When the young centurion Marcus Aquila took over his first command in a frontier garrison in ancient Britain his heart was set on a long and glorious military career. He was also determined to find out about his father who had been lost ten years earlier when the Ninth Legion had mysteriously vanished on its way to quell a rebellion in North Britain. A crippling wound in his first battle put an early end to Marcus' military career. How he achieved his second ambition, even to restoring the Eagle, the bronze standard of the lost Ninth, and clearing his father's name, makes an exceptionally fine historical novel ["The Eagle of the Ninth"].

The two main characters, Marcus and his former slave, a Briton named Esca, are well drawn. Their adventures, whether in battle, on the lonely hills, or in the forbidden temple where the Eagle was finally found...