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A review by suzemo
The Confessions of Young Nero by Margaret George
3.0
Margaret George's latest(er?) books tend to be a miss for me, and this one was better. Not amazing, but a lot better. I felt like it moved a little too slowly, and I would have far preferred a giant door-stop of a single book than the two smaller halves, but author's gotta eat, I suppose.
In the plus column:
George's writing itself is pretty easy to read and snack on, and her writing continues to be accessible and enjoyable.
I majored in classical civ for a while, and it's nice to see Nero not treated as an amazing monster (which I don't think he was), even though he could have been. It's definitely a historical [i]fiction[/i], but I don't think George is getting to crazy with it, and it's a nice take on a usually salaciously over-done personality
Additional viewpoints other than Nero's, though really, I want a crazy historical fiction book about Locusta now.
Negatives?
I mentioned it was slow, it is.
I don't like the use of the first person with Nero as much, at least not for the early part of his life. I just can't be bothered to get invested in brilliant little prodigy minds
The additional viewpoints that pop up at random and do not add much to the story, I want to like them, and they're a good idea, just not well executed.
That said, this book is far, far better (imo) than Helen or Mary of Magdelene, which I did not like. The audio narrator was really good, which helped a lot (except for the obnoxious pronunciation of Augusta/Augustus, anyway).
In the plus column:
George's writing itself is pretty easy to read and snack on, and her writing continues to be accessible and enjoyable.
I majored in classical civ for a while, and it's nice to see Nero not treated as an amazing monster (which I don't think he was), even though he could have been. It's definitely a historical [i]fiction[/i], but I don't think George is getting to crazy with it, and it's a nice take on a usually salaciously over-done personality
Additional viewpoints other than Nero's, though really, I want a crazy historical fiction book about Locusta now.
Negatives?
I mentioned it was slow, it is.
I don't like the use of the first person with Nero as much, at least not for the early part of his life. I just can't be bothered to get invested in brilliant little prodigy minds
The additional viewpoints that pop up at random and do not add much to the story, I want to like them, and they're a good idea, just not well executed.
That said, this book is far, far better (imo) than Helen or Mary of Magdelene, which I did not like. The audio narrator was really good, which helped a lot (except for the obnoxious pronunciation of Augusta/Augustus, anyway).