Rome: The Coming of the King (Rome 2) [Paperback]

Two years have passed. Math and Hannah are gone. The Leopard, Sebastos Abdes Pantera, remains. Rome is a distant memory and the heat of Rome's Eastern Empire shimmers with deadly allurement over the fate of our spy, warrior, kingmaker.
It is A.D.66, a summer ripe with rebellion. The burning of Rome is done and Saulos Herodian recuperates amongst the Berber tribes in the desert plotting the destruction of Jerusalem for he believes that "if Rome burned under the eye of the dog star, then Jerusalem might be sundered and in its place...might grow something wonderful...Judea must fall for that to happen." He has a new ally, the deadly Iksahra sur Anmer who uses falcons and cheetah as readily as a sword and the start of his new great game is to murder King Agrippa.
A desert away Pantera and Mergus are hunted on their way to Caesarea where Governor Florus and Queen Berenice reside. Estaph gives us a summary of the political situation: of Menachem's War party, of Gideon's Peace party and of the undercurrents of rebellious discontent against the Roman overlords where the province of Judea has plenty of keen ears into which Saulos can whisper insidious words of war. Conflict is swiftly engaged, the ebb and flow of struggles is set against the treacherous shifting sands of Roman Judea as we follow the timeline of the historian Josephus.
Into this assemblage comes Hypatia, Chosen of Isis, reluctant mentor to the headstrong Kleopatra, daughter of Queen Berenice. Hypatia is forced to engage with Saulos in the deadly political arena of Agrippa's court as Yusaf ben Matthias offers eight talents of gold in return for lands in Jerusalem to build a Temple; Sebastos is forced to get involved with tracking down Kleitos and a riot in Caesarea before dealing with the more direct route of battle by seizing Masada and riding with a rebellion to Jerusalem that will lead to a fulfillment of his destiny with Saulos at Herod's palace.
Scott has delivered a strong narrative after the opening "The Emperor's Spy". I stated that in "Dreaming the Serpent Spear" that we know with terrible finality that Breaca will die because history commands it but we do not wish it to happen. Yet, in this series we find ourselves diverging rapidly from Paulinian accepted history to a conclusion that is startling. Of course, St Paul or Saul of Tarsis disappears from the historical record but there is a fairly strong conclusion that he was executed in Rome around A.D.67. The author chooses an entirely different interpretation of both events and Saulos' motivation to fictionalize in this novel. The 'Author's Note' references scholars such as Daniel T Unterbrink who question the accepted version of the life of St Paul. With the Boudica series we can read safely knowing what must come but the Rome series steers us away from the familiar comfort of childhood stories in a manner that encourages us to pause and rethink. This reviewer was prompted to have a look for précis of Unterbrink's analysis. In some ways, I would recommend a purchaser read the 'Author's Note' before embarking on the novel as the conclusions and vilification of Saulos may startle many readers.
Historical alternative theories aside, Scott has delivered another crisp novel. The focus on relationships, of subtle machination, of youthful exuberance and crestfallen learning are the fabric upon which the author's narration rests. The steely, purposeful strength of the female characters guides the plot to the action points of battle; the grim determination and inexorability of fate drives Pantera. We feel the inner turmoil and struggle for understanding of our main protagonists, accept the sense of honour that drives Pantera, the intellectual and spiritual determination of Berenice and Hypatia. Well-drawn with prose that becomes terse when action is needed, verbose when emotions are being understood. There is a need to read the book thoroughly and not skim through it - such would be a disservice to the complexity of the relationships that are explored in the text - though I did feel the conversion of Iksahra from Saulos' tool to Hypatia's ally was a touch too quick, a single conversation being all it took to sway her judgment.
Scott gives all characters a voice. None within are silent extras, each has a story to tell, albeit quick or long. This is driven home by the small aside in the heat of a coming battle where a single guard, Laelius, makes a decision to abandon a post that will lead to death and retire to an old and fruitful life as a village smith. It is this attention to people rather than action that gives the story an entirely human element. Other authors writing of the classical period focus on the "white-hot clash and noise of battle" but miss the point entirely when it comes to understanding that character motivation, suffering, guilt and indecision is integral to satisfying a reader. Scott achieves this in her novels through a mix of myth, history, personal and social morality. It is the mixture of emotions that drags us into not just empathizing with the characters but also sympathizing with them.
So, we await "The Eagle of the Twelfth". Just a shame it might have to be 2012 before we can see how Scott deals with Pantera as he immerses himself more fully in Josephus' history. A history that might find him an ever more reluctant hero because, as Pantera himself observes: "I got what I wanted most in life, and found that I didn't want it all".

