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Brothers In Blood (2014)

by Simon Scarrow(Favorite Author)

4.04 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0755393937 (ISBN13: 9780755393930)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Headline

series

Eagle

review 1: Keeping character development going across a long story arc isn't always easy, and while in the case of the Legion series there isn't exactly a meta-plot to keep to, there seems to be a feeling from some reviewers that this book wasn't quite as good as its predecessors. In fairness to Simon Scarrow, the action of 'Brothers in Blood' takes place almost immediately after the end of 'Blood Crows'. The main action of 'Blood Crows' takes place over the course of two to three weeks and that of 'Brothers in Blood' lasts a similar period. Hence there's not really much scope for character development. Cato's substantive appointment to Prefect is still recent and the new social gap between him and Macro and its effect on their friendship has yet to be explored.Scarrow is writing... more to a tried and tested formula and throughout most of the book he doesn't disappoint. The pitched battle against Caratacus' army is described vividly and with feeling. Where it fell down for me was the identity of the traitor within the army (a little too obvious) and the way in which this is revealed. A little more plot complexity here would have kept the reader guessing and made the traitor's eventual unmasking less of an anti-climax. 'Brothers in Blood' also lacks the shock and suspense of 'The Blood Crows'. The latter book, with its Apocalypse Now/Heart of Darkness overtones, was always going to leave it in the shade. Scarrow has created a great series here, with two characters I both like and respect. Hopefully the next instalment in the series will allow Cato and Macro to settle into their new roles more thoroughly.
review 2: There is a good joke in one of Steven Saylor's Roman novels - I think it is Catilina's Riddle. The story goes that the politician Cicero only ever had sex twice: the first time to see what all the fuss was about, the second ten years later to check if it really had been as underwhelming as he remembered it.I read the first two in the Cato and Macro series about ten years ago and gave them up as run-of-the-mill adventure stories; when offered the opportunity to read this one, I decided to give it another go. There will not be a third attempt.In fairness to Simon Scarrow, he writes for a particular audience and I do not belong to that constituency. He writes clearly, simply and well. The series is very popular. But I do note that despite many four and five star reviews on these pages, there is some disquiet among his fans.This is formula writing par excellence. You do not need to have read any of the others in the series to follow this.The central plot follows the line: Caratacus leads the Roman army a merry dance; Caratacus is cornered on a hill fort; there is a big battle with the day saved by the hero and his mates; Caratacus is captured; Caratacus escapes; Caratacus leads the Roman army a merry dance; Caratacus is cornered on a hill fort.....There is a rather silly sub-plot involving the `Imperial Agents' of rival freedmen, one of whom takes the practice of hiding in plain sight to ludicrous extremes. Nor is it difficult to work out the identity of the `bad' one.There are running themes of class struggle (twittish and arrogant upper-class officers versus solid, dependable lower class soldiers), male bonding (Cato and Macro, Cato and Caratacus, Cato and the Blood Crows, hmmm...), resistance to female temptation (Cato and Poppaea, Cato and Cartimandua), all leavened with laddish humour, `Better out than in. And a word to the wise, always go downwind.' He gestured to the mess on his tunic.' (Sage advice from Macro to Cato).If this is the sort of thing you like, then you will like this sort of thing. less

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