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gregarius 's review for:
Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome
by Robert Harris
I enjoy reading historical fiction, but I always prefer more "history" and less "fiction." This is a nice example of that. The novel is a fictional narrative of ancient Rome from Cicero's personal attendant, so it includes many factual accounts in addition to direct quotes from Cicero's speeches. This let me forgive any poetic license the author took to make it an engaging read.
Unlike most stories set in this time, this one ignored all the military battles and focused instead on the judicial and political system. I enjoyed seeing this aspect, especially at the time period just before its collapse.
The book was written in 2006, and I couldn't help but notice several parallels with the modern American political system. Whether these were intentional or not, it was certainly amusing to see how easily the populace could be persuaded to give extraordinary power to one man in order to defend the country from a perceived outside threat.
Overall, I liked it. Harris has a very easy-going style that is easy to read while still being informative. Short chapters also helped make the reading go quickly.
Unlike most stories set in this time, this one ignored all the military battles and focused instead on the judicial and political system. I enjoyed seeing this aspect, especially at the time period just before its collapse.
The book was written in 2006, and I couldn't help but notice several parallels with the modern American political system. Whether these were intentional or not, it was certainly amusing to see how easily the populace could be persuaded to give extraordinary power to one man in order to defend the country from a perceived outside threat.
Overall, I liked it. Harris has a very easy-going style that is easy to read while still being informative. Short chapters also helped make the reading go quickly.