The Legion
Eagles of the Empire • Book 10
by Simon Scarrow
Why You'll Love This
A renegade gladiator impersonating Roman soldiers is either the boldest threat Cato and Macro have ever faced — or their last.
- Great if you want: Roman military action with a long-running, battle-tested duo
- The experience: fast-paced and propulsive — Scarrow rarely lets you settle
- The writing: Scarrow keeps prose lean and tactical, built for momentum over atmosphere
- Skip if: you're new to the series — character bonds won't land without context
About This Book
Rome is cracking at the edges, and nowhere more dangerously than Egypt, where a renegade gladiator has turned a band of desperate men into something far more threatening than bandits. For Prefect Cato and Centurion Macro, the mission to stop him is both urgent and personal — because Ajax isn't simply raiding and running. He's thinking. The stakes stretch beyond a single campaign, touching the stability of Rome's most valuable province, and Scarrow keeps the tension coiled tight from the first page to the last.
What rewards readers here is the decade-deep familiarity Scarrow has built with these two characters. Ten books in, Cato and Macro feel genuinely lived-in — their friendship tested, their personalities sharply distinct, their banter earned rather than forced. Scarrow writes action with real momentum, never letting the mechanics of Roman warfare bog down the pace, while still grounding the violence in authentic period detail. The result is a novel that moves like a thriller but carries the weight of a world Scarrow clearly knows and respects.