For many writers the second volume of a trilogy is like that difficult second album; obviously you want to attract the same audience as before but you don't want them to feel like they are reading the same book. If you're making a film the answer is easy. You just follow the example of George Lucas or Peter Jackson and treat the second film like the middle bit and lavish non-stop action on an eager audience.

It doesn't work like that in novels and M.C. Scott should know having form over both course and distance with the Boudica series to which the Rome trilogy is tangentially linked. And that is why The Coming of the King is such a thoroughly satisfying read.

For those who loved the first novel, The Emperor's Spy, this continues the conflict between the resourcefully secretive Sebastos Pantera and the sinister Saulos. Pantera has the edge in sheer physicality but Saulos is a resourceful and cunning politician who navigates his way through the world by stealth exerting huge influence on those who hold the reins of power. His intention this time is to bring about the destruction of Jerusalem by persuading the weak-minded Roman governor to rob the Holy Temple to pay for the reconstruction of Rome. Only Pantera and his motley band can stop him.

With Rome a smoking ruin behind them shifting the action to Judaea allows Scott to take a more cerebral view of the arguments that are at the centre of the story especially the importance of the Galilean, whose `resurrection' was witnessed by the young Pantera, and his followers. One of the things I really enjoyed about both books is the way Scott flirts with ideas which in other times might have been considered heretical and they give the stories a refreshingly different outlook.

One of the joys of this book and its predecessor is immersing yourself in Scott's lyrical style. There's a shamanistic quality of an ancient storyteller at work here as the cadences and rhythms of the writing lure you deeper and deeper into the story. The importance of dreams and our links with the natural world are also persuasively argued without any hint of didacticism.

The attention to detail is as you would expect. If Scott tells you there is a wine stall on a street corner in Jerusalem then you can bet that there probably was. At times it is like a Lonely Planet guide to the ancient world but, unlike some authors, this is not done to show off simply to deepen your enjoyment of the story.

When I finished The Emperor's Spy I couldn't wait for Scott to finish The Coming of the King and having finished this I can't wait for book three which is due in February 2012. I'll be counting the days.

Two years after the great fire of Rome and the close of Rome: The Emperor's Spy (Rome 2), Sebastos Abdes Pantera has pursued Saulos to Judaea. As we recall, Pantera is a Roman spy and pupil of Seneca while Saulos is the arch enemy of Roman and Hebrew alike. Known to history as St Paul but here freshly interpreted as an agent of vengeance and death, Saulos has recovered from his severe burns, resulting from the fire, and now has his destructive sights fixed on Herod and his family and the annihilation of the entire Hebrew race. Pantera's injuries are more of the mind. Still mourning his lost family in Britain and with his new family safely despatched to Mona, the sacred island of the Druids, Pantera focuses on restoring peace to Israel.

Pantera is a loved man - he is surrounded my men such as Mergus and women like Hypatia who would die for him. By contrast, Saulos is followed by the Berber huntress Ikshara who is tied to him only through lies and deceit.

The Coming of the King carries us around the Kingdom of Judaea in 66 AD. The focus is on the court of Herod, his sister Berenice and his niece Kleopatra. They are surrounded by rioting Hebrews and Syrians, pacifists and warmongers. As the influence of Saulos grows, the voice of reason dies, and the royal family leaves their palace at Caesarea for Jerusalem where they are effectively undersiege and under attack from without and within. Pantera's influence also grows, uniting the descendants of the Galilean, gaining arms and support through a daring assault on the seemingly impenetrable fortress of Masada in the desert.

However, the action of The Coming of the King, although exciting, is not what makes the book. As with the previous novel, what makes The Coming of the King special is the deeply realised characters and the prose that is used to create them and shape their actions. Pantera and Saulos are not new to us - and I would certainly recommend that you read The Emperor's Spy first - but Kleopatra, Berenice and Ikshara are brilliant additions to the series of novels while, rather noticeably, Herod himself is barely touched upon at all.

The prose is as beautiful as one would expect from Manda Scott. This is not a book to rush through. The past and fears for the future influence the actions of each of the characters as they keep an eye on the wider world at play here. The descriptions of the streets, the people in those streets, the politicians and soldiers, the fanatics and the desert dwellers - all are beautifully presented and make this feel indeed like a journey to 1st-century Israel, with its political conflicts and its religious struggles.

I would argue that this second novel does not quite reach the heights of the astonishing first book in the series, but it does conclude well the story of Saulos. Whether you agree with the interpretation of Saulos or not, there is a validity to the argument and power in its execution and the pairing of Saulos and Pantera is fascinating. Possibly, the problem here is that The Emperor's Spy presented such outstanding characters - Hannah and Math (not to mention Nero himself) - that I missed them.

The story continues next year with The Eagle of the Twelfth, the story of the legion of the damned. I can't wait.