I enjoyed the story very much and liked many of the characters as well as Kane's depiction of Rome and the Legion in his time period. Kane takes us to a little known series of event for the Legion as well as into the world of the courtesan.

I gave it 4 Stars because his two main characters rang hollow to me. There over quick 'ability' to accept and succeed against the predicaments Kane placed them in seemed too pat. Theirs were extreme situations and, to me required a more difficult learning curve for the characters to be a bit more believable. I much prefered his secondary characters, an Etruscan seer and a Gallic gladiator. These seemed more - well, human I guess despite their mastery of their various arts.

The book remains a page turner for all of that. Therefore, it's worth the read if you like Roman historical fiction in the times of Brutus and Julius.