Continua la historia de Cato y Macro en , bajo mi opinión, la novela mas floja de Simon Scarrow. ( )

The adventures of Macro and Cato continue and once again they land in the middle of a conundrum needing their leadership and dogged determination to get them out of it.

That these two so often need to get out of trouble from all parts of the empire makes one begin to wonder if they ever will have a few months of a quiet posting. That they do not makes it seem that these two are living life too, too harshly. Further, as the series continues, Cato should be gathering about him a core of men that he can rely on beyond just Macro. He has his father-in-law, a senator, and his wife, but they are left behind in this book, and he needs more men that he can count on, that do not end up dead by the end of the book.

He is now a Prefect, and as such he should be getting a few bodyguards, clerks, others that he can rely on to follow him and serve him. That I find lacking here for all of Cato's needs seem to be met by Macro who also has risen in rank as the series has continued. Then, our villain is so horrendous that he is able to divert men from their true honour, seems far fetched. Even if they are on the edge of the empire, the chain of command could not turn a blind eye completely to the man, let alone allow his actions to have gotten to the point where the Empire's hold on the colony is threatened by those actions. They would not be singing the praises of such a man, but cursing them.

That is what takes a few points off of my rating. Otherwise this is a great continuation to the series and I look forward to Cato's further climb up the rungs of the Roman Ladder. ( )