Hunting the Eagles

Another Great Book about the Roman Legions By Ben Kane. This author doesn’t write a bad book, and I for one am a great fan of his.Joe Corso author of The Starlight Club series

This is a strong second book to the Eagles of Rome trilogy. An enjoyable read, highly suggest for fans of historical fiction and especially fans of historic fiction about the Roman period. Taking place in the first decades of the first century in the Rhine region.

Second of three in an excellent series. Very interesting characters and story lines that make the book hard to put down. Captures the brutality of ancient warfare and discipline. Very highly recommended

The loss of a legion's eagle brings down shame on the members of the then disbanded legion. Rome is represented by the nephew of Tiberius, Germanicus who will attempt to recover the missing Eagles and punish the German tribes.

I had read one of Kane's books and was so taken with his writing that one that I wondered if he could keep it up, and he has. He has a writing style that flows and keeps you moving throughout. I loved the character descriptions that made it seem you knew them. You became involved with their lives and lived their experiences. He set the scene and kept the suspense going until the climax. I found his work captivating and there was enough depiction of battles back in those days so that you could sympathize with those engaged in it. You could almost smell the scenes. Can't wait to read another of his books.

Hunting the Eagles is an excellent read either as the second in the series or as a stand alone historical novel. You will enjoy it.

I felt as though I was actually in the line with my fellow legionaries. Holds your attention. I recommend it.

Ben Kane's Forgotten Legion books were the reason I started to read Roman historical fiction, I have read over 200 books on the subject and cannot get enough it, Conn Igguldon, Simon Scarrow, SJA Turney & RW Peake to name a few.This series rates up there with the best of them, I seriously could not put this series down reading them back to back, I cannot wait to read more from Mr Kane.

Having read and hugely enjoyed 'Eagles at War', I was looking forward to the follow-up eagerly. Yet, while I still very much enjoyed this book, I was left just that bit dissatisfied.. All of things that set the first book far above the norm are here too; the meticulous attention to detail in describing the lives of Roman soldiers, thrilling battle scenes, all too real politics and characters with a depth that makes the reader really care about what happens to them.So why the grumble? Well, actually, this was just like reading the first book all over again. The first 60% is a fairly slow paced description of the life of a Roman soldier, albeit livened up with a threat of mutiny. All of this detail, although fascinating, becomes just that bit tedious after a while and I found myself thinking "When will the action start?". Then, after some thin pretence at drama with the 'will Armenius attack or won't he?' variety (we all know that he's going to attack) the fighting begins. The last 40% of the book is just one, continuous, battle scene that moves, at a snails pace, through the forest. The descriptions of battle are excellent but there are only so may ways to describe a Roman soldier with a sword and shield fighting a barbarian tribesman with a spear.There's no balance in these books; it's either descriptions of day to day life or horrendous battle and the fact that those two elements are 'bookended' makes that sense worse. Imagine having 100 Lego bricks and ordering them so that there are sixty white bricks at one end of the stack and 40 red bricks at the other end; that's what this plot is like. I have no sage suggestions as to how this could be overcome, given that Ben Kane is following real and exceptionally well researched historical events to deliver this story. Actually, todays soldiers also seem to say that their job is 90% sitting still and 10% frantic action but that ratio doesn't make for good reading either. So, Mr Kane, if you can find some way (possibly by injecting a bit more 'author's license' into the slower parts) to give these books a more acceptable pace, you'd move a great book into a stupendous book.Yet, despite all of my moaning above, I've still given this book four stars. And I'm not sure that even that isn't being a bit mean. Absolutely no one writes of the lives of Roman soldiers (and, these days, there seems to be hundreds of authors who do just that) with the detailed authenticity of Ben Kane. I really feel that I'm there. Everything is so well researched, from armaments to terrain to weather, that there isn't a single flaw in the descriptions. The creation of characters that have all shades of good and evil and professionalism and incompetence adds to the richness of the story. So, Mr Kane, now that I've had my whinge, I'll look out for the next episode in this story eagerly!

