Narcissus sends two legionnaries under cover to investigate a faction of the Praetorian guards who may be plotting to assasssinate the Emperor Claudius and restore the Republic.

In the first few chapters the author seemed quite unable to decide on Messalina or Messallina for the deceased Empress's name but apart from that I enjoyed this exciting thriller. The graphic descriptions of metal pointy bits meeting human flesh may not be to everybody's taste but I found that overall they didn't detract from my enjoyment. This book, the eleventh in the series, was passed on to me by a friend of my father's, and I enjoyed it enough to wishlist the first in the series. ( )

Part of the growing industry around historical novels set in the Roman world, Praetorian is an action-adventure novel set in Rome itself featuring Cato and Macro, Scarrow's soldiers-of-fortune with consciences and hearts. An exciting story with good set-pieces it tells of the near failure of Emperor Claudius when plotters against him bring the capital to near starvation by hoarding and harrying grain shipments. The politics is skimmed over in favour of action and the descriptions of Roman life are too thin for my taste, but this is an easy read to while away a summer afternoon in the garden. ( )

Jolly good fun, though on a more serious note than some previous in the series. Our lads mix it up with the imperial family in the struggle over the succession. Who will follow Claudius into the purple?
I wonder how Scarrow will handle the reign of Nero? ( )

This is still a great series. In the back notes, Simon, the author talks of returning to two old friends, and that is how the series is now.

Macro has softened a bit, though still rough and tumble and a better fighter than Cato. Cato is still the brains that keeps Macro away from the trouble he is prone to get into.

Here is the closest we have been to the Imperial Purple, Claudius, who is near the end of his tenure. And we see the seedy underside of politics as all prepare for what is to come when Claudius is gone. It is a shame that we do not see the craftiness of Derek Jacoby in the time when Claudius appears. That would have elevated the story I think.

Also, there are times when we can see what Cato needs to see two, and three times before he realizes that there is not one simple plot to follow, but many and, well it's complicated. As Imperial politics should be where all are scrambling for power to come.

Yet that complexity and the background make this a great read. Though still troubling is that Cato, so close to his lover, would not send some form of communication to her. A subplot we have been exploring for the previous three books.

One hopes that having met Vespasian at the beginning of the series our two heroes will continue on for the next reign and the turmoil and then be on hand to aid that Emperor when he comes to power. Many more tales, please! ( )

I have read every book in this series and unfortunately this is almost the worst. Even so, it is a good book and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Ancient History (Rome in particular) or espionage. This is an extremely good series, though compared to the previous ones, this novel is quiet light. Where there would be twists and story arcs, exciting fights and stealthy infiltrations in previous books, this novel is one story that flows gently through its 350+ pages with the occasional , though sometimes predictable, turn of events.

*Spoilers*
The eleventh book in this series sees Macro and Cato continue their clandestine work for Narcissus, the Emperor Claudius' freeman secretary. Unlike previous novels where this work led to the far corners of the Empire, they are brought to the very centre; to the city of Rome itself. A plot against the Emperor, highlighted by the capture of a great amount of silver by an unknown force, must be stopped with the help of two not so common soldiers. Their task places Macro and Cato at the very bottom of the pile in the most influential military force, the Praetorian Guard.

I found the story slow in places. I do recognise that this is perhaps down to it taking time to break into the conspirators, however realism should sometimes be traded for a lack there of in order to keep the pace going forwards. When it gets going, it really does. With all his books the fight scenes are brilliantly done, as are the layers of politics.

Characterisation can, at times, be quite sketchy. There is little character development of Macro and the most human experience we share with Cato are the very last pages as he and Julia are reunited. Narcissus is done very well, with many aspects of his personality, and his motives, explored. Scarrow appears to have reached a happy medium with the number of characters he includes. In previous books he has sometimes struggles with giving depth to the vast amount of characters that dot themselves between the covers. In this book, there are enough primary and secondary characters, as well as a number of background characters, to give depth to the story without overloading the reader with names and personalities. ( )