HISTORICAL FICTION REVIEW: Macro and Cato: The Blood Crows - Simon Scarrow

Release Date: 24/10/13
Publisher:  Headline

SYNOPSIS:

From the bestselling author of CENTURION, THE GLADIATOR and PRAETORIAN, a new military adventure for battle-hardened centurions Macro and Cato, fighting for the Empire in Britannia. For nearly ten years, the Roman Empire has fought ceaselessly to strengthen its hold over Britannia. But opposition from native tribes led by the ruthless warrior Caratacus threatens to destroy everything. Prefect Cato and Centurion Macro are summoned by Governor Ostorius to Londinium. Tasked with leading a newly formed cavalry cohort into the heartland of Wales, they must destroy the growing resistance. But with Caratacus hatching increasingly ambitious plans and disorder threatening from within Macro and Cato's own ranks, this final test will push the soldiers to their limits. And if they do not emerge as victors, the Emperor Claudius's rule may be at stake, and the very foundations of the Roman Empire could be shattered irrevocably.


REVIEW:

I’ve loved this series for a fair number of years now and to be honest its something of a guilty pleasure, however I do start to wonder just how many more scrapes that two of them can get into before one of them makes a fatal error that will leave either one or both of them face down in the dirty.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a cracking story, Macro and Cato do keep the action flowing alongside weaving a credible story arc but with all their travels alongside all the foes they’ve left breathing, you’d think that something would have come up that would have led them into that one fatal step. All round a great piece of fun and if you want something that will entertain during the long cold nights then you really have to try the series, you’ll soon be addicted like a great many others.

HISTORICAL FICTION REVIEW: Macro and Cato 10: The Legion - Simon Scarrow

Release Date: 11/11/10

BOOK BLURB:

The bestselling author of CENTURION and THE GLADIATOR returns with another action-packed Roman adventure.Trouble is brewing in Egypt. Rebel gladiator Ajax and his men have been posing as Roman soldiers and attacking naval bases, merchant vessels and villages. Prefect Cato and Centurion Macro have been charged with the task of tracking down the renegade warrior before the problem gets out of control. Joining forces with Legion III, they hope to destroy their enemy on the battlefield. But the cunning gladiator has other ideas...


REVIEW:

Scarrow’s most well-known heroes, Macro and Cato, return in their 10th outing to face an old foe and one that the readers really are looking forward to them getting their hands upon.

As usual the action comes thick and fast with our epic duo in another war that could see the end of Rome’s time within Africa. It’s bloody, it’s brutal and above all else the reader gets exactly what they want from this title with Scarrow’s indomitable sense of pace keeping the reader in check alongside injection his own touch of battlefield humour to lighten some of the darker aspects within.

All in another good book in the series and one that demonstrates a singular purpose of one of the heroes that may have been lacking previously as his ambition alongside goals start to become his chance to step up not only for the glory of Rome but for his own purposes as well. Whilst you can jump into the series at any point you really have to start at the beginning to get to know the heroes as well as to be able to understand their own sensibilities alongside their growth as they endure, overcome and conquer the enemies of Rome. Trust me, you won’t regret it.