Having adored Eagles at War, I didn’t wait long before starting the next book. Hunting the Eagles has the steadier pace you often see in middle-of-the-trilogy books, but that didn’t diminish the tension or action. Like the first one, the characterisations drew me in and the nail-biting battles kept me hooked.Time has passed since the catastrophic events of the first book and you can tell in the way the characters have changed. Still reeling from the defeat, the treatment of the soldiers after the battle and burning with revenge, Tullus has a bitter streak not present before. The subtle undertones of character development are clever: he never goes against the grain, but you can see his loss of respect for superiors and how they have to earn it back this time.He’s still my favourite. His troops love him, will die for him, and know he will do the same for them. He’s got a reputation, one that allows him to be heard when others would be ignored and he’s fiercely loyal to a regime that ultimately betrayed him after the forest ambush.Piso comes into himself this time. He’s not a new recruit in over his head, but a veteran loyal to his centurion and determined to do what is right, even if that places him in danger. You really get the sense of how he has grown and his bravery and determination shine through. A fierce contender for the favourite spot.I still don’t like Arminius. But as the deception isn’t as strong in this book, I did warm to him: he’s determined, brave and will do whatever it takes, even shelving his pride, to unite the clans. You see a more vulnerable side to him this time, which makes him more relatable.There are two parts of the plot this time; the Romans falling apart by themselves, and the Germans helping tear them apart. It was engaging to see more of a camp life this time – it allowed for Tullus and Piso to show how things had changed. It also shows what kind of leader Tullus is that he can keep his men from mutiny even while the rest of the army falls apart. He commands such loyalty from those who follow him!Naturally, a large-scale battle took place in the second half. Would this be a Ben Kane book if not? But while it still had the same tension as the previous book, you didn’t get the overwhelming helplessness this time around. Tullus and co have survived this once: they refuse to be beaten a second time and their determination is stronger this time.That doesn’t mean there aren’t causalities though, and there was one death in particular that I felt – mainly because you know how the characters are going to react.A strong second book that has kept me gripped and engrossed in the characters and the struggles they are facing. I’m looking forward to the third one and hope for a satisfying ending.

I very much liked the first installment, despite a few minor reservations. I have almost none here and enjoyed the second volume – the follow-up and retaliation some six years after the Teutoburg disaster – even more than the first. The reason for this is that it has it all: good research and use of the sources (including the archaeological findings), a well-told and griping story and believable characters.The first strong point is that Ben Kane chose to stick as much as possible to the historical records while also introducing elements that have been found during archaeological excavations. The main result and benefit of this is to make the story more believable in several ways.One is to show how the Romans reacted to the disaster, both at the official/political level and at the officers’ and soldiers’ level. At the political level, Varus (the Roman governor and general who commanded the three-legion army destroyed in the so-called Teutoberg disaster) was made into a scapegoat. Augustus may have somewhat panicked and did react by banning the survivors from ever entering Italy under pain of death, possibly because he was afraid of the effect that they could have on morale if they told their version of the disaster and of the horrors that they had lived through. I am not quite sure that surviving centurions were demoted, as shown in the book, although this may have happened. Some of the officers, particularly among the senior and aristocratic ones, may have treated the survivors as pariahs. Others, and some of the soldiers, would have realised what it took to survive the disaster and may have felt a mixture of pity and admiration towards the survivors who had lost almost all of their comrades, but also their sacred Eagles.Another original piece (to my knowledge at least) is the author’s choice to tell the story of the mutiny that followed the announcement of Augustus’ death, and to present the reasons for this. Here again, Ben Kane follows closely the sources, showing that the soldiers’ pay was poor, possibly months in arrears, that many veterans had not been discharged while many conscripts had been recruited, possibly unwillingly, and that they may have been ill-treated (to put it very mildly) by their centurions, some of which were not only brutes and bullies, but possibly also sadists. What does not quite appear in the book, although it is hinted at, is that this was not exactly unusual. However, this time, it happened in a context of low morale, defeat, fear, heightened by the death of Augustus and an uncertain future, and anger after the legions had to destroy and pull back from all of the forts and fortresses that they had spent years and many lives in conquering and building, and after they had evacuated and destroyed the Roman cities that had been under construction in what should have become the new Province of Magna Germania. As far as I can tell, just about all of the events described during the mutiny are historical, although, of course, Centurion Tullius did not play such a prominent role since he is a fictional character.Another key point is the collective picture that the author draws of the Roman legionaries, their centurions and their officers. These are much more believable because they are made to “look and feel” more human, as opposed to the “fearless super-heroes” that some other authors tend to indulge in. This is for instance the case with their barely controlled terror at hearing the Germanic Barritus or the near panic that gripped them when entrenched in their camp and surrounding by the Germanic tribes. It is also the case for the survivors of the Teutoberg disaster with their horrific and traumatic memories and nightmares, their guilt to have survived where all the others died and, in the case of the hero, his guilt because he did not manage to save more of his men. Even if I am not quite sure, contrary to the author, that Romans would have behaved and felt in this way (and there is of course no way to be absolutely certain), introducing these features makes the book and story more convincing.Another strong emotional piece is Germanicus’ insistence and detour to visit the site of one of the main and of the last engagements. This is again attested in the sources and so is the burial of the skeletons (and their unearthing by the Germans shortly after). While Germanicus does seem to have been officially rebuked for taking such a risk, it was a masterstroke in terms of “resource management” as we would say today. Although the chances are that he was sincere, he was also a master of spin and propaganda as most of the outstanding Roman generals, politicians and Emperors were and had to be.Another couple of remarkable pieces are the attack against the army of Caecina on the march, and the fateful battle that allowed the Romans to goad the Germans into attacking under unfavourable conditions, beat them off convincingly and with heavy casualties and reach safety and the Rhine. In both cases, Ben Kane shows that the outcomes were far from predetermined. The Roman did indeed lose all of its baggage during the first attack and, as you will see when reading about it, it could have been much worse. The Roman victory was a lucky one, because the Romans were running out of food, trapped in their camp and would have been quite unable to cross the so-called “wooden bridges” and the associated marshes without being cut to pieces in what could have been a remake of Teutoburg. The luck was also due to the Germans which, for once, played into the Romans hands for reasons that you will discover when reading this book and which are at the very least perfectly plausible.Then there is the characterisation, which I found quite remarkable. This was particularly the case of the somewhat ambivalent portrait of Germanicus, the army’s and Rome's “wonder-boy” and “hero” who adored him. There are some interesting parallels drawn with both Alexander the Great (whom so many great Roman generals emulated, starting with Pompey, Caesar and Marc-Antony who was Germanicus’ grand-father) and Germanicus’ own father, Drusus the Elder, who had also played a similar role some twenty-years earlier. I will not mention anything more here to avoid spoilers, although the book does show that the real Germanicus may not have been so "nice and perfect" as he and others portrayed him to be.Portraying general Caecina as a bit shaky and about to lose his nerve a couple of terms may or may not be historical, although given the circumstances, it is certainly plausible. The reason for this is – of course - to allow Centurion Tullius “to shine” by coming up with the “solution to the problem”.The character of Arminius is largely fictional simply because we know next to nothing about him. What is perfectly accurate is that he was only the supreme war leaders able to gather the tribes around him as long as the other chiefs accepted it. In other words and as very well shown in this book, his authority was shaky, depended on his ability to being them victory and could be undermined by any of the other chieftains should this not be the case. Whether Arminius deliberately played on his knowledge of the Romans to assert his primacy is unknown, and I am not quite sure about how much his triumph owed to it. The reason for this is that Drusus the Elder had also been ambushed a couple of times in Germany and almost lost his army and his life. Something similar had also happened to a certain Julius Caesar during his Gallic Wars. The point here is that just about any Roman general and army could fall into a well-conceived ambush and get into serious trouble, regardless of the quality of the troops, the officers or the general.The kidnaping of his wife Thusnelda and of his yet to be born son by the Romans is historically accurate. The effects that can be seen in the book are fictional but clearly possible even if, as the author admits in his detailed and excellent historical note, the author of the kidnaping is also invented.A related well-shown feature is to present the tribes in general, and the Cherusci to which Arminius belonged in particular, as not united. Some were pro-Roman. Others were split into at least two factions (and three in the case of the Cherusci): one pro-Roman who believed that accommodation could be found with the Empire and one anti-Roman which was in favour of fighting. A third faction of waverers could also be found in some cases and which took either one or the other side depending on circumstances. Then there are the fictional characters. The character of the ageing centurion Tullius is perhaps the most interesting and the more developed with his mixture of strengths and weaknesses, both physical and moral. A certain lack of self-confidence and guilt make him rather sympathetic, especially when compared to the characters of some of the other centurions.Well worth five stars.

