Review: Invader by Simon Scarrow & T.J. Andrews

Title: Invader
Authors: Simon Scarrow & T.J. Andrews
Publictation: April 25th 2017 by Headline
Genre: Historical Fiction
Purchase it on: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google | Kobo
Rating: 3/5★

INVADER is a Sunday Times bestseller from Simon Scarrow (author of the bestsellers BRITANNIA and CENTURION) and T. J. Andrews, co-author of the bestselling INVADER. Featuring the Roman army officer Figulus in first-century Britannia, INVADER is not to be missed by readers of Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell.

Roman Britain, AD 44. The land is far from tamed. A puppet king is doing little to calm the hatred of the native tribes.

Fighting is in Optio Horatius Figulus' blood. His Celtic ancestry gives him the toughness essential for survival. That toughness will be tested to the very limit when he is sent on a mission deep in hostile territory. And Figulus knows that, even utterly crushed in battle, their warriors routed and the Druids driven from their hill forts, the tribesmen of Britannia will sooner die than surrender.

Figulus fought alongside Macro and Cato in Simon Scarrow's bestselling Eagles of the Empire series. In INVADER, he stands alone.

INVADER has previously been published in five separate ebook novellas.

As always I enjoy reading books that take place in ancient history like Invader. The story is set in Roman Britain, AD 44 and features Optio Horatius Figulus. He was born in Gaul but raised as Roman. In this book he's fighting in Britannia so his Celtic ancestry helps with the missions he had to complete in this book. 

I really liked the story in the first half of the book and when I started getting around the second half it all started becoming very repetitive. Figulus being send on a special mission where he has to fight or protect someone over and over again. Also, in the story there was a traitor that we eventually found out about but to me it was a little too obvious who it ended up being and I really hate when that happens. I just don't like books that are too predictable. And in this case it was quite obvious. At least to me.

I do need to say that after finishing the book I found out Invader had previously been published in five separate ebook novellas so that's why it all seemed so repetitive because they novellas had been merged into one story. And clearly I wasn't aware of that before so maybe I would've felt differently about it all. Or maybe not. I can't really know now.

Even so it was an enjoyable read overall. I'm always up for a good historical fiction set in ancient times, especially when it's related to ancient Rome. And I loved Figulus. I thought he was a really great main character that I couldn't help but root for. I also really liked all of his friends. So character wise it was top, but story wise it was a little less of my cup of tea, unfortunately. Luckily I care more about characters than plot anyways.