For the tenth instalment of his Macro and Cato series of Roman historical novels, it’s destination Egypt for Simon Scarrow. Our heroes have come a long way from their beginnings on the German frontier: Macro is still a Centurion but Cato, with his intelligence and diplomatic skills, has now gone from being his underling to being a Prefect and thus his superior, a situation they are both struggling to get used to and which puts a strain on their long-standing friendship.

In a continuation from the storyline to preceding novel Gladiator, the two men are in pursuit of the rogue gladiator Ajax, who led a slave rebellion on Crete and who has given both Macro and Cato ample reason to hold personal grudges. Tasked with bringing Ajax to justice, Macro and Cato are in the province of Egypt, vital to the supply of grain to Rome, when an invasion by the neighbouring kingdom of the Nubians hugely increases the risk to the Roman Empire. They have to put their mission to one side as they are seconded to the Egyptian legions and sent south to join the war effort. Due to a chain of unfortunate events, they soon find themselves taking charge of the campaign, with the Romans greatly outnumbered by the invading Nubians. It takes a combination of Cato’s knowledge of military history and Macro’s bloody minded tenacity to see them through in a substantial set piece battle.

The Legion has all of the classic elements for this kind of historical novels: politics, treachery, revenge and a big battle to round it all off. As a novelist who produces two books a year, Simon Scarrow knows what formulas work, and while this book is no great departure from his normal approach, that’s no bad thing really – he delivers on plot, drama, accurate historical context (having visited a number of Egypt’s major temples myself I could appreciate the value of his own field trips to the way they were described) and pace. While Macro and Cato are a little bit less three-dimensional than they could be, it doesn’t stop me rooting them for them in the same way I have always rooted for Sharpe, Flashman and others, and I look forward to them marching again.

You can read the first chapter of the book right here on Bookgeeks. Read it now.

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