on reading (II)

I started Simon Scarrow's Eagle series last year as part of my tour through historical fiction revolving around major events in British history. His first five books take place during Claudius' invasion and conquest of Britain, and while all his books are a bit the same (the plot-lines are quite predictable), he poignantly captures the essence of ancient warfare. His characters, though often cardboard cut-outs, are still real people, which is something a lot of historical fiction lacks (we have this perverse idea that we are somehow 'different' from those before us, when that's not at all the case). Scarrow's sixth book shifts away from Britannia and focuses on Roman naval warfare against pirates in the Adriatic Sea, and his seventh book takes place in Judea.

It's the seventh book that's gotten me unnerved: while in the first six books Scarrow weaves historicity through his narratives, he completely throws it away with The Eagle in the Sand. While all historical fiction takes liberties (it is 'fiction,' after all), such liberties are best done within the parameters of history. The liberties need to be believable. That isn't the case in The Eagle in the Sand, where he portrays the early Christians as seditious, blood-hungry revolutionaries. I'm not opposed to this caricature on the basis of my own faith; no, I'm opposed to it on the basis of historicity. No serious historian believes that to be the case; in fact, historians of every caliber, conservative and liberal, theist and atheist, admit that the early Christians were nonrevolutionary. While Scarrow's portrayal of desert warfare was spot on (as always; it's what I love about his writing), the liberties taken with the members of the early church made it hard for me to take the book seriously. Doing research on the book after the fact, apparently this is the very reason The Eagle in the Sand has been unpopular with readers of every association. 

I won't stop reading the series.

It's fantastic, and Scarrow is a phenomenal writer.

But since I gave him money by buying the book, I'm free to critique it.

Good day!