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raven_morgan's review against another edition
5.0
"One of my grandmothers turned herself into a dragon to prove a point."
from The Patrician
The second book in the Twelve Planets series from Twelfth Planet Press is Love and Romanpunk, by Tandy Rayner Roberts. This collection features four stories set in the same alternate world, where monsters live side by side with humans and Roman history is nothing like what we know. The above quote sums up a lot of the tone of the collection, and if you've smiled reading it, I can almost guarantee that you'll enjoy these.
The first story in the collection is Julia Agrippina's Secret Family Bestiary, which is, on the surface, an alphabetic list of the beasts and monsters which Julia Agrippina's family have encountered over the years. Deeper, it is a history of the family itself, with focus on the females in particular. This is a very clever story, giving the reader an introduction to both the world and its beasts, and the family itself (including a few emperors who will be familiar to even those readers who have only minor knowledge of Roman history). The men are here, and they have power of a kind - they banish woman, they are given women in marriage as political contracts - but it is the women who wield the power against the monsters, most especially the Julias, who are the warriors who don armour and fight the beasts which plague the family. This story really displays Roberts' knowledge of Roman history as well as familiarity with many mythological creatures. It is a truly innovative story, with a wonderful tone, and serves as a fantastic beginning to the collection.
The next story is Lamia Victoriana, which takes us away from ancient Roman history and into a new age and another twisting of this world's history. Here, Mary Wollstonecroft has eloped with Percy Bysshe Shelley, her sister Fanny and the poet's sister joining them. This is a love story of a kind, one between Fanny and the poet's sister with her silver-white skin (which the reader will recognise immediately, having read the previous story, as indication of the sister being a lamia). This story is a departure from the first one, both in setting and tone, being much darker. It gives the feeling of the stories being like beads on the string of the Agrippinaverse (as Roberts terms this world), each one leading you on into the next.
The Patrician is the third story in the collection, and brings us into the modern world. Set in Australia, where a replica Roman city, Nova Ostia, has been built as a tourist attraction, complete with population who dress and live in period for the tourists. Here we meet Clea Majora, who in turn meets an odd man, Julius, outside the city walls. Julius is hunting magical creatures, who are drawn to Nova Ostia because the city includes stone taken from real Roman ruins. We follow the intertwining lives of Clea and Julius as Clea hunts with Julius, all the while also having a life of her own - having children, marrying, becoming a grandmother. It is another thread in the whole story, Julius linking back to the first story in the collection. There is a kind of sorrow twining through it, but again Roberts emphasises the power of the female - both as a warrior, as a mother and grandmother, and as a keeper of memory. I love especially that Clea is allowed to grow old and still retain all of her power, and that she has a life of her own outside of her encounters with Julius.
The final story in the collection is Last of the Romanpunks, bringing the reader into the future. Here, the story is set on an airship, the Julia Augusta, which features an ancient Rome themed (aka Romanpunk) bar. We see through the eyes of Sebastian, grandson of Clea from The Patrician, who encounters his ex-girlfriend Eloise, owner of the airship, and seeker of power. The lamia are back again, and there are mentions of events and characters from all of the previous stories, this final story acting to both bring together all of the previous events and open up the possibility of another cycle beginning.
Overall, this is another brilliant installment in the Twelve Planets. Roberts knowledge of Roman history is threaded through a vivid alternate history filled with amazing characters, especially her female characters (though it has to be noted that her male characters are just as capable, so long as they're not mad emperors). I fell in love with this world, and I really hope that Roberts returns to it, hopefully with a novel-length sequel to Last of the Romanpunks. Please?
from The Patrician
The second book in the Twelve Planets series from Twelfth Planet Press is Love and Romanpunk, by Tandy Rayner Roberts. This collection features four stories set in the same alternate world, where monsters live side by side with humans and Roman history is nothing like what we know. The above quote sums up a lot of the tone of the collection, and if you've smiled reading it, I can almost guarantee that you'll enjoy these.
The first story in the collection is Julia Agrippina's Secret Family Bestiary, which is, on the surface, an alphabetic list of the beasts and monsters which Julia Agrippina's family have encountered over the years. Deeper, it is a history of the family itself, with focus on the females in particular. This is a very clever story, giving the reader an introduction to both the world and its beasts, and the family itself (including a few emperors who will be familiar to even those readers who have only minor knowledge of Roman history). The men are here, and they have power of a kind - they banish woman, they are given women in marriage as political contracts - but it is the women who wield the power against the monsters, most especially the Julias, who are the warriors who don armour and fight the beasts which plague the family. This story really displays Roberts' knowledge of Roman history as well as familiarity with many mythological creatures. It is a truly innovative story, with a wonderful tone, and serves as a fantastic beginning to the collection.
