It's very noticeable, after reading a few of Rosemary Sutcliff's books in close succession, how her protagonists are never the 'strong' ones. In Song For A Dark Queen, it's narrated by the queen's harper, not one of her warriors or a member of her family or the queen herself. And within the context of the narrative, that makes perfect sense, but it's a slightly unexpected choice. In The Eagle Of The Ninth, the protagonist is lame in one leg because of an injury, and therefore struggles with chronic pain despite the fact it is almost healed. And here, the protagonist is an anxious, sickly surgeon (he wasn't healthy enough to be a soldier) with a stutter that gets worse when he's nervous.It makes a change. It really does. And it also makes sense, reading the author bio of Sutcliff at the end of the novel which highlights the fact she was in a wheelchair for most of her life, affected by Still's disease.I've spent most of my life hale and healthy, until recently. Unfortunately, long-term health issues got a lot worse and I've been kind of limited in what I could do the last year or so. I'm also anxious and prone to panic attacks and nervous breakdowns. A lot of the time, these limitations massively affect my mood. But they also impact my reading taste, because why would I want to read about strong, athletic characters saving the world / their family when I could read about disabled or injured characters doing the same thing by overcoming their difficulties and playing their strengths? I imagine it was a similar attitude that prompted Sutcliff to make those decisions about her characters, and I'm sincerely grateful for it. It's refreshing to read a historical novel where the sickly or injured character isn't confined to their room while dashing young soldiers go around filling the plot criteria, perhaps out of pity or love for their fallen comrade. It's refreshing to read about somebody waking up with chronic pain in their leg and pushing through it to achieve something that most people thought was impossible, or struggling to communicate because of their nervousness but working through it to build friendships and alliances.Sometimes Sutcliff's style isn't the easiest, and I always feel slightly lost for the first couple of chapters of her books as I try and adjust to the setting which is often very intense and a little bit difficult to understand (and I'm far older than the target audience of these books). This one was no exception, though that might have been because I haven't read anything in a few weeks due to a heavy workload from school, and I wasn't in the swing of it. But the story, especially how it linked so cleverly and carefully with the earlier book, The Eagle Of The Ninth, made it worth it. And I've already mentioned what I like so much about her protagonists. So not the easiest read I've ever picked up from the children's shelves in the library and there's definitely no reason that it should be limited to that age group -- the writing and language is sophisticated, the characters are young but grown up, rather than being adolescents or children, and I'm sure it would appeal just as much to others my age (18) as to the ten-year-olds who frequent the children's section.In future, I won't let myself be embarrassed when I check out those books.
It is AD 286 in Roman Britain and Carausius has declared himself Emperor over Britain and northern Gaul. As a naval leader, he has united the warring local tribes and protected them from the sea pirates and he has bigger plans. Tiberius Lucius Justinianus - Justin has been transferred in as a junior surgeon. The first person he meets turns out to be a junior centurion and his distant cousin, Marcelus Flavius Aquila, Flavius. They are both descendants of Marcus from book one.But Carausius’ reign is short lived when he is betrayed by Allectus, his deputy. The boys tried to warn him after they witnessed Allectus meeting a pirate secretly to discuss treason, but they are both transfered up to a new camp on the northern wall. More news reaches them of another plot against the Emperor but before they can warn him, he is killed and Allectus takes his place. But the boys have already gone AWOL.Allectus is not a good ruler and he ruthlessly weeds out all opposition with a hired guard of Nordic mercenaries. The people who supported his plot find that he taxes even more heavily than his predecessor. The hard won peace between all the tribes is strained.A partisan group starts to help people escape across the Channel and the boys join it.Hiding from mercenaries under Aunt Honoria’s floor they find a battered, wingless golden eagle.***I loved the Eagle of the Ninth as a child but for some reason missed that there was a sequel. Perhaps my library didn’t have it, or perhaps I wasn’t interested because it wasn’t the continuing story of Esca and Marcus, and I just forgot about it. Whatever the reason, I didn’t even know there was a trilogy (three books? *squees*) until I saw it on the web and then a friend gave me the whole set. This is book two in the series.***Sutcliff’s heroes are often disabled in some way or are just ordinary people who do extraordinary things. Marcus, from book one, has a serious leg injury that threw him out of the legions and here, Justin is very shy and has a stutter. Flavius is a natural leader of men and works so hard to look after his legionaries.The rag-tag bunch of people who form their rebel ‘legion’ are painted so well. The chubby, incredibly brave Paulinus with his nervous cough, the gap toothed boy Myron, Cullen the blue painted fool, the gladiator Pandarus who misses the ring, the highland spearman Evicatos who risks his life to save the very people who expelled him, and the young men who rather than run, stay and fight. It’s an awesome message for young people.At every level, the leaders that are respected are the ones who earn that respect. And now history sees Carausius as the first leader of a united Britain.Sometimes I think it is a pity that more adults don’t read what are always tagged as ‘children’s books’.4 stars
Do You like book The Silver Branch (2007)?
