Douglas Jackson (2) (1956–)

During the waning days of the Roman Empire--5th century--Marcus Flavius Victor is the Lord of the Wall. This is a title meaning he is in charge of all Hadrian's Wall. So why does he, on ostensibly an inspection tour, gather cavalrymen from the forts to himself, stripping the forts of manpower? What is his object? Is he trying to set himself up as another usurper or does he have something else in mind? This a new Roman novel by Mr. Jackson, who has proven to be one of the masters of the genre, both in writing power and style and in research. I did wonder at the fact of Marcus's half-sister being in the story. I did not like her sexual dalliance with the medicus [which I felt could have been left out], but there were a couple of important incidents where a brother wouldn't have moved the story along and it wouldn't have had the conclusion it did without her as catalyst.… (more)

Gaius Valerius Verrens is serving in Britannia when the governor is pushing into Wales to break the power of the druids. He is sent on a mission to Camulodunum where he hears the king of the Iceni is dying and the tribesmen are getting restless under Roman bad treatment.

Although the great revolt under Boudicca is mainly told these days from the point of the view of the Celts, this was very much a Roman's eye view. I found the great romance between Valerius and Maeve unconvincing and in general the book only really took off well over half way through when the revolt started. The action scenes were suspenseful even though I knew what had to happen. I will read the next one in the series.… (more)