The next story is Lamia Victoriana, which takes us away from ancient Roman history and into a new age and another twisting of this world's history. Here, Mary Wollstonecroft has eloped with Percy Bysshe Shelley, her sister Fanny and the poet's sister joining them. This is a love story of a kind, one between Fanny and the poet's sister with her silver-white skin (which the reader will recognise immediately, having read the previous story, as indication of the sister being a lamia). This story is a departure from the first one, both in setting and tone, being much darker. It gives the feeling of the stories being like beads on the string of the Agrippinaverse (as Roberts terms this world), each one leading you on into the next.
The Patrician is the third story in the collection, and brings us into the modern world. Set in Australia, where a replica Roman city, Nova Ostia, has been built as a tourist attraction, complete with population who dress and live in period for the tourists. Here we meet Clea Majora, who in turn meets an odd man, Julius, outside the city walls. Julius is hunting magical creatures, who are drawn to Nova Ostia because the city includes stone taken from real Roman ruins. We follow the intertwining lives of Clea and Julius as Clea hunts with Julius, all the while also having a life of her own - having children, marrying, becoming a grandmother. It is another thread in the whole story, Julius linking back to the first story in the collection. There is a kind of sorrow twining through it, but again Roberts emphasises the power of the female - both as a warrior, as a mother and grandmother, and as a keeper of memory. I love especially that Clea is allowed to grow old and still retain all of her power, and that she has a life of her own outside of her encounters with Julius.
The final story in the collection is Last of the Romanpunks, bringing the reader into the future. Here, the story is set on an airship, the Julia Augusta, which features an ancient Rome themed (aka Romanpunk) bar. We see through the eyes of Sebastian, grandson of Clea from The Patrician, who encounters his ex-girlfriend Eloise, owner of the airship, and seeker of power. The lamia are back again, and there are mentions of events and characters from all of the previous stories, this final story acting to both bring together all of the previous events and open up the possibility of another cycle beginning.
Overall, this is another brilliant installment in the Twelve Planets. Roberts knowledge of Roman history is threaded through a vivid alternate history filled with amazing characters, especially her female characters (though it has to be noted that her male characters are just as capable, so long as they're not mad emperors). I fell in love with this world, and I really hope that Roberts returns to it, hopefully with a novel-length sequel to Last of the Romanpunks. Please?
tehani's review against another edition
5.0
The BEST book I've read so far this year. Four short intertwined stories, beautifully written and packaged. What makes them really stand out is that the stories (set in different time periods) are written in styles that reflect those time periods - clever and classy. LOVED IT!
beckysbookshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-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? It's complicated
4.5
cupiscent's review against another edition
4.0
These four short and interrelated romps through an Ancient-Roman-what-if concept are just a tremendous amount of fun. From Rome to Romantic to modern Australia, we encounter throughlines of lamia and manticores, and a Julian legacy with real teeth, and it's all thoroughly entertaining. While Roberts most assuredly knows her Stuff, I found the historical references and allusions easy to access with general knowledge, good will, and the occasional wikipedia article when my curiosity grew too big to manage.
(This is a tiny volume, but I figure if you average it with Grace of Kings, you get two regular-sized books, so it all evens out.)
(This is a tiny volume, but I figure if you average it with Grace of Kings, you get two regular-sized books, so it all evens out.)
thiefofcamorr's review against another edition
5.0
Katharine is a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This review is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over.
anna_hepworth's review against another edition
5.0
A slender volume, put out by small press Twelve Planets Press, which the author describes as "...the literary equivalent of spraying offensive graffiti tags all over their area of expertise...". Roberts has taken the material from her Classics PhD and created four captivating pieces of interleaved short fiction that start with the assumption that the descendants of Julius Caesar were monsters in more than just name.
The initial piece, "Julia Agrippina's Secret Family Bestiary", introduces a range of beasts -- both fantastic and mundane -- that the family involve in their attempts to acquire and maintain power. In particular, the lamia gets some airtime, particularly in comparison to later vampire myths.
