‘The Eagle Hunts’ gripped me from start to finish. I rated the previous two books in the series with five stars, but this one is a notch above both those titles.

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

Although it’s fast paced, it’s not all hell and no notion. The exciting plot is solid and is engaging from start to end. A daring rescue operation is the highlight for me.

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 first 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.

What’s interesting is the inclusion of the legendary warrior queen Boudicca about twenty years before she made history. Her interaction with Cato and Macro (the second-main character) is top quality.

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 ‘Macro glared angrily,’ the adverb not only tells, it’s superfluous, as ‘glared’ shows his 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 Hunts’ is such a cracking 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 Hunts’ to the extent it deserves, so, in a nutshell, I’ll state this: it’s one heck of a great read. ( )

El ejército romano, que no ceja en su empeño de conquistar Britania, se enfrenta a un crudo invierno mientras espera el momento propicio para continuar su avance, pero el secuestro de la familia del general Aulo Plautio complica sus planes. El centurión Macro y Cato son enviados a tierras desconocidas, en compañía de un intérprete que se revelará muy poco útil, para intentar liberar a los secuestrados, y ello les llevará a enfrentarse a las más sorprendentes y arriesgadas aventuras, sin otra ayuda que su ingenio.

Continuación de la invasión de Britania por parte de las legiones romanas. Macro y Cato forman un tándem especial y por ello son los elegidos para una misión de incursión en territorio durotrige, dominio de los druidas. La atmósfera temible en torno a los druidas está muy bien construida así como sus tradiciones y costumbres sangrientas. A por el siguiente, aún queda mucha por conquistar.

Un optio contra los bárbaros britanos.

This is another solid installment in the swords & sandals style of novels. The story is fun, exciting and chock full of action. ( )