Collection
Description
In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth. Accompanied only by his British slave Esca, Marcus sets out across Hadrian's Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father's memory, and retrieve the lost legion's golden emblem.
User reviews
LibraryThing member infjsarah
Entertaining film and stuck surprisingly close to the book.
LibraryThing member amanda4242
It's clear that the filmmakers did actually read Rosemary Sutcliff's book, but they cut most of the character moments that make the book a treasure and replaced them with fights and moralizing so we're left with a generic sword and sandal story. That being said, there are really only three having the remnants of the Ninth Legion come to the rescue was a mistake because it's just silly .
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departures that I feel are flat out wrong: not freeing Esca before going North was a mistake because it's important that it's his choice to go; cutting the Demetrius of Alexandria bit was a mistake because it's dumb to go on a covert mission without a cover story; and Show Less
Original publication date
2001-02-11