Each of the following stories then comes forward a bit more in time, but takes one or more details from the initial story. 'Lamia Victoriana' follows the seduction of Mary and Fanny by the unnamed Poet and his equally unnamed sister. 'The Patrician' follows multiple visits of an odd stranger to Nova Ostia -- a recreated Roman town in the Australian outback -- each time resulting in the death of another monster.
The final story, "Last of the Romanpunks' investigates what can happen when someone lets their obsession with the past interfere with what good sense they might have had, and investigates that weakness of villains, the idea that some of their decisions are made from emotional rather than rational bases. Reflecting the first story, with the traditions passed through a family at its core, the protagonist (and his assistants) in this last story is the grandson of the young woman who befriended the monster hunter in the previous story.
The first two stories in this book are perfect examples of historical fantasy with both strong women and historical appropriate gender roles. Sometimes, as with Mary in the second story, this is by flouting the mores of the time, but even here it is contrasted with her sister Fanny, who is only where she is because she is trying to redeem the family name. Strength is separated from power, allowing for explorations of other strengths. And sometimes it is by looking at women who truly had power, simply because of how high up the hierarchy they were, even if they were answerable to men higher up said hierarchy.
I love this collection wholeheartedly. I reread it every few years, and it has never failed to disappoint, nor have I remembered its many twisty details so well as to be unsurprised by some of the delicious details Roberts peppers her stories with. Highly recommended.
The initial piece, "Julia Agrippina's Secret Family Bestiary", introduces a range of beasts -- both fantastic and mundane -- that the family involve in their attempts to acquire and maintain power. In particular, the lamia gets some airtime, particularly in comparison to later vampire myths.
Each of the following stories then comes forward a bit more in time, but takes one or more details from the initial story. 'Lamia Victoriana' follows the seduction of Mary and Fanny by the unnamed Poet and his equally unnamed sister. 'The Patrician' follows multiple visits of an odd stranger to Nova Ostia -- a recreated Roman town in the Australian outback -- each time resulting in the death of another monster.
The final story, "Last of the Romanpunks' investigates what can happen when someone lets their obsession with the past interfere with what good sense they might have had, and investigates that weakness of villains, the idea that some of their decisions are made from emotional rather than rational bases. Reflecting the first story, with the traditions passed through a family at its core, the protagonist (and his assistants) in this last story is the grandson of the young woman who befriended the monster hunter in the previous story.
The first two stories in this book are perfect examples of historical fantasy with both strong women and historical appropriate gender roles. Sometimes, as with Mary in the second story, this is by flouting the mores of the time, but even here it is contrasted with her sister Fanny, who is only where she is because she is trying to redeem the family name. Strength is separated from power, allowing for explorations of other strengths. And sometimes it is by looking at women who truly had power, simply because of how high up the hierarchy they were, even if they were answerable to men higher up said hierarchy.
I love this collection wholeheartedly. I reread it every few years, and it has never failed to disappoint, nor have I remembered its many twisty details so well as to be unsurprised by some of the delicious details Roberts peppers her stories with. Highly recommended.
rivqa's review against another edition
4.0
A pitch-perfect collection of short stories that are linked, yet all rather different from each other. Ancient Rome is arguably the origin of urban fantasy, and this is a worthy modern version. Devoured at speed... need more blood! I mean books.
serena_dawn's review against another edition
5.0
Loved listening to Tansy Rayner Roberts' podcast Sheep Might Fly where you can listen for free to the four short stories that make up Love and Romanpunk Julia Agrippina's Secret Family Bestiary the podcast GlitterShip has Lamia Victoriana but The Patrician and Last of the Romanpunks are on Sheep Might Fly.
sadie_slater's review against another edition
4.0
Love and Romanpunk is a collection of four linked short stories by Australian writer Tansy Rayner Roberts (who I know as one of the hosts of the excellent Verity! podcast) combining an interesting feminist take on the women of the Julian Caesars (very different from I, Claudius's take) with a Buffy-esque eternal struggle against monsters and the forces of darkness and a cameo appearance by Mary Wollstonecraft's daughters. I thought it was great fun, and, entirely coincidentally, 'The Patrician', about a lifetime of meetings between a woman and an immortal dedicated to fighting evil, was similar enough to The Bone Clocks that it may have helped to exorcise the demons still lurking in my brain from that.
bookivore's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
4.0
A very enjoyable little book. I know very little about Roman history and mythology, but that didn't stop me from being entertained and engaged.