I didn’t think ‘The Eagle’s Conquest’ was as good as ‘Under the Eagle’ but it’s still a five-star read.

If you like dull moments, don’t expect to find any here. This is a Roman adventure, full of action and drama, along with a little humour and a touch of romance.

Although it’s fast paced, it’s not all hell and no notion. The plot is solid and is engaging from start to end.

The characters are vivid. Cato, the main ‘star’, in my favourite. He’s believable and relatable. He’s getting to grips with being part of the Roman army having been thrown in at the deep end in the previous novel. The youth holds a position of responsibility as an optio, which is a centurion’s second-in-command.

The different ranks take some getting used to if, like me, your knowledge of Roman times is sparse.

The language is contemporary, which makes the narrative flow better than if the author had used archaic turns of phrase. He also uses modern English slang, which some readers won’t like, but at least it’s consistent. I’ve read historical novels where in one scene a character says something like, ‘Keep it in your trousers,’ while in another scene someone else says, ‘Whence came he thus?’

While I admit I would’ve preferred the language to not incorporate modern slang, the characters and third-person narration are engaging enough for this not to make me feel like I’m reading a story set during any period other than the first century AD.

Perhaps my being an Englishman makes the slang words and phrases more palatable. I admit, it did annoy me when, in another historical novel, the author of that book used the odd Americanism – ‘ass’ and ‘butt’, for example – so I can understand why any non-English reader – and certainly non-British – would be distracted by the slang terms.

So, while the slang words and phrases didn’t bother me, three other elements did distract me at times. One being a trait that keeps cropping up in books I’ve read this year by different authors, namely this sort of thing: ‘more loudly’, ‘more closely’, instead of the more concise ‘louder’ and ‘closer’. Don’t use two words if one will do.

Adverbs: the ‘tell’, not ‘show’. In Cato ‘clenched his fists angrily’ the adverb not only ‘tells’, it’s superfluous, as ‘clenched’, in this context, ‘shows’ Cato’s anger.

The two points above are minor criticisms. The one big gripe I have is the overuse of ‘then’ to state what happens next. This novel is riddled with ‘thens’, at times making the third-person narrative sound like a child’s voice. ‘Then’ is easy to cut when editing, and it’s not hard to drop it altogether. It ends up being a filler word, notably when using it to start a sentence. The reader knows whatever’s happening is taking place after what’s just happened, so no need to put, ‘Then he …’ and such like.

In most cases, I deduct a star if a book is riddled with ‘thens’ or swamped with adverbs. As someone who appreciates good writing style, these things drive me to distraction. Yet, as mentioned, ‘The Eagle’s Conquest’ is such a great story it overrode these niggling points.

It’s easier to go on and on criticising a book than it is to praise it over and over, and I’ve doubtless not expressed how impressed I am with ‘The Eagle’s Conquest’ to the extent it deserves, so, in a nutshell, I’ll state this: it’s one heck of a great read. ( )

En el verano del año 43, la invasión romana de Britania se encentra con un obstáculo inesperado: la desconcertante y salvaje manera que tienen los rudos britanos de enfrentarse a las disciplinadas tropas imperiales. La situación es desesperada, y quizá la inminente llegada del emperador Claudio para ponerse al frente de las tropas en la batalla decisiva sea el repulsivo que unos legionarios aterrados y desmoralizados necesitan.
Sin embargo, los romanos deben resolver un conflicto interno que amenaza los cimientos del Imperio, pues parece que alguien está dispuesto a acabar con la vida de Claudio desde sus propias filas. Desacreditado y sospechoso de alta traición, Quinto Licinio Cato deberá demostrar de nuevo que no es optio solo gracias a sus influencias.

Good book which was both well written and interesting. ( )

Interesantísima novela con dosis altas sobre todo al final de acción. Quizá adolezca un tanto de esto al principio. Los personajes del optio Cato y del centurión Macro van ganando en intensidad. Así como el del inquietante Vitelio y Vespasiano, ambos probables figuras de mucho éxito futuro. Maravilloso desarrollo de los movimientos militares en tierras britanas. ( )

Un optio en la invasión de Britania