Book Review: The First Man in Rome, by Colleen McCullough

Colleen McCullough's The First Man in Rome is the first of her Master of Rome series; and this series of seven books (published from 1990 to 2007) cover near 90 years of history, will be my guide through the end of the Roman Republic over the next seven moths.

Following Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla through the events of Marius' rise from new man to soldier and eventually consul, the novel was a sweeping story of politics, war, economics, surprising romance and some really eye-opening examples of what kind of leadership qualities were needed to help the Republic evolve and grow.

A long but fascinating read, and one that has me really looking forward to the rest of this series.

Book Review: Ship of Rome, by John Stack

John Stack's 2009 novel, and first in his "Masters of the Sea" series is Ship of Rome, which takes place at the beginning of the First Punic War (Rome vs. Carthage) and follows two men, the captain of a pirate-hunting ship named Atticus and his friend Septimus (leader of the ship's marines). Much of the first book moves back and forth between the two men's world views (Atticus is of Greek descent and seen basically as a second class citizen throughout, while Septimus is a member of an old Roman family and resents his work on a ship rather than the work with the legions he began his career in).

The novel follows the two men through the initial outburst of the war and was pretty fun overall; there were romance subplots and a pair of senators who duel for control of the early republic, but the book really stands out in the depiction of naval war, yes there re some anachronisms (specifically the use of slave galley's for the era), but the scenes are pretty action packed and the tension gets quite high throughout.

Well worth the read and it definitely has me looking forward to the sequel.

Book Review: Roma, by Steven Saylor

One of four rereads for me on David MacClaine's list of 50 Historical Fiction novels set in Ancient Rome, I read Roma a few years back when I was reading Saylor's mystery fiction following his character Gordianus the Finder.

Roma takes place over more than 1000 years, from the earliest days of what would become Rome but was simply a good place to find salt, through its time as a trading post, a city, a kingdom, and eventually the Republic. The novel is basically eleven interconnected short stories following the ups and downs of a family line while also showing how Rome as a city grew over time.

As a follow up to Alfred Duggan's Founding Fathers, it gives a nice overview of where the first half of this fifty book list is going to cover, and also does a nice job of giving a flavour to the setting, but shying away from one simple character we get to follow priests, leaders, warriors, slaves, vestal virgins, and more, giving a much more complex picture that one protagonist could have given us.

A great way to introduce yourself to both the subject matter and Saylor's work (of which I'm a pretty big fan), Roma is an excellent read and well worth your time.

Book Review: Founding Fathers

Aflred Duggan's 1959 novel Founding Fathers begins at the earliest days of the city of Rome, specifically the creation of a town by two brothers, Romulus and Remus and the bloody outcome of that founding (sorry for the 2700+ year spoiler!). The novel includes that fateful event, the capture of the Sabine Women, and the issues of succession after King Romulus.

What really stood out for me in this book however, was its shifting cast of protagonists, including Latins, Sabines, Etruscans, and Greeks, both used as a way to show the early days of the city from different viewpoints, and also to show how the city truly was greater than any of its individual citizens.

By following each of these characters, the strength of the city, its citizens clearly comes to the foreground. The novel moves quickly and does introduce many setting and institutions that will later play a large part in the history of what many call The Eternal City.

I found the book off of a list by David Maclaine at Historical Novels - you can see the list here, and having just spent three years reading his curated list of Ancient Greece, I found this to be a fascinating first read of the Ancient Romans, and although I'll be reading off of this list for the next four years, if Founding Fathers is any indication of the quality of books, I'm going to have a really good time with it.

Book Review: Wrath of the Furies

Steven Saylor's fifteenth novel featuring the character of Gordianus the Finder, and the third of his Ancient World prequel series, finds 19-year-old Gordianus in Alexandria during the midst of the Mithridatic Wars (89-87 BCE).

A Big part of what I've always loved about these books is how well Saylor immerses the reader into these strangely familiar, but often alien settings. Gordianus works, in effect, as a private detective, and each of the novels works as a mystery on its own. His latest, Wrath of the Furies (2015), nearly splits the standard narrative in half, with the majority of the novel being narrated by Gordianus, and the rest being a reading of the secret diary of an old acquaintance of Gordianus'.

As with the previous two prequel novels, the mysteries are still quite good, but the action has been dialed up, as a 17 to 19-year-old Gordianus ends up running and jumping a lot more through the course of these stories.

For this novel specifically, I had almost no previous knowledges of King Mithridates, his wars, or the key historic event that happened during the novel, which, for me, dramatically increased the tension throughout, and has got me much more interested in reading historical fiction set in the Ancient World.

Things I've Noticed: Steven Saylor writes a darn fine Mystery

This week I read the latest of Steven Saylor's mysteries set in Ancient Rome, The Seven Wonders.  In it, his detective character, Gordianus the Finder explores all seven of the wonders of the Ancient World and solves mysteries along the way.

The book, the 13th of his Roma Sub Rosa series, is actually set well before the rest of the series, when the main character was seventeen-years-old.  Although my personal tastes run to Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction, this series, which I started when I was taking a class on Ancient Rome and Early Christianity for my Undergraduate degree, got me totally hooked.

Beautifully mixing together Mystery stories and Historical Fiction, I simply couldn't put this series down, and honestly, if I could find them in hardcover, I would be pretty tempted to add them to my own library.

The first in the series is Roman Blood, and if you are interested in checking out a new mystery series, I would strongly recommend this one.