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 the next book in one of my absolute favourite series, with The Sword of Rome by Simon Scarrow.
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.
I am a particular fan of Scarrow’s Eagles of the Empire series, and I have had the pleasure of reading every single entry in this series so far. Following two veteran Roman officers, Prefect Cato and Centurian Macro, as they fight their way through the various battlefields and political intrigues of ancient Rome. Scarrow has produced some outstanding novels in this series in recent years, with The Blood of Rome, Traitors of Rome, The Emperor’s Exile, The Honour of Rome, Death to the Emperor, Rebellion, Revenge of Rome and Tyrant of Rome, all being extremely epic and entertaining in their own ways.
Unsurprisingly, any new Eagles of the Empire novel is very high up on my to-read list, and I was very excited to find out some details about the next entry in this series, The Sword of Rome. Set to be the 25th entry in this long-running series, The Sword of Rome is coming out in November 2026, and will set the protagonist on another deadly adventure with the highest of stakes.
Plot Synopsis:
CATO AND MACRO ARE ARMED TO THE HILT FOR THE EPIC 25TH ADVENTURE IN THE EAGLES OF THE EMPIRE SERIES FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Twenty years have passed since the raw recruit Cato faced Centurion Macro on the training ground. Now scarred heroes of the Roman army’s toughest conflicts, they are the first choice when Emperor Nero’s top general, Corbulo, needs the best for a dangerous mission.
Over a thousand miles from Rome, on northern coastline of the Euxine Sea, a city’s people face massacre as the Scythian Empire pushes back against Nero’s wild ambitions.
The journey alone would break lesser men. And at their destination is a scene of carnage and approaching famine, while an army far greater in number than the Roman force gathers for the finish . . .
Always in Cato’s mind is the terrible image of his last hours in Rome: the fearful faces of his wife and son, and Macro’s wife, held as hostages against his failure. The fate of countless Roman citizens, and of everyone Cato cares about, lies in his hands.
Even after all these years, the first glimpse of a new Eagles of the Empire book still gets me very excited. This next novel has me especially intrigued, as not only is it the 25th entry in the series (who knows what surprises an author could chuck into a milestone book), but the above plot for The Sword of Rome sounds extremely awesome and intense. Setting the protagonists on an impossible mission to stop a massacre has a lot of potential, with the typical long-odds Cato and Macro seemingly enhanced with famine, carnage and superior opponents. Scarrow seems to be framing it as one of the more brutal entries in the series, and I cannot wait to see some more of the excellent historical action that the author excels at.
While the main mission of The Sword of Rome is probably going to awesome on its own, the element of the above plot synopsis that really caught my eye was the underlying politics and threats to the protagonists. The inclusion of General Corbula, a tragic figure that has been mentioned as a potential rival for Nero in previous books, provides some hints at Cato and Macro’s true purpose on this campaign. There is also the revelation that both protagonist’s families are being held captive back in Rome, which not only provides extra motivation for them to succeed in this battle, but also hints at additional problems for them, especially as a recurring storyline in the last few books has been Cato keeping his secret wife hidden from the Emperor’s court. All this has so much narrative potential, and it sounds like Scarrow is planning to make some big moves in this upcoming Eagles of the Empire novel.
Needless to say, I’m extremely excited for The Sword of Rome later this year. There are very few things that would stop me from reading the new Eagles of the Empire novel anyway, especially as Simon Scarrow has been killing it recently, but The Sword of Rome sounds particularly epic, and I know I’m going to love it. Now one my most anticipated releases in the second half of 2026, The Sword of Rome is going to be an exceptional and exciting novel that I will try to read the very second I get my hands on it.
I’ve enjoyed every one of the Cato/Macro books I’ve read, especially the one set near Iran.