Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this latest Waiting on Wednesday post, I highlight an exceptional upcoming novel that will probably be one of my favourite historical fiction books of 2025, Tyrant of Rome by Simon Scarrow.

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Readers of this blog will know that I am a massive fan of historical fiction author Simon Scarrow, who has been producing epic and compelling historical fiction novels for 25 years.  His books cover a range of interesting topics and settings, although his current body of work involves his long-running Eagles of the Empire series, as well as his Inspector Horst Schenke thriller novels set in wartime Berlin.  Scarrow has already had a successful 2025, releasing his third Inspector Horst Schenke novel, A Death in Berlin, which proved to be an outstanding read.  However, Scarrow fans are in for another treat as he has an awesome Roman historical fiction read coming out in a few months’ time.

This new book, Tyrant of Rome, will be part of the author’s Eagles of the Empire series, which follows two veteran Roman officers, Prefect Cato and Centurion Macro, as they fight their way through the various battlefields and political intrigues of ancient Rome.  Running since 2000, the Eagles of the Empire books are still going strong, and I love the author’s interesting historical insights and ability to imagine elaborate historical battles.  I have had the great pleasure of reading all the Eagles of the Empire books over the years, and I currently have reviews for several published on my blog, including The Blood of Rome, Traitors of Rome, The Emperor’s Exile, The Honour of Rome, Death to the Emperor, Rebellion and Revenge of Rome.  Unsurprisingly, any new Eagles of the Empire novels are very high up my to-read list, and as such Tyrant of Rome is one of my most anticipated books coming out in the second half of 2025.

Set for release in November of this year, Tyrant of Rome will be the 24^th book in the Eagles of the Empire series and will take the protagonists onto a whole new battlefield when Emperor Nero forces the two to take control of law and order in ancient Rome.

Plot Synopsis:

AD 63. Under the reckless and tumultuous leadership of Emperor Nero, Rome is descending into near-anarchy and conspiracy. The brutal execution of 400 slaves has led to rioting and discontent. Only the strongest soldier could maintain control. And so Nero turns to Prefect Cato to help save his reign from collapse.

Cato and Macro will need to call on all their experience, native cunning and bottomless courage to survive in this epic new adventure of Roman military heroism.

I love this very interesting plot idea for Tyrant of Rome, and I feel it is going to result in a particularly epic new entry in the Eagles of the Empire series.  A book filled with intrigues, politics and general unrest in Rome is going to be a very cool change of pace following the Britannia and Boudica focussed last couple of books, and I am looking forward to seeing a whole different story for this next entry.  While Cato and Macro have been deployed to Rome before, this was mainly as Praetorian Guards in the palace, so having them take on a more citizen-focused role in the Urban Cohorts should be an excellent new story arc for them.  Throw in the unpredictable element that is Nero, and I have a feeling that Tyrant of Rome is going to be a particularly chaotic novel that will hit a lot of fun ancient history notes.

On top of the excellent story ideas featured above, I am also exceedingly curious to see how the various character-focussed storylines surrounding the protagonists are going to unfold now that the characters are back in Rome.  I imagine that all the main characters, especially Macro are going to be emotionally scarred from the dark events of the last few books, and I am hoping that Scarrow will dive into this a bit in Tyrant of Rome.  At the same time, Macro is going to have to deal with the new dynamic of having a daughter, especially one with such a dangerous heritage and whose hatred for all Romans is likely to cause problems.  Cato’s life is also likely to be quite problematic as he is currently harbouring Nero’s former mistress, Claudia, whose death they faked a few books ago.  I am extremely curious to see how Scarrow will address all these ongoing threads in Tyrant of Rome, and it should add some excellent dramatic spice to an already intrigue laden novel.

Cards on the table, there is practically nothing that is going to stop me getting my hands on Tyrant of Rome later this year, especially after the years and years of fun I have had with the Eagles of the Empire series.  However, I am particularly taken with the plot synopsis above, and based on this epic description, I am extremely confident that Tyrant of Rome is going to be one of Scarrow’s more awesome novels.  Likely to be one of my very favourite historical fiction novels of 2025 no matter what, I am so damn excited for Tyrant of Rome and November cannot come soon enough.