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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Robert Harris is a pretty good historical thriller writer. I first read Fatherland and Enigma and liked them. More recently I really enjoyed Pompeii, which was a mystery set during the Roman volcano eruption.
This one is part one of his Cicero trilogy and it’s always interesting to read about how Ancient Rome operated.
This one is part one of his Cicero trilogy and it’s always interesting to read about how Ancient Rome operated.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
While this is well written and I can appreciate the ideas unfortunately I had zero idea what was happening and I think I was just not smart enough to understand this book lol.
Excellent historical fiction about the life of Cicero. Now I want to read all of Robert Harris’s books.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
For me this is somewhere between three and four stars. It was entertaining and interesting but a lot of the detail of Roman life is missing. The several digs at women throughout the novel made me wonder if they were the sentiments of the narrator or the author; it's curious they were included as they added nothing to the story IMO. Still, there's enough here to make me consider finishing the trilogy.
An excellent narration, but goodness, this wears its research heavily and didn't really engage me. A couple of characters leap out, Pompey, Catalinus, Tiro himself, but the rest blur into an attempt to show politics is unchanged for centuries, the masses are easily duped and the powerful and rich are corrupt. It's not that I disagree, it's just not very interesting.