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Ankhsy
Homosapien
United Kingdom
7087 Posts |
 Posted - 14 June 2006 : 10:20:24 AM
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I just finished this last night.
Simon, I detect a changing attitude towards your storyline, which started with The Eagle and the Wolves. When I read the first three books, I never thought Cato and Macro would agree to mutiny, yet the unhappy (and unfair) disbanding of Cato's auxilliaries in the previous book, and the decimation in Prey made me increasingly unhappy and rooting for a mutiny by the time it came.
Of course, I may be imagining things for which you had no intention. But the ending of both Eagle & Wolves and Prey left me with an uncomfortable feeling that the first three books did not.
Did you plan for this?
"It's hard to work in a group when you're omniscient."
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Simon Scarrow
Small mammal
Uruguay
777 Posts |
Posted - 14 June 2006 : 12:23:01 PM
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| Ankhsy, the stories just happen, and work out the way they do. I'm not consciously planning for any strategic effect. I guess you may just harbour an instinctive rebellious streak in your heart! |
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Nísia
Small mammal
Portugal
661 Posts |
Posted - 14 June 2006 : 6:20:14 PM
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Simon has a meaning to write I have the feeling that's the real story, not fiction. We are reading the story of civilization because the subjsect are so natural, real we can't imagine others way could happened their characters. I think he descrive the real live like it is or was in past or present.
I hope you can understand what I want to say.
By the way, the eagle's prey was one of my favourite book and I know Cato had made a thing that no one expected he could do, but it was his and friends live were in danger. |
Edited by - Nísia on 15 June 2006 5:51:21 PM |
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Ankhsy
Homosapien
United Kingdom
7087 Posts |
Posted - 15 June 2006 : 11:47:28 AM
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I think The Eagle's Prey was the book for me where fiction became non-fiction. The actions of the characters, both good and bad, seemed to me to be entirely of human nature. They didn't act idealistically but as real people would have done in similar situations. I felt uncomfortable with the reality, but also because it was believable.
This sounds strange to say,, but I will now read the next book and the next after that with different eyes.
"It's hard to work in a group when you're omniscient."
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Nísia
Small mammal
Portugal
661 Posts |
Posted - 15 June 2006 : 5:17:23 PM
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We are already two Ankhsy  |
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Jill
Invertebrate
United Kingdom
133 Posts |
Posted - 15 June 2006 : 7:33:50 PM
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I also thought that Prey had a different feel to it than the previous books. It just seemed a lot darker, and less fun than the earlier ones. Still good, but different.
I wait to see what Prophesy is like, if it continues the trend, or if they get back to being a little more lighthearted away from the backstabbing structure of the army. |
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Simon Scarrow
Small mammal
Uruguay
777 Posts |
Posted - 15 June 2006 : 9:59:43 PM
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| Well, Jill, your chance has come. I noticed Prophecy in the Tesco charts tonight when I dropped in to buy some salad dressing. I think you'll find it a lot lighter in tone. More Captain Blood than Captain Correlli. |
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Jill
Invertebrate
United Kingdom
133 Posts |
Posted - 15 June 2006 : 10:02:31 PM
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Woohoo! Know what I'm off to buy at the weekend then. :-)
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Parmenion
Homosapien
United Kingdom
13892 Posts |
Posted - 16 June 2006 : 08:29:32 AM
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amazon are pushing bloods loads i have has 3 emails so far offering it for 40% off!!
LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH'INTRATE
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Jill
Invertebrate
United Kingdom
133 Posts |
Posted - 16 June 2006 : 6:10:27 PM
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Call me a luddite if you like, but I still like to go into a bookshop and buy my books from a real person with real cash (actually, that last part was a lie, I usually use my bank debit card rather than real money, but the rest of it is true).
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Ankhsy
Homosapien
United Kingdom
7087 Posts |
Posted - 16 June 2006 : 6:27:39 PM
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I'd much prefer to browse through a real bookshop, which I make a point of doing everytime I go to the UK (or anywhere else....I found this wonderful secondhand bookshop in Krakow which served you coffee and apple pie while you browsed!). Unfortunately, on Alderney, internet shopping is our only option for books (and many other things).
"It's hard to work in a group when you're omniscient."
