Eagle in Exile is a continuation of the alternate history begun with Clash of Eagles and upholds the anthropological approach of the first book. I’m undecided about the actual beginning because it reads more as a way to remind us of the first book through summary and get us back into the world. The indecision comes because it’s effective in that purpose despite being one step distant from the narrative. That I recognized both main and secondary characters as they appeared speaks to the strength of the first book as well, and to the many narratives brought to life within it. The interwoven narratives of the characters and their conflicting points of view that made the first book so memorable soon take over the second, rapidly leaving the distance of the first few pages behind.

As with Clash of Eagles, this story revolves around Gaius Marcellinus, a Roman military leader who is captured by an early American civilization of which little has survived to modern day beyond extensive mound structures hinting at a sophistication once believed absent from the North American tribes. While much of their culture is therefore speculative, Smale once again builds both viable city-state and tribal cultures with some aspects in common with European nations but drawn from Native American cultures or his own extrapolation. Smale also includes a glossary of references he used to create his fictional version of the peoples he describes.

Cahokia is not a simple analog of either group, but has elements that build from its social and physical structures. This is a major strength to the series and ties strongly to the other strength in recognizing how the continent was not populated by a single people, or even a closely related one but rather numerous tribes each with their own distinct culture from the Iroqua to the mound builders to the plains tribes to the far distant People of the Sun and more. He tackles the questions of cultural continuation, contamination, and survival through the introduction of one out-of-place element–Gaius.

Gaius is a man between worlds caught in a battle of loyalty, love, and survival. The land of his birth lays firm claims, and yet so does this land of his rebirth, a process bathed in the blood of his soldiers, but also of the many natives they slaughtered while carrying out their mission to find gold for their emperor.

He is a man raised both to war and to Roman superiority whose desperate search for a way to prove himself useful, and therefore worth keeping alive, makes him question everything he’s ever known. He learns the value of peace, both in saving lives and in encouraging prosperity, but neither his adopted people nor his Roman fellows share in this vision. It’s easy for them to see ulterior motives in his actions, while this failure to understand makes him, and all who support him, vulnerable. It says a lot for the man that Gaius attempts to help everyone without going against either loyalty no matter how things might appear and despite resistance on every side. He has become a man of the people, all the people, and seeks a better path so they can all thrive.

Yes, he’s gone native as the Romans accuse, but not so far as to work against Rome, nor so far as to fail to recognize the potential value of peace over war. Still, the steps he takes to achieve that aim are ones sure to set Rome against him while they do not endear him to his adopted people either. He knows Rome will only negotiate with a force of equal strength. If the Roman army can take what it needs, it will do so. Gaius sees only one path to prevent this, a way setting him against both history and tradition in the new world.

It’s the last that forms the heart of this novel. Gaius risks everything to convince Cahokia and the other neighboring cities and tribes to form a cohesive whole. Only together can they hope to stand against the Roman might. This may sound simple, but it’s far from it as few of those in power are willing to listen, and those that do soon find their own troubles to face. The different groups have a long history of battle and loss to revenge. Despite all of that, Gaius is not alone. Between the friends he’s made among the Cahokians, and some surprise additions, he sets out to change a world that shouldn’t have to change and yet is destined for elimination if he cannot bring them to see the need.

This is another epic tale focused firmly on cultural conflict and negotiation, but don’t think it’s a bunch of people sitting around talking. There’s little chance for that, and even when negotiations are sought, they come with brutal rituals to prove Gaius has the strength to speak.

Peace might be Gaius’s goal, but there are many battles to be fought and much to uncover on the path to this aim. Even so, right when you, and Gaius, think you know the whole of it, there is more going on than it appears.

Eagle in Exile offers a complex, complicated, alternate history with a strong cultural foundation that is well worth the read.

P.S. I received this title from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.