The Eagle Has Fallen

[Robert Vermaat]

My favorite novel about the Roman period is and will always be Rosemary Sutcliff's 'Eagle of the Ninth'. Yes, it's about the IX Hispana being defeated in Caledonia, and yes, she was dead wrong about that (although she probably could not know it at the time. Does that make me like the book any less? Absolutely not. The characters, the story, the setting, they all make for a wonderful book - it actually got me into linking the Roman period and becoming a historian.

So kudos to any author who can write a good book. Should we demand that historical novels are also historically correct? I think not, readers should be aware that novels are always going further than history can ever take us - every character in the book needs to be fictional to a certain extent (we don't have any personal diaries nor written records of personal conversations!). I mean, it's FICTION - demanding accuracy is just not possible.

I agree, to read that the IX Hispana was in fact destroyed by a sudden charge of Uruk-Hai with the wizard Saruman shooting bolts from the next hilltop would be surpring! But then again, that's fiction for you.