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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Decius is back in Rome and almost immediately stumbles on a conspiracy against the state. He falls in with Catiline to investigate the grumblings of men who think they are being denied their birth right to rule by new men like Cicero. Bodies pile up as the conspiracy moves forward Decius himself is expected to prove his loyalty to the cabal by killing a friend.
There isn't much of a mystery with this book as it is based on a real conspiracy and the outcome is known. It's more a matter of "will Decius survive?" But it is a good tale, told with wit, humor and a lot of period detail.
I'm currently reading SPQR by Mary Beard and she opens with the Catalina conspiracy & that made me reread this book.
There isn't much of a mystery with this book as it is based on a real conspiracy and the outcome is known. It's more a matter of "will Decius survive?" But it is a good tale, told with wit, humor and a lot of period detail.
I'm currently reading SPQR by Mary Beard and she opens with the Catalina conspiracy & that made me reread this book.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really enjoy this series. It's an intriguing mix of history, fiction, and drama. This second book details another(!) conspiracy to topple Rome from within. Lots of great detail.
Young Decius is now a Quaestor, on his way up in Rome, but he has the ill-fortune to, again, annoy the powerful. He becomes involved with Catiline and his conspiracy to overthrow the Roman government, however, on the side of the establishment. Decius informs the consul Cicero of the conspiracy, and aids in the destruction of Catiline and his men.
If this had been written as an historical novel I would have rated it four stars. The history, the anthropology were great. But it was sadly lacking in mystery. Still, I enjoy the writing enough to go on to book three in the series.
As other reviewers have noted, this reads more like a textbook than a mystery. I'm all for using real events as the backdrop to a story, but the crimes in this instance were "solved" almost incidental to telling the story of Catilina. It was interesting, but not particularly entertaining.
Good sequel to the first book. I enjoy the peculiar combo of mystery, history, and historical fiction in this series. It's light enough for me to pick it up and go through it in a couple days, but it does such a fine job of world-building that it draws on my imagination too.