The Eagle of the Twelfth Review

Rome: The Eagle of the Twelfth

-       M.C. Scott

Publisher: Bantam

Demalion of Macedon never wanted to be a legionary. An unwilling recruit, he is appalled to be posted to the infamous XIIth legion, notorious for its ill luck. Promoted slowly through the ranks, he does his best to please his superiors, and in doing so, finds that he has come to love his legion, that he will willingly give up his life -- and his chance of death -- to protect its sacred heart: the Eagle.

Rome managed to conqueror and hold vast amounts of land in its hay day with its military might based in its legions. This story tells the tale of a reluctant solder – at least at first - and how he grows into his role of warrior through form friendships with his comrades. I have to confess I’m not usually a fan of war stories and this book is a war story albeit set in Roman times. Focusing on the eastern edge of the empire, where the Roman Empire meets the empire of the King of Kings, this tells the tale of one of Romans campaigns to hold Jerusalem and surrounded environs from local horse lords and rebel Hebrews.

This give a real inside view of what life is like in a legion – complete with floggings, intense close relationships between soldiers and war games. The description of the surroundings and the every life of the legion is well portrayed and multi-coloured. At times you could taste the sweat of the soldiers and smell the copper of blood. However, I never really felt an emotional connection to the main character. As a result I read the whole story as if from a birds-eye view. I watched all that was happening but never really felt part of it. I suspect that’s mostly my fault as I don’t usually read a lot of war stories. But I couldn’t stop watching nonetheless.

From the description I thought this was going to be an undercover mission to rescue the eagle of the Twelve, but it’s more a story of the Twelve and the hardships they faced over ten years. A detailed and involving story which will thrill and delight those who love historical stories and Roman period especially, but for some reason fell a little short for me personally.  

Recommended for fans of Conn Iggulden and Douglas Jackson. 7 out of 10

War Horse Review

War Horse

-       Michael Morpurgo

Publisher: Egmont Press

Joey is a warhorse, but he wasn't always. Once, he was a farm horse and a gentle boy named Albert was his master. Then World War I came storming through and everything changed. Albert's father sells Joey to the army where the beautiful, red-bay horse is trained to charge the enemy, drag heavy artillery, and carry wounded soldiers not much older than Albert off of battlefields. Amongst the clamoring of guns and slogging through the cold mud, Joey wonders if the war will ever end. And if it does, will he ever find Albert again?

When so many teen and children’s books are now aiming towards high word and page count, it’s refreshing to pick up a book that is less than 200 pages. Even more surprising is just how moving and emotional War Horse considering it’s slim size. I’ve previously seen the War Horse stage show and film so I had a good idea of what to expect but I still ended up in tears on several occasions during the couple of hours or so it took to read this book.

Joey starts on the farm, growing up with Albert before ending up sold to the cavalry at the start of the first world war and follows his trials and tribulations throughout the war. Joey is a remarkably strong horse who does whatever he is told to – through charging barbed wire on the front to pulling the massive machine guns through mud. He is never asked what he wants or given much thanks – much like many of the human soldiers on both sides during the war. I don’t want to give too much away, but Michael Morpurgo manages to create vivid characters – both human and horse with minimal words, allowing their actions to speak for their themselves.

By the end of the novel, I felt like a complete emotional wreck and was utterly grateful to all the animals we have working for us, not just a hundred years ago, but those we continue to use today. They deserve so much.

Recommended for fans of Dick King-Smith and John Boyne. 10 out of 10.

The Last Four Things

The Last Four Things (The Left Hand of God 2)

-          Paul Hoffman

Publisher: UK - Penguin

Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell. These are the Last Four Things. Now there are Five. Meet Thomas Cale. Returning to the Sanctuary of the Redeemers, Thomas Cale is told by the Lord Militant that the destruction of mankind is necessary; the only way to undo God's greatest mistake. Cale seemingly accepts his role in the ending of the world: fate has painted him as the Left Hand of God, the Angel of Death. Absolute power is within his grasp, the terrifying zeal and military might of the Redeemers a weapon for him to handle as simply as he once used a knife. But perhaps not even the grim power that the Redeemers hold over Cale is enough - the boy who turns from love to poisonous hatred in a heartbeat, the boy who switches between kindness and sheer violence in the blink of an eye. The annihilation that the Redeemers seek may well be in Cale's hands - but his soul is far stranger than they could ever know.

It’s been a while since I read any fantasy books so when this dropped through my door, I figured it was the gods of reading telling it was time I returned to it. The Last Four Things is actually the second book in a series (trilogy?) and luckily I had read the first book, The Left Hand of God some time ago, but I have to confess I didn’t remember much of it. Luckily there is a quick recap in the beginning to get you up to speed.

The whole novel follows Thomas Cale, and to a less extent his friends Vague Henri and Kleist as they alternatively fight for and against the extreme religious order, the Redeemers, that brought them up to be its soldiers. Much of this story follows Cale as his slowly takes control of the Redeemer army and starts winning their wars (yes, wars – they are fighting on many fronts). In this way, Cale reminds me much of Ender from Ender’s Game – a young genius with a talent for warfare given free reign over battle. However, Cale is also broken hearted and as such seeks to isolate himself as much as possible. Unfortunately, this means I never really connected with him – or any character really. Most seemed very emotionless and even the friendship between Cale and Vague Henri never rang true for me – I never really felt why Henri was with Cale.

However, despite this there are some great battle scenes with some detailed descriptive passages. And this is dirty warfare where mistakes are made on both sides. In fact one element I did enjoy about the whole story was the impact of chance seemed to have – it felt chaotic rather than orchestrated and that meant it felt realistic – after all no one person has complete control over everything in reality. The style of writing as well was unique, feeling more like a story told by the campfire with personality and asides injected which made it stand out from other fantasy.

While I enjoyed the style of writing and the action scenes, I did miss out on any emotional resonance. However, I would be curious to see where the story goes next!

Recommended for fans of Robert Jordan and Tad Williams. 7 out of 10