With Simon Scarrow the triumvirate (pun intended) of the great storytellers of ancient Rome closes. The other two would be Ben kane y Santiago Posteguillo. Of course, there are many other novelists or popularizers who deal with their passion for this empire with literary mastery. But in the aforementioned we enjoy three first-rate stems to summarize fiction and documentation.
In the same way that Gnaeus Pompey Magnus, Gaius Julius Caesar and Marcus Licinius Crassus divided up their parcels of power, these three novelists compose their narratives at the different seasons of reader taste for this type of historical fiction. More epic, more chronic or more intrahistorical setting. The question is to recover from those days in which the Western idiosyncrasy was forged the best of each moment, whether from a transcendental historical or human vision.
Welcome then to the universe of Simon Scarrow. Prepare to wade through the legion heading to the front lines or stroll through a packed comitium unveiling a pristine democracy, albeit only fit for elites at the time. Anything can happen in Simon Scarrow's novels...
Top 3 Recommended Simon Scarrow Novels
Traitors to Rome
Book XVIII of Fifth Licinius Cato. An Eagle series that deepens like few works in a time of the Roman Empire in full swing but always shaken by internal tensions in announcement of the implosion that was coming as the only possible end for this civilization.
AD 56 Tribune Cato and Centurion Macro, now battle-hardened veterans of the Roman army, await the next campaign at Thapis, a small town near the eastern border. Rome prepares her armies for the fight against the Parthians, each time closer. Meanwhile, the spies of the dangerous and mysterious Parthia have them in their sights, but they are also aware that the real enemy may be among their own. There is a traitor in their ranks.
And that could be the deadliest threat to the legion... and the Empire itself, Rome shows no mercy to those who betray their comrades. But first you have to find the culprit. So Cato and Macro find themselves in a race against time to uncover the truth, while the mighty enemy over the border stands guard to exploit any weakness in the legion. Then the traitor must die...
The Emperor's exile
Book XIX of Fifth Licinius Cato. In this installment, the future of this emblematic character created by Scarrow looks at dangers that come from among the same Roman oligarchies that covet new territories and conquests with which to enlarge an empire that precisely from that excessive ambition points to betrayals and unsuspected risks.
It runs the year 57 d. C. when the tribune Cato and the centurion Macro finally return to Rome. But the failure of his recent campaign on the eastern frontier leads to a hostile reception at the court of the Empire. Your reputation and your future are at stake.
Meanwhile, the emperor's political enemies try to overthrow him by taking advantage of his infatuation with a young woman, and when Nero reluctantly banishes her, Cato, though lonely and uncomfortable in Rome, is forced to accompany her into exile in Sardinia. And his problems will begin again there: the island is in great unrest over a small group of officers, and three will be the tribune's problems: a fractured command, a deadly plague, and a violent insurgency that threatens to bring the entire province to a standstill. bloody chaos.
the blood of rome
We finish with the XVII book of Quintus Licinius Cato. In these three installments, the character has already become an emblem of that flourishing and expansionist Rome. An empire that pivots for us readers around the vision of a Cato delighted to break down everything that happens from Finisterre to the epicenter of the eternal city.
The year is 54 AD and trouble is brewing on the eastern frontiers of the Roman Empire. Once again, Prefect Cato and Centurion Macro of the Roman Legion must prepare for war... The cunning Parthians have invaded Roman-ruled Armenia and succeeded in overthrowing the ambitious and ruthless King Rhadamistus, but... loyal to Rome.
General Corbulo has a mission: he must restore him to the throne and, at the same time, prepare the troops for the war against the powerful empire of the Parthians. So Corbulo welcomes newcomers Cato and Macro, two soldiers experienced in shaping a unit of ill-equipped men ill-prepared for the coming conflict. But restoring a deposed king to the throne is a dangerous game. Rhadamistus's brutality towards his enemies may be the spark for an uprising that will test the bravery and skill of the Roman army. And, meanwhile, a new and sinister enemy watches them from the border...
