Blood and Treasure
We find ourselves in 43AD for Blood and Treasure, following Claudius’ troops led by Plautius and Vespasian—an era of history where the earth ran red with the blood of Britons and Romans alike. Anthony Nixon does a fantastic job of showing us the manipulation at work by the triumvirate of freed slaves who ran Rome in all but name, while also painting the picture of the three British brothers with a claim to the crown.
Verica is usually tarred as being the culprit for encouraging the Romans to British shores one hundred years after Julius Caesar, but more quietly, in the shadows lurked Amminus, the less famous brother of Togodumnus and Caratacus. He takes centre stage in Blood and Treasure, his tale coming to the forefront.
Blood and Treasure is a slow burner, in honesty, I could see many putting the book down feeling that it wasn’t moving forward. Persevere, dear readers, persevere. Blood and Treasure is extremely well-written and presented and leads us gently into the world shared by Roman and Briton. It shows how they worked side by side for the building of a temple and how some Romans came to settle in Briton as farmers instead of soldiers. This is a book that has some competition in its niche, as there are some hard-hitting authors who have had success with their novels of the Roman invasion of Britain; it’s easy to see how Blood and Treasure could be overlooked, but overlook this at your peril if you’re a fan of early British history.
