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A review by celsius273
Catilina's Riddle by Steven Saylor
4.0
Of all the books for which I had not choice but to read in school, this has been one of the most enjoyable. TBH, it's probably because it is story (plot) based and easy to understand yet captivating to in its language. I've been translating Cicero's orations against Cataline (interestingly enough, a modern spelling of Catalina!) and from that, he sounds like a horrible person. What this book does is totally flip this perception around; Cataline is painted as misunderstood and Cicero is not as glorious as he appears in history.
Our narrator, Gordianus 'the Finder' and his non traditional family are fictional characters. Gordianus inherits a farm from his friend Lucius Claudius which angers the rest of the Claudii but lucky for Gordianus, his acquaintance, the famed Cicero, argues for him in court despite growing political unrest both in and against himself and wins Gordianus the right to the house. Thus sets the scene for our story; Gordianus, adjusting to life on a farm surrounded by angry neighbors and with an IOU to Cicero.
Catalina's "riddle" is actually a riddle brought up in the book but it is fairly innocuous only serving as a springboard for the main mystery of the story, sorry, there's no really better way to explain it without giving away spoilers. But while Gordianus's may be the narrator, arguably the biggest transformation occurs in his 16 year old adopted son, Meto. As he comes of age, Gordianus finds it difficult to start treating him as an adult, especially because he is still prone to childish behavior. As a result, they grow distant as the novel passes and I found myself mentally slapping both of them for being asses sometimes.
Quick note on his family. Gordianus's wife Bethesda was a former slave of his; both of his sons are adopted, Eco, who is 26, was a homeless child on the streets and Meto was also a former slave whom Gordianus saved; his daughter, Gordiana or Diana for short, is his only legitimate child, she's also the cutest character!.
Honestly, there are so many plotlines woven into the novel that I never really found myself getting bored. While Gordianus's opinion on the Cataline vs. Cicero fight can be thought of as the driving force of the novel, there are murder mysteries, growing pains, and self discovery issues as well that make this novel so dense with intrigue.
I started reading this book because I kind of had to for school, but it just got so interesting and real that I actually spent basically two nights reading this instead of studying for upcoming tests. I liked Roman culture such as religious rituals, slaves, bathing, dining, and familial structure is blended seamlessly into the story as is the history itself (which I presume is mostly true as it matches with what I have learned). Saylor really knows what he is talking about and though some people may find it boring to be learning so much about Roman life, I didn't mind because it helped tremendously in connecting the things we learned in class. Before, I would have had no idea how all of those characters - Sulla, Crassus, Cicero, Caesar, Pompey etc. - were related, both in the political and familial sense but this novel cleared things like that up immensely.
Overall, Catalina's riddle was interesting and kept me on my toes with the pace of developments in the mystery. It's long, over 500 pages of pretty small text, but there was no useless text in hindsight. If the start of the fall of the Roman republic sounds intriguing, I would definitely recommend giving this book a whirl. Also, don't mind that this is book three, I haven't read the other two and I understood this one just fine!
Our narrator, Gordianus 'the Finder' and his non traditional family are fictional characters. Gordianus inherits a farm from his friend Lucius Claudius which angers the rest of the Claudii but lucky for Gordianus, his acquaintance, the famed Cicero, argues for him in court despite growing political unrest both in and against himself and wins Gordianus the right to the house. Thus sets the scene for our story; Gordianus, adjusting to life on a farm surrounded by angry neighbors and with an IOU to Cicero.
Catalina's "riddle" is actually a riddle brought up in the book but it is fairly innocuous only serving as a springboard for the main mystery of the story, sorry, there's no really better way to explain it without giving away spoilers. But while Gordianus's may be the narrator, arguably the biggest transformation occurs in his 16 year old adopted son, Meto. As he comes of age, Gordianus finds it difficult to start treating him as an adult, especially because he is still prone to childish behavior. As a result, they grow distant as the novel passes and I found myself mentally slapping both of them for being asses sometimes.
Quick note on his family. Gordianus's wife Bethesda was a former slave of his; both of his sons are adopted, Eco, who is 26, was a homeless child on the streets and Meto was also a former slave whom Gordianus saved; his daughter, Gordiana or Diana for short, is his only legitimate child, she's also the cutest character!.
Honestly, there are so many plotlines woven into the novel that I never really found myself getting bored. While Gordianus's opinion on the Cataline vs. Cicero fight can be thought of as the driving force of the novel, there are murder mysteries, growing pains, and self discovery issues as well that make this novel so dense with intrigue.
I started reading this book because I kind of had to for school, but it just got so interesting and real
Spoiler
I was actually terrified when the bodies started appearing!Overall, Catalina's riddle was interesting and kept me on my toes with the pace of developments in the mystery. It's long, over 500 pages of pretty small text, but there was no useless text in hindsight. If the start of the fall of the Roman republic sounds intriguing, I would definitely recommend giving this book a whirl. Also, don't mind that this is book three, I haven't read the other two and I understood this one just fine!