This very adventurous and exciting book is the 2nd volume of the "Eagles of Rome" trilogy.The historical details concerning this great story has been once again extremely well researched and documented in the author's note, and the book also contains a wonderfully explained glossary.Storytelling is as ever of a top-notch quality, because once again the author has kept me captivated and spellbound from start to finish with this wonderful and very impressive read.All the characters within this gripping tale come really vividly to life, whether they are real historical people or fictional ones, and the book has real lifelike interactions between the characters involved.This tale is set during the years AD 14-15, so five years after the opener, and it starts first with an exciting and informative prologue in the year AD 12, and the tale itself starts just before the unexpected death of the Emperor Augustus.At the German frontier the Roman legions, within their midst our main character of the book Centurion Lucius Cominius Tullus and which are led by the famous General Germanicus, will do anything in trying to retrieve the lost Eagle standards and at the same time track down and kill Arminius, the traitorous German chieftain, and so restoring their pride and glory.What follows is a very gripping and thrilling read with great outlined battle scenes, and a lot of suspense about whether Lucius Tullus and his fellow Roman soldiers will succeed in their quest in "Hunting the Eagles", and thus hopefully retrieve them once and for all.Highly recommended, for this is a tremendous tale about Roman history in Germania, and that's why I want to call this book "Another Epic Eagles"!

I was introduced to Ben Kane when i discovered his superb Hannibal series on the second punic war. So these two novels have been my second series to read of his and the superb characters (particularly the main protagonist and antagonist), concise and exciting narrative throughout and excellent level of respect for the actual historical record, shine through once more. I have really enjoyed both of these novels and look forward to the next. I am now planning to take a look at his Spartacus series as this a period i have read about from many other authors and guess the Kane telling will be awesome.