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A review by benjch
Augustus by John Williams
4.0
I was really surprised at how much I ended up enjoying this. I've never been a big fan of historical fiction, and I never had any particular interest in Roman history. The only other epistolary novel I've read was "This is How You Lose the Time War", which is about as different from this as you can get.
The style of the letters felt regal and formal in a way that really fit with the tone of the whole novel. I listened to this as an audiobook, so I occasionally had a hard time keeping track of characters, especially since every roman had six different names, and many of them had similar names.
Williams does an excellent job of running through the life of Caesar Augustus with all of the information we know about him, and also interpolates intent and actions where we have no real sources. This definitely can't be relied upon for an accurate telling of the history, but it does a great job of giving a broad understanding of the time while also telling an interesting story.
Williams did an excellent job of using the epistolary style, in a way that I think few others could have pulled off, but there were certainly times where I felt like it was limited. Many of the letters describe people's memories of past events, and in these instances their voices tend to become very similar, defaulting to William's personal style.
I did really enjoy it, and I think those more interested in historical fiction or Roman history would love it. 4/5
The style of the letters felt regal and formal in a way that really fit with the tone of the whole novel. I listened to this as an audiobook, so I occasionally had a hard time keeping track of characters, especially since every roman had six different names, and many of them had similar names.
Williams does an excellent job of running through the life of Caesar Augustus with all of the information we know about him, and also interpolates intent and actions where we have no real sources. This definitely can't be relied upon for an accurate telling of the history, but it does a great job of giving a broad understanding of the time while also telling an interesting story.
Williams did an excellent job of using the epistolary style, in a way that I think few others could have pulled off, but there were certainly times where I felt like it was limited. Many of the letters describe people's memories of past events, and in these instances their voices tend to become very similar, defaulting to William's personal style.
I did really enjoy it, and I think those more interested in historical fiction or Roman history would love it. 4/5