The Eagle in the Sand

Eagles of the Empire, Book 7

By: Simon Scarrow

Narrated by: Russell Boulter

Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

If you don't know Simon Scarrow, you don't know Rome!

The Eagle in the Sand is the action-packed seventh novel in Simon Scarrow's best-selling Eagles of the Empire series. Essential reading for fans of Bernard Cornwell.

Judaea in AD 46. Roman centurions Cato and Macro have been posted to Judaea for a 'hearts and minds' operation. The Empire needs to win over the locals after some of their religious figures have started revolts - and since the Romans crucified the last charismatic Judaean leader, the natives' rebellions have become bolder.

Not only are these small villages causing trouble, but there are also thousands of Parthians eager to fight Rome. With the threat of suicide attacks and even all-out war, Cato and Macro have their peace-keeping work cut out....

©2006 Simon Scarrow (P)2012 Headline Digital

Critic reviews

"Scarrow's [novels] rank with the best." ( Independent)

Well done

Excellent read all around. Its difficult to find an author with the love of historical accuracy and detail, while being imaginative enough to spin a good yarn.

Entertaining Romans in the Field

What did you love best about The Eagle in the Sand?

So glad this was not abridged. The friendship between the two centurians welds this story together and provides a good adventure. Although the author does not delve into Roman camp life as much as I would like, the story is still cohesive and the characters believable. All together a good story and fine narrator. I'd like to see more non-abridged works by Simon Scarrow.

If you’ve listened to books by Simon Scarrow before, how does this one compare?

Better than any of the abridged books.

Have you listened to any of Russell Boulter’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Solid performance.

Any additional comments?

More non abridged books by this author.

MORE!

Any additional comments?

I want more Simon Scarrow! Stop messing about with the abridged versions and make available the unabridged!

made Christianity look idiotic

I've liked all these books except for this one Scarrow doesn't know his Christian history

Great

Narrator is incredible, and story is just as good as previous titles in the series

Could have been set any time up to modern era …

I haven’t listened to the first 6 books. This one stands on its own, so doing so isn’t essential; mostly they aren’t available from audible at the time of this review.

I’ve listened to 5hrs and I just don’t care. The plot is unsophisticated; predictable. It seems to be written for teen readers. The characters, reading and story don’t draw me in; and I’m a fan of this style of book: Falco series, Medicus Ruso, Ship of Rome, etc.

The characters seem unfleshed and they behave with inconsistency; both within their own development and the “Roman” setting. This could be due to the reading; voices that I can see in a TV series (Spoiler? I think Sean Bean would play Macro in the style of “Sharpe”), but detract from the drama for me. They frustrated me.

I’m Australian so the voices chosen probably are less satisfying because the accents haven’t resonance although that hasn’t been a problem with other books’ readings. The best voices are of the non-Romans.

Could have been set any time up to modern era … French Foreign Legion?

The volumes between the narration and the dialogue vary quite a bit, so listening with head phones might be a problem.

Action aplenty.

Swords, daggers, combat, good guys, bad guys, biblical references, what's not to like? Moves the action to the desert.

Unimaginative

Historical fiction has given us such classics as War and Peace, The Red Badge of Courage, the Glass Palace and As a Driven Leaf. all of these books and many others were able to dramatize a period while also teaching us about what it must have been like to live in that time and place. The best of these even force us to grapple with the intellectual currents that shaped that world. This book has none of that. It is little more than a series of made-for-TV battle vignettes with a little bit of conspiracy mongering surrounding Jesus's crucifixion. Even the English is pedestrian and hackneyed. Look elsewhere if you really want to immerse in the cultural milieu of 1st century Judea.

Not so bad

I did like the previous narrator. The one from the British campaign. More unique sounds of each character.

Great story and great narration.

Another great Macro and Cato story! I really liked this adventure. Very exciting from the start to the finish!

Macro, Cato and The Holy Ghost

I said I wouldn't wait another year before I came back to this series and this time I have only resisted for a couple of months. It's great fun, action packed and the dynamic duo of Macro and Cato have a good chemistry between them. The machinations of Narcissus give a reasonable(ish) excuse to keep the pair together despite their relatively senior rank.

This time they are thrown into the powder keg of post-messiah Judea and of course there is treachery from both without and within their own ranks. Macro continues to be part football hooligan and part charismatic leader with the more cerebral Macro providing an excellent foil to the older man's rather more unpredictable approach.

Scarrow touches new ground with his take on Christianity's early days which adds to the intrigue without ever becoming overly judgemental or allowing the action to falter. In terms of historical detail this does take the focus away from the legions themselves though.

All in all another very enjoyable episode.

Thrilling read

Would you consider the audio edition of The Eagle in the Sand to be better than the print version?

I missed 4/5/6 in the series as some were not available on audible and went straight for this on. It was very easy to pick up and hugely interesting set in a new province. Some well described skirmishes and an interesting insight into the period. A recommend!

What other book might you compare The Eagle in the Sand to, and why?

Ben Kane/Conn Iggulden

What about Russell Boulter’s performance did you like?

A change from the previous books gave Cato a much more grown voice sound reflecting his experience

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Laugh and got the heart rate going!

Astonishing

brilliant piece of writing with fantastic voice acting, couldn't recommend it enough, really brings it to life.

Appalling pronunciation

The mispronounciation of the names of the main characters throughout the Eagle series of audiobooks ruins what are otherwise very good stories.
It would be almost tolerable to listen to the same mispronunciation except that there is no consistency and it varies from book to book.

Love the story

continuing Macro and Cato's adventures across the Empire is enjoyable. The change of reader is narking but the books are excellent

Another great story

Loved the twists but found the change of accents to be Liverpudlians disconcerting prefer other

Performance lost interest

The Combination of a similar storey line and flat performance meant the book lots its impact from the the other books in the Series

Good Story !!!!

again a good story line with well developed characters only minus was the introduction of a different narrator who changed the principal characters dialects from the previous stories

Great story, narration not so good.

Another enjoyable Cato and Macro adventure. Narration still could be improved upon. Russel Boulter has a good clear speaking voice which is expressive and well-paced. However his poor pronunciation of character and place names is irritating and lapse into Scouse when characterising Macro doesn’t fit well either and sounds ridiculous.

Scouse Romans’?

Bit strange hearing this with a bit of a Scouse twang but still a flipping good listen.