Reviews

Overview: I'm not really sure how I felt about this book. I learned more about Roman history and other cultures. However, I didn't like the altered historical details and the characters were... exaggerated.

Good: I learned quite a bit about Roman history. It was nice to be able to attach certain things, like Hadrian's Wall, to a person. I liked how we received viewpoints from an empress, a public worker, a soldier, and a noble. I usually complain that historical fiction is usually about the same topics. Tudors. French Princesses. Italian painters. In Empress of the Seven Hills we see Dacia, Antioch, and Parthia. My favorite character was Augustus.

Improvement: I wasn't a big fan of the division of the four different viewpoints. While I appreciate seeing them, I felt like it took away from the story more than it added to it. I would have preferred to have viewpoints from Sabina & Augustus or Sabina & Vix. The characters felt... exaggerated. Like she took a personality archetype and made that their only trait

I didn't like how much she altered historical fact. I didn't mind the small details, like Faustina being her half sister. What I did mind was Sabina not living with the emperor, her mother being depicted as a whore, and her father being alive while her mother was dead.

I'll probably read the rest of the books.

lehc1984's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

mjoyced's review against another edition

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3.0

Mistress of Rome is still my favorite of the bundle, but Empress of the Seven Hills has fun characters, exciting events, and some glimpses of old familiar faces from the previous books. As with all of Kate Quinn's books, I couldn't put it down!

bluestjuice's review against another edition

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4.0

I utterly tore through this, loving Sabina despite her flaws, and being amused by Vix despite his utter ridiculousness in some cases. I thought Quinn did a good job here of spinning off from the story told in Mistress of Rome without too much overlapping 'sequel' flavor - Vix and Sabina are both so different from their childhood versions in the previous that it isn't distracting, and the other characters who overlap are minor characters in one or the other of the stories. Overall, it all works. I loved the first half and the end left me a little cold, perhaps because it doesn't really sound finished - there is no tidy wrap-up, and another sequel is pretty obviously necessary to learn how it all goes down. That's my only real complaint - I don't mind the lack of a happy ending, but the sense that there is still so much left to tell is a bit frustrating.

sammeshchaninov's review against another edition

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fast-paced

2.5

Great escape

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