Reviews

Arms of Nemesis by Steven Saylor

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desert_side_notched's review against another edition

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mysterious

4.0

smthuriot's review

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

See my full review here:
https://sarahoverbooked.wordpress.com/2024/01/27/arms-of-nemesis/

eososray's review against another edition

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4.0

A good mystery involving Crassus with the Spartacus rebellion as a backdrop. All the fantastic history I expected after enjoying the first book in the series and the third one is all cued up and ready to be read.

gilroi's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I really enjoyed the first book, so I was genuinely surprised by the precipitous dip in quality between novels.

I don't know if I'm just especially sensitive to pacing, but this book's pacing was just awful, treacle-slow even though the fact that the characters are running out of time-- have little time to begin with, to save the lives of almost a hundred people!-- is constantly remarked upon. The investigation crawled at a snail's pace until the final ~15% of the book, in which all was revealed in monologues (something I don't generally love but understand is occasionally a staple of mystery fiction). The denouement happens off screen. The final few chapters are retrospectives where characters discuss events that have already happened for the benefit of the reader. The ending is ultimately saccharine, far too much for a book that is trying to highlight the evils of slavery.

Ultimately, the book felt weirdly like a cozy mystery, which is not what I go to for fiction set in Ancient Rome.

I was thoroughly disappointed. If the next book in the series wasn't about an event in Roman history I find interesting, I'd tap out completely.

mattgroot1980's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

elusivity's review against another edition

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3.0

Found this one hard to get through, mostly due to the description of slave life in Ancient Rome. The sheer injustice of it; and to think, every human culture throughout much of History believing enslavement of their fellows to be perfectly acceptable and good. Makes me hate humans. Of course, that it bothered me so much can only be to Saylor's credit. Rather, the 3 stars is because I didn't think this was a good mystery.

Some thriller-like element, much running around and not really picking up clues until it is almost too late. On the other hand, Meto comes into Gordianus's life, Eco recovers his voice, and Bethesda is pregnant. Life is going very well for our Finder.