Tagged: ancient rome
The IX by Andrew P. Weston
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Soldiers from varying eras and vastly different backgrounds, including the IX Legion of Rome, are snatched away from Earth at the moment of their passing, and transported to the far side of the galaxy. Thinking they have been granted a reprieve, their relief turns to horror when they discover they face a stark ultimatum:
Fight or die.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]
One of the things that Roman historians and various scholars debate is what happened to the Ninth Legion. One day they were flushing out rebellious tribes in Caledonia and the next they’ve vanished into thin air. Logic would point to their disappearance being caused by a total massacre of the legion and yet no bones have been found. So what happened to them? Well, Andrew P. Weston attempts his own little explanation for their disappearance as well as other mysterious warrior disappearances throughout the history of warfare.
While Marcus from the Ninth Legion is one of the characters and the book is called The IX, he’s not the main character. Instead, Weston chose to follow around 3 distinct voices. Their stories start when they were all ambushed and things get really interesting when they think they’ve been killed in action only to wake up and be told by extremely tall people that they now have to save an entire ancient civilization. That really threw me for a loop because the stark ultimatum they find, ‘fight or die’, made me think that we’d be in for a gladiator show. And that’s really the opposite of what happens. Marcus and the others, including some of the tribesmen that killed him and his compatriots have to work together to protect the remnants of an ancient civilization from the mysterious Horde. I can’t go into too much detail or I’ll spoil all of your fun, but needless to say that the Horde is not what it seems.
One of the greatest strengths of Weston’s writing is how much he thought out his world. He has created an amazing scientific world where science and history combine to great effect. The only real problem with this world is how we see it. We see it through the eyes of various peoples, including the people that brought Marcus and the others there but at the same time much of the language is very technical. You see, in order to fully appreciate Weston’s world I think you have to be a fan of hardcore science fiction. That’s fine, but I’m generally not a fan of that so I found a lot of the technical explanations either confusing or boring. But at the same time I think even fans of hardcore science fiction would get bored by some of the monologue explanations for how this or that works. If Weston had cut down a little on the explanations I also think the narrative would have flowed better. It was okay as it was, but it still could have been improved.
Overall, The IX is something I’d recommend to hardcore science fiction lovers who happen to know a little history. Even if you don’t know a little Roman history, you’ll still appreciate and enjoy all of the effort Weston put into creating his world. Because of that, although this book is quite long by most standards, it will quickly be a page-turner you don’t want to put down.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Lady of the Eternal City by Kate Quinn
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
National bestselling author Kate Quinn returns with the long-awaited fourth volume in the Empress of Rome series, an unforgettable new tale of the politics, power, and passion that defined ancient Rome.
Elegant, secretive Sabina may be Empress of Rome, but she still stands poised on a knife’s edge. She must keep the peace between two deadly enemies: her husband Hadrian, Rome’s brilliant and sinister Emperor; and battered warrior Vix, who is her first love. But Sabina is guardian of a deadly secret: Vix’s beautiful son Antinous has become the Emperor’s latest obsession.
Empress and Emperor, father and son will spin in a deadly dance of passion, betrayal, conspiracy, and war. As tragedy sends Hadrian spiraling into madness, Vix and Sabina form a last desperate pact to save the Empire. But ultimately, the fate of Rome lies with an untried girl, a spirited redhead who may just be the next Lady of the Eternal City . . .
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]
One of the things I’ve always struggled with in Kate Quinn’s Empress of Rome series is the believability factor. She does take the most sensational gossip about all of the emperors she writes about and portrays it in her novels. It’s a conscious choice rather than a mistake caused by lack of knowledge but sometimes it really doesn’t sit easy with me as someone who has studied Roman history to a certain extent. I liked where she took this sensationalism in her first book Mistress of Rome but really didn’t like it in Daughters of Rome because the believability factor with those characters was just not there. However, I set aside my impressions about the two books in the series that I’ve read (I’ve unfortunately skipped #3 but it wasn’t necessary to understand this story) to read Lady of the Eternal City. Because whether I agree with her or not on historical matters, Kate Quinn does write a good story.
Here we have some pretty fabulous characters: Vix, who is all grown up and watching his children both biological and adopted grow up, Sabina who is now Empress of Rome, Antinous the rather naive adopted son of Vix and Hadrian the capricious and ruthless emperor. Of all of these characters, I really did love Antinous the best. Of course I knew how his story was going to end but Kate Quinn made me love him in a way that I didn’t think was possible. For all that his naivete was his main flaw it was also his strength and led to some tremendous changes in other characters. In the cutthroat world of Roman power politics, he stayed innocent and really did believe the best of everyone, even those who mocked and hurt him. Antinous’ father Vix of course was also a great character. On one hand he is loyal to Rome because of his years in the legions. On the other hand, he’d really, really like to slit Hadrian’s throat because of a history of bad blood between the two of them. Vix is a complicated man and he’s far from perfect as you’ll definitely see around the halfway point in this book if you do read it. It makes him more realistic, considering his background.
