Nobody Loves A Centurion (S.P.Q.R. VI) - John Maddox
I read
Nobody Loves A
Centurion
immediately after
Saturnalia,
and in my post on
Saturnalia
I talked about how the
SPQR
series infuriates me. Well, I'm glad to say
that this installment of the Roman Republic mystery series reads a lot better,
and I enjoyed Nobody Loves A
Centurion
quite a bit. True, Decius' tale is still told
in a dry, detached manner, but at least this time the man shows some emotion,
and there is much less sense that the characters are simply reciting historical
research that the author has done. Roberts' stiff, overly-sardonic
characterisation of Decius has improved, and I actually found myself liking the
man.
Clodius is now a Tribune, and so
our hero, Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger, a Senator of junior rank but
immense breeding finds it ... convenient ... to be absent from Rome for a while.
His family are mostly backing Caesar, and Decius himself is to marry into
Caesar's family. Despite Decius' considerable support from Milo's faction, life
under the tribuneship of his political enemy is going to be awkward, and as
Caesar is just embarking on his infamous Gallic campaign, the family think that
it seems like a good time for young Decius to re-acquaint himself with the
military life. He has served before, in Spain, but rather more will be expected
from him to further his political career, and as a Metellus he
will
have a career.
I know it's traditional for the hero
of any historical series to manage, somehow, to be at all the interesting events
within several years, and several thousand miles, but I welcomed Decius's
unwilling return to service as signalling the emergence of a continuity within
this series. Oddly, although
Saturnalia
foreshadowed Decius joining Caesar's army,
Nobody Loves A
Centurion
misses several opportunities for reference
previous episodes. For example, Decius comes into the contact with the Druidic
religion, and is horrified at the practice of human sacrifices - yet it's not as
though he's never come across the same thing much nearer to home...
Decius is serving as a junior officer
with Caesar, but of course the real power within the army lies with the
Centurions, and in particular those of Caesar's beloved tenth legion. The First
Spear is Titus Vinus - and Decius and Vinus fall out almost at once... For
daring to look at his female slave, an astonishing German beauty, Vinus breaks a
vine staff or two on a son of one of Decius' family's clients. Words are
exchanged between the grizzled veteran, who of course can do whatever he likes
to his troops, and the aristocratic officer. Naturally, Decius comes off worst
and settles down a routine of punishment duties and writing up Caesar's
histories (which I chuckled at, having read them just recently myself).
When the First Spear turns up dead
shortly after, it falls to Decius, with his past successes in Rome known to
Caesar, to sort the morale destroying mess out before the tenth have the
unenviable task of beating some of their comrades to death. Oh, and there's the
minor matter of the Gauls and Germans massing outside the camp. Oh, and Caesar
himself is off trying to raise more legions to get his war off on the right
foot. So, no pressure then Decius, no pressure...
Those who have read within the genre,
or are perhaps familiar with the sources, might find the plot rather obvious,
but it's handled with considerable aplomb, and Roberts manages to avoid the
usual overly talky ending - typically, he writes Bond villains, who enjoy
explaining all before they try to kill Decius.
I find it interesting that there was
more human depth to the main character in this episode, when our hero is away
from his family and friends. Certainly, there seemed to be more depth to the
man's friendship with his Gaulish cavalry than, say, there was between him and
his fiancee in
Saturnalia.
I look forward to reading the next one and seeing if this improvement reflects
an improvement in the author's writing, or whether it is instead due to the
militaristic subject matter coming more easily to him than romance. I certainly
think Roberts seemed more comfortable with the setting. His relentless
info-dumping onto the reader was noticably improved, with the details of
military life being discussed in a much more natural manner. Certainly, there
are still odd "As you know
Bob..." comments to Hermes, but as the slave
is new to the military this is a forgivable, and time-honoured!, way of slipping
in some detail.
In summary, I think
I'm surprised to find myself actively recommending this one!
Posted: Sun - July 27, 2003 at 10:06 PM