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NickB
Single Cell Organism
United Kingdom
3 Posts |
Posted - 16 June 2006 : 10:52:02 PM
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I took 'Prey' on holiday last week and read in in about 3 days. In agreement with Ankhsy, I also felt uneasy about the way Macro & Cato were treated, particularly the deciamtion aspects.
Notwithstanding this, what Simon conveys perfectly is the underlying total obedience and acceptance by Cato of his lot. Macro, on the other hand, found that Maximius' decision regarding the decimation was too much to take. If you transposed this situation to any other setting , say Sharpe, I suspect the reactions would have been the same.
All in all I think that 'Prey' is the best of the series so far, but I haven't read 'Prophecy' or 'Sand' yet. |
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AndyCanty
Homosapien
United Kingdom
6629 Posts |
Posted - 17 June 2006 : 08:59:34 AM
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Just my fourth penith here, I think all great series's need darker moments to make the brighter moments more enjoyable. many great storys and films have done this (starwars with Empire, Lotr with 2 Towers, etc etc)
Real life is not all fluffy nicey nicey, and Simons books gives us a taste of the roman aspect of this, and from other sources i've read and seen, they really did get a rough deal more often than not.
If Macro and Cato were always veyr nicey nicey and just went about drinking, taking the p*ss and killing people I think we'd all get board with it by now, but injecting darker stuff keeps it alive and real!
_________________________
If all the worlds a stage?
Where's my script???
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Jill
Invertebrate
United Kingdom
133 Posts |
Posted - 17 June 2006 : 10:12:02 AM
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True, Andy. I've often heard it said that the esscence of fiction is conflict. Without conflict, the story would just be lots of people having normal and happy lives, which is nice, but boring.
I think my problem with Prey was that it came as *such* a break from the earlier books, and it surprised me. So far I've only read each of the books once, so it may be that in years to come I will go back and re-read them and appreciate Prey as a particular down period in our heroes' lives in an ongoing arc that has ups and downs. And, of course, it is in the really hard times and the difficult decisions that the characters are really tested and grow and develop. By the end of Prey, Cato was confidently dictating strategy and giving orders to senior centurians and people with far more experience than him, and doing it well. All a far cry from the teenager who turned up looking cold, wet and lost in Under the Eagle. |
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AndyCanty
Homosapien
United Kingdom
6629 Posts |
Posted - 17 June 2006 : 10:52:22 AM
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exaclty, i tihnk with Prey, Cato went through a sort of "right of passage" and he came out stronger and a cemented relationship with Macro.
Macro and Cato are growing up in front of our eyes on the page, cool eh!
_________________________
If all the worlds a stage?
Where's my script???
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Parmenion
Homosapien
United Kingdom
13892 Posts |
Posted - 18 June 2006 : 1:08:36 PM
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quote:
Call me a luddite if you like, but I still like to go into a bookshop and buy my books from a real person with real cash (actually, that last part was a lie, I usually use my bank debit card rather than real money, but the rest of it is true).
<b>luddite</b> {grin}
LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH'INTRATE
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Nísia
Small mammal
Portugal
661 Posts |
Posted - 18 June 2006 : 6:57:33 PM
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| Macro was a torc, he won after to kill the brother's Caratacus, Togodumnus. He still has it in "the eagle and the wolves", but during the "prophecy" they had lost all money they had. That's include his torc or not? |
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Ankhsy
Homosapien
United Kingdom
7087 Posts |
Posted - 18 June 2006 : 7:29:31 PM
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I noticed in Prey, Cato asked Caracatus where he got his torc from.
"It's hard to work in a group when you're omniscient."
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Nísia
Small mammal
Portugal
661 Posts |
Posted - 18 June 2006 : 7:59:09 PM
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| Of course he asked, because it's look like the Macro's torc, but it's not the same! |
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Ankhsy
Homosapien
United Kingdom
7087 Posts |
Posted - 19 June 2006 : 12:32:40 PM
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It read strange to me, almost as if a bit got edited out of the story at that point.
"It's hard to work in a group when you're omniscient."
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Viriatus
Ape
Netherlands
859 Posts |
Posted - 20 June 2006 : 11:42:40 PM
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Torcs were part of the jewellery tradition from Celt culture, along with belt pins and other decorative/useful objects!
I saw somewhere a relationship being made from some of the designs found on those pieces to traditional Northern Portugal craftsmanship and jewellery!
"How bright is the light if there’s no one else to see it?"
"Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter" |
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