amazingly well, despite too many coincidences. I got a taste of the possible interactions between Briton and Roman, both positive and negative; their feelings concerning the other group were vividly portrayed. The characters were so real I felt I got to know them; even down to the brief appearance of Emperor Hadrian. Although there were some slow spots and some repetition of the telling of past events, on the whole the story moved well. Excitement galore filled the novel, also courage, cowardice, duplicity, deviousness and plain human foibles. The novels were well written and impeccably researched. Usually I don't care if I read a series in order and I may not read one novel in a series immediately after the other. But with this one I definitely read one volume right on the heels of another. I was quite struck by the cover; I recognized it right away as the head of the famous sculpture "The Dying Gaul" http://artsnap.org/issue-24-guest-cur... [or, for the purposes of this novel, you could substitute the word Briton :)].

[CathyW · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third in the Eboracum Trilogy and, unlike the previous two books, deals with historical events that are less well known (to me at least) than those of the previous two books. 'Carved in Stone' covers a period of raids along the northern frontier, culminating in an attack on Luguvalium (the present day Carlisle.) However, this work isn’t so much about the battle scenes but the personal journeys of the vividly portrayed characters. In time, the book is set a generation after the events of Eboracum, the Village, but while the original characters, Cethen Lamh Fada, his wife Elena and the Roman Gaius Sabinius Trebonius appear, they are minor characters in this book, with the focus being rather on Cethen’s sons, Bryn, Modan and Tuis. These new characters are engagingly portrayed, being full of flaws, contradictions and fascinations. At times you just want to shake them! Bryn, while no weakling, can’t seem to make his mind up about anything. Tuis, adopted by Gaius, and now the Governor of Britain, is similarly irresolute. Their half-brother Modan is the complete opposite, being impulsive, violent and not terribly bright, but still somehow rather likeable. The female characters are all strong personalities with their own quirks and complications. And it was nice to see Elena again, back in Britain and getting involved in the actions of her offspring. The end left me wondering what happened next, since in the epilogue we see the emperor Hadrian being prompted to build a certain wall … So I’m delighted to read in Graham Clew’s blog that he’s working on the fourth book in the series.