Powerful, intense novel on Teutoberg Forest Massacre, 9 AD, as told from the viewpoint of a legionary, rather than the officers'. They are only tangential to the story, except for Arminius, who drives the action, and to a lesser extent Prefect Caeonius, whose actions bear on the protagonist, Felix, several times and whose final decision concerns the whole army. Although the Teutoberg incident has been recounted several time in novel form recently, it's always interesting to see how each author tells the tale.

A soldier is found in a grove, his companions all having met gruesome death at the hands of the Germans. He claims to have remembered nothing before. Rescued, he is sent to one of the fateful legions as a casualty replacement and is given the name Felix, meaning "Lucky". The story concerns him and his contubernium [called herein a "section."] The novel smolders until the final conflagration--battle with the Germans near a defensive wall of withy branches the Germans have built and the shattering denouement in the Romans' last marching camp. Through the novel, we get tantalizing bits of Felix's past and how he came to be there until the final reveal. In the final scene, he has a choice to make that will affect the rest of his life.

The action was gruesome and blood-saturated all through but I felt nothing was gratuitous. The author went overboard on the profanity, and I wish it could have been toned down somewhat, e.g., not so many f-word as adjective over and over. I did get a view of a common soldier's life back then in all aspects, in garrison life and group dynamics, on the march dodging Germans' hit-and-run tactics, traps, and obstacles, not only fighting in battle. I also got into the soldiers' heads--their thinking, psychology, and emotions. The members of Felix's section fit the stereotypes of a group of soldiers: the brute and bully but de facto leader; the raw recruits; the disillusioned, dispirited old soldier; the super-religious and ultra patriot; the loving family man; and others. The story easily could have been moved to another era, say, World War II. The author lays out the possibility of a sequel, but I feel the story could have ended here. The writing was top-notch and the cover fantastic. The symbolism of the crow becomes apparent on reading the story. I felt the whole prologue was a waste and added nothing to the story, which could have begun easily with Chapter One, dispensing with the prologue entirely.

Highly recommended. ( )