It follows on directly from the first, The Capsarius (which incidentally has one of the most gripping openings I have read recently). Equally enthralling, this follows legionary capsarius or doctor Titus Cervianus, with his tent-mates, his cohort and his legion, the Twenty Second Deiotariana, on their dramatic journey south out of Aegyptus and into the hinterland of Kush, modern Sudan. Facing the legion is the Bellatrix of the title, Amanirenus, the Kandake or Warrior Queen, with her vast armies, willing to go to any length to rid their land of the Roman invaders. A desire soon intensified beyond measure by the Romans’ casual slaughter of local villagers as well as of their priests; followed by desecration and outright destruction of their holiest temples. Acts which horrify Cervianus, the conscience of the cohort, and which he is swift to try and repair. Also working very effectively as an ally is the terrain in which Cervianus and his companions find themselves. But the more the Romans endure and achieve, the greater the odds against them become.
There are several elements which raise this book and its predecessor so high. There is Titus Cervianus himself. He is brilliantly engaging. He is a doctor, and a good one. His mind-set (at first at least) is that of a rational observer. As he himself announces, ‘I’ve always been a man of reason.’ And so he is to begin with. But the fact that he makes that observation during a conversation he is holding with a statue of Sobel the Crocodile God, illustrates that the experiences he endures are changing him. He is vividly aware of his own short-comings and is all the more likeable for that. His tent mates look after him (obviously they rely on him if hurt or wounded) and put up with the fact he is not a very good soldier: at one point he actually, unwisely, throws his sword at an enemy. His unsoldierly actions and often naive observations add to his appeal and leaven the occasionally gruesome narrative with humour.
The desert inland of the Nile is fearsomely well presented with its burning days and freezing nights, its unseen dangers – snakes and scorpions – and larger hazards like sandstorms and black-robed headhunters all of which grip the reader further while decimating the characters.
Many of the soldiers who set out alongside their capsarius do not make it into the ever-deepening danger at his side. And this is even before the Warrior Queen sends her army to destroy them all. This is historical storytelling at its best, brilliantly researched, full of convincing and engaging characters and gripping action. The settings are also terrifically well done. The geographical setting as mentioned above; but also the historical setting, as one would expect from the author of the Marius Mules series, to which The Capsarius and Bellatrix make a fantastic addition.
Peter Tonkin is a novelist and the author of the Caesar’s Spies series.