THE SILVER BRANCH is set about 200 years after THE EAGLE. Marcus Flavius Aquila’s namesake grandson (called Flavius rather than Marcus) and his cousin Justin come across something that points to treason in the Emperor’s general staff. Young and naive, they immediately find a way of informing the emperor.In what follows the cousins find themselves caught up in the messy politics of divided loyalties as the people who live in Britain put up a fierce resistance against the Saxon invaders.If one could fault Rosemary Sutcliff’s writing craft, it would be to say that her characters are not very emotional, and that large things happen via small reactions. Which, of course, is very British. Or at least the way the British were famously so in the 19th and 20th centuries. But were the Romans like that? Or the Painted People? I somehow doubt it. While there is no doubt that some people are unemotional, I would say that the relative majority express their emotions quite vividly. And this is something that Ms. Sutcliff just fails to capture.In THE SILVER BRANCH, which centers around the friendship of two young men, the emotions are muted as before. But in this context that seems to work. I think it worked less well between Marcus and his fiancee Cottia in THE EAGLE and between Aquila and his wife Ness in THE LANTERN BEARERS. I thought those scenes between a man and a woman whose lives are so closely bound together should have and could have been a whole lot more passionate. Especially as the women were both strong-willed and opinionated. Four stars.
—Cynthia Haggard
I thought this was fantastic - the only reason it doesn't have five stars is because I'm judging it against The Eagle of the Ninth, which I just... like more for some reason. I adore the ties between this and The Eagle - I imagine Marcus would've been proud to see the use his eagle was put to. Justin's relationship with his father felt very real to me, too. Neither of them are really in the wrong, they're just *really awkward*. Bless. As ever, Sutcliff writes beautifully, and does a brilliant job of creating people with utterly different mindsets who somehow work together. The historical details are gorgeous too - the Christian soldier testing out Justin and Flavius with the fish drawing stood out in particular. It's not heavy handed, it's not 'Oh, look at how much I know about this period!', it's just utterly, utterly immersive.In most books with nigh-impossible tasks to be achieved, you can be pretty sure the heroes will win through somehow, but with Sutcliff you can never be sure (The Shining Company, for example). People tend to fail, not because they're bad people, or because they did something stupid, but because the odds are ridiculously against them. But they still try, and that is my kind of hero.
—Basicallyrun
Well, the annoying thing about this book was the spoilers contained in the blurb, two on the back cover and another one on the page inside the front cover, giving away two major turning points in the book and effectively telling us something that doesn't happen until the last act, though it is the point the book has been building up to. It doesn't spoil the book by any means but it does nail down the direction of the book for you before you've even picked it up. The first spoiled turning point doesn't occur until about 100 pages in, for God's sake. Anyway, The Silver branch, sequel to Eagle Of The Ninth, set a generation later, recounts the adventures of Justin and Flavius, young Roman officers posted to Britain where Carausias has proclaimed himself Emperor. Once a river-pilot, he rose to command the Roman fleet and absconded with it to Britain and overthrew the Governor. Now he's a valuable ally of the much-weakened Roman Empire against encroaching barbarians and sea-wolves and plans to strengthen Britain to the point where it can withstand the impending fall of Rome.Justin and Flavius, good-hearted and good-natured youths, chance on a treacherous meeting while hunting on the coast. Reporting what they witnised, however, leads to an unexpected outcome. What follows is a tale of loyalty and betrayal, a stirring adventure that builds to a fiery climax under the battered and tarnished Eagle of the lost Ninth Legion.Absolutely marvelous stuff. Sutcliff was the mistress of historical adventures, concealing a sophisticated understanding of the ancient world and its history under a deceptively simple and straightforward style of storytelling. The story twists and turns and runs its own course, and it helps if the sodding copywriter hasn't given any of the various twists and turns away.
—Nigel
