While most of my reading material is either SciFi or Fantasy, I do enjoy some historical fiction as well. I have had this as a paperback for sometime but never started it. I recently got the Audiobook and breezed through it in 1 day.

There is a fair amount of information dumping at the start of the book - explaining how the legions work, about regulations and how camps work etc. It also seemed that some modern views on Army life may have crept in as well - but i am no historian and this is just my personal view. That being said, it took nothing away from this book.

I had a connection with most of the characters, with the exception of the Legate. Don't know why that would have been the case, and hopefully it will change in the future books.

The audiobook was well presented and David Thorpe (Narrator) did a great job. I have the next 2 books which came with the Audiobook bundle, and hopefully they will be just as enjoyable.

This was a really good novel set in Rome! I am a huge fan of Rome, the history, mythology, culture, as well as the movies, video games, shows, and books based in it. Under the Eagle is fantastic, very likable main characters, great action, great mysteries and politics, if you're a fan of Rome and of military novels, big battles, and some political intrigue and backstabbing, check this out.

A really good story, Cato is a likeable character. For some reason I imagine him looking like a young Nicholas Lyndhurst, which if anything added to my enjoyment.

Entertaining and often quite funny story of the Roman Legions in Gaul and Britain.

Simon Scarrow's "Under the Eagle" is the first in a terrific series of novels on the Roman Military. The series follows two soldiers - Macro and Cato - fighting under Vespasian in the mid-first Century AD.

"Under the Eagle's" action is terrific and Scarrow has done a very good job of making each battle sequence unique. It's perhaps the best in Scarrow's series, but I've found the second, "The Eagle's Conquest", equally as enjoyable.

The core components of the story consist of the introduction of the characters, their initial bonding during an action-packed fight in Europe, and then, as the war front moves to Britain, a series of exciting battles orbiting the search and discovery of war loot buried in Britain by Julius Caesar about a century earlier.

"Under the Eagle" introduces our two main characters. Macro is the older battle-hardened Centurion. He fights hard and drinks harder. Cato is a freed slave who grew up in the palaces on the Palatine Hill in Rome. He's young, lanky, bookish and completely unfamiliar with a military lifestyle. Coming from different worlds, Macro and Cato clash. And the story launches it most persistent theme by defining the growth of each character individually and the growth of their relationship.

It's a "buddy" book, with action, adventure, and fun interplay between characters set in the dramatic locations of a peaking Roman Empire.

The characters are a bit thin and superficial, but are drawn from familiar military examples. In Scarrow's world, while the weapons, strategies, tactics and politics are very Roman, the character-types are pretty timeless. You could conceivably modify the language slightly and picture Macro and Cato in WWII, Vietnam, or even on an alien world.

If you're looking for military action, then this book is for you. It's a fast and engaging read. It's not the deepest of military dramas, so if you're looking for something more substantial, I'd recommend Wallace Breem's "Eagle in the Snow", or Robert Graves' "I, Claudius".

Consider "Eagle" a solid snack, compared to the full meal you'd get with Breem or Graves. Another analogy would place "Eagle" as a summer blockbuster, but you shouldn't expect it to win many Oscars.

All in all...I highly recommend this book and series.

Enjoyable adventure which bodes well for the series of five books I have purchased. Good holiday read.

A lot more fun then expected - Not something I would independently pick up to read. It was recommended and then I was handed a copy so I couldn't decline.

Really enjoyed the conversations and interaction between Cato and Macro... Actually had to laugh out loud at some bits.

Page turning, action packed, epic battle scenes... Great start to a series.
Hoping to borrow the next books:)

Excellent story. Kept me interested the whole time.