The Eagle of the Ninth | Rosemary Sutcliff | One of the greatest literary works of our time.

The Eagle of the Ninth | Rosemary Sutcliff | Excellent story

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The Eagle of the N...

	The Eagle of the Ninth Rosemary Sutcliff Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 1993 - 264 pages average customer review:based on 38 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

One of the greatest literary works of our time.

Rosemary Sutcliff has yet again created an astonishingly riveting piece of work. The lively yarn is consistantly tightly woven throughout the book, without a dull moment. The story tells of Marcus Aquila - past cohort centurian of the Second Legion until he is injured severely - with his friend and freed body slave, Esca, and how they have a quest ahead of them to recover the Eagle Of The Ninth (the symbol of the Ninth Legion)from tribes beyond Hadrians Wall. The quickly - moving pace is maintained with the maximum of effect. Consequently I believe The Eagle Of The Ninth to be one of the greatest literary works of our time.

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Excellent story

I read this book in 2 days. I was enthralled with the characters and how I became involved with the quest. not to give anything away, but Marcus and Esca reveal a true brotherhood even though they are from different worlds. I enjoyed the foray into ancient Celtic history as well as the Romano-British. One must realized that setting up a piece of history that is obscure must have the groundwork done. This is why the first 4 chapters are somewhat slow, but then the book is written at a reasonable pace so that the reader does not feel overwhelmed. I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in Roman history during the Pax Romana.

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A good book with a bad start

This is a great book. It has detailed discriptions of roman provinces, plus an excellent plot. But the start was unbelivably boring. In fact the worst ten pages I have ever read were the first ten pages of that book! The rest was an excellent, you-can't-put-it-down book. It is undoubtedly one of the greatest adventure stories of our time, based on a real event. In 117 A.D., the ninth Roman legion went north to deal with a rising in one of the Celtic tribes and never came back. The story is about the commander's son who goes out to look for his father's lost legion. Their search leads them on an epic journey to restore the legion's honor.

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Timeless Classic

I read this book as a child and have read it aloud to both of my own children. It is still one of my favourite stories. Historically it is very good, despite more recent archaeological discoveries. However it is in the characters and their relationships that the quality of Sutcliffe's writing shows most clearly. She manages to deal with very strong emotions, fear, betrayal, despair, friendship, but in such a way as to make them accessible to quite young children. This book is old now but the adventures of Marcus and Esca in the far North of Britannia are as exciting today as they were in the fifties. I have heard a rumour that there are plans, long overdue, to make a feature film of the story. Hopefully this will bring it to the attention of more children and their parents, who will enjoy it just as much.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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