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CENTURION by SIMON SCARROW

Published by Headline

Coming on like a cross between The Sweeney and one of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels, Centurion by Simon Scarrow is a pull no punches slice of adventure set in ancient Rome.

This is Scarrow's eighth book featuring the pair of Roman soldiers Quintus Licinius Cato and Lucius Cornelius Macro who have slowly risen through the ranks whilst fighting in Britain and Gaul. At the start of Centurion Macro and Cato are in Syria in charge of the Second Illyrian Cohort as the Roman Empire prepares to do battle with the tough Parthians. The key to victory lies with the King of Palmyra who has formed an uneasy alliance with Rome. When this alliance is threatened by the Pathians, Macro, Cato and their men are dispatched to Palmyra to provide protection until the main forces arrive - but if they want to keep the town out of the hands of the enemy it could truly be a fight to the death.

Scarrow has a truly exciting style with bone crunching battle sequences galore and the action moving along at a great pace. He also doesn't mess about with archaic language that could slow the plot down instead it is all very modern with dialogue more akin to a 70's cop show (Macro and Cato are very Regan and Carter) than ancient Rome, funnily enough it works well though and allows the story to fair gallop along.

Definitely a welcome addition to the series and a must read for fans of the genre.

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