Fortress of Spears

Riches (Arrows of Fury) wastes no time in plunging the reader into second-century Roman politics and explicit warfare. The third in his Empire series opens with political assassins on the trail of Marcus Aquila, who’s fighting as a centurion under the name of Corvus with an auxiliary legion stationed in northern Britannia during a rebellion by barbarian tribes that are hampered by internecine quarrels. Constantly alternating viewpoints almost overwhelm as Riches wrestles with the large cast established for the series and the multipronged offensive of the legionaries, hopping between a cavalry unit chasing barbarians, soldiers marching to retake a captured fortress, Aquila’s ruthless pursuers, and sparring tribal leaders. But ultimately, all threads are neatly tied together in the climactic confrontation of tribesmen and legions. As a craftsman, Riches mostly sticks to the familiar: prose is either brutal, purple, or hyperbolic. But laden with raucous profanity and voluminous gore (severed heads, spilled intestines, and methodical torture), this action-packed military adventure combined with a well-researched depiction of the organizational details of the Roman legions will fascinate fans of the era. (Jan.)