The plot is not fast-paced even by historical fiction standards but Kate Quinn tells such a good story that you’ll have no problem sailing through the 500+ pages of the novel. Unlike some historical novels, it doesn’t feel like the unseen hand of the author is moving the characters forcibly down the paths of their historical counterparts. No, she creates her characters in such a way that it feels like you really know the historical figure and understand why the character chose to go down their particular path in life. Antinous’ story in particular resonated with me because so little is actually known about him as a person; he was sort of an ornament in Hadrian’s entourage for a number of years. But Antinous in the story really breathes life into a boy known to history as a wallflower, nothing more.
I don’t necessarily agree with the portrayals of all of the historical figures mentioned in the novel but Kate Quinn is generally very historically accurate. Her descriptions of everything from the numerous provinces Hadrian visits all the way to the everyday clothes of men and women are just fabulous. She brings a sort of authenticity to her writing that makes you feel like you’re right there along with the characters exploring the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire. And the little details she adds in to daily life just make it all the more believable. Lady of the Eternal City is one of those novels where you can quite honestly say you learned something from it when you’re done reading.
So if you have read and liked the rest of the Empress of Rome series, you will like Lady of the Eternal City. It reveals so much more about our old friends Sabina and Vix while also introducing an entirely new cast of characters in the next generation of the Roman elite. As with all of Kate Quinn’s books although it takes some of the most sensational stories from the time it remains true to the general historical facts and Quinn adds in little details that make you feel like you’re right there along with the characters. And that is one of the best ways to measure the calibre of any historical fiction novel.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
A.D. 69. Nero is dead.
The Roman Empire is up for the taking. With bloodshed spilling out of the palace and into the streets of Rome, chaos has become the status quo. The Year of Four Emperors will change everything—especially the lives of two sisters with a very personal stake in the outcome….
Elegant and ambitious, Cornelia embodies the essence of the perfect Roman wife. She lives to one day see her loyal husband as Emperor. Her sister, Marcella, is more withdrawn, content to witness history rather than make it. Even so, Marcella has her share of distinguished suitors, from a cutthroat contender for the throne to a politician’s son who swears that someday he will be Emperor.
But when a bloody coup turns their world upside down, Cornelia and Marcella—along with their cousins, one a collector of husbands and lovers, the other a horse-mad beauty with no interest in romance—must maneuver carefully just to stay alive. As Cornelia tries to pick up the pieces of her shattered dreams, Marcella discovers a hidden talent for influencing the most powerful men in Rome. In the end, though, there can only be one Emperor … and one Empress.
In order of publication, Daughters of Rome is technically the second book in Kate Quinn’s Empress of Rome series but chronologically it is the first. It’s a sort of prequel and you will recognize some of the characters we meet in Mistress of Rome except for the fact that they’re a couple of decades younger. And the story takes place not in the relative stability of Domitian’s reign but the violent chaos that was the Year of the Four Emperors. You would think that by virtue of having more drama (which Kate Quinn excels at writing about) the story itself would be better. The problem is, it isn’t. The strength of the first book was in its characters, notably Thea, but in this second book the characters really are the weakness.
First off, in true Roman fashion there are four cousins, all named Cornelia because they’re from the wealthy and influential Cornelii family. Kate Quinn helpfully gives us nicknames for them all (the eldest Cornelia is the only one actually called by her name) and it does take a little bit to get used to. However, after a couple of chapters it’s pretty easy to get everyone all organized because their personalities are fairly distinct. Cornelia is the ideal senator’s wife, Marcella is a bookish woman who just wants to write history, Lollia has the most unfortunate string of marriages imaginable and Diana, the youngest, is horse crazy. We do get to see the chaos from the eyes of all four of the sisters: the changing alliances, the marriage swapping, the crass power grabs not even bothered to be cloaked in lofty ideals, etc. The Year of the Four Emperors was a horrifying time to be a Roman, particularly since backing one person meant glory one day and committing suicide while on the run the next. Against this horrific background, you’d think that the characters would particularly stand out.
The problem is that none of the characters stand out; they didn’t have that authenticity that made Thea such a powerful, moving character. Diana is the only one who is vaguely believable in her actions but the idea that she’d be a female charioteer is just ludicrous. Roman women were generally more free than Greek women but they certainly weren’t that free, especially if they were from one of the main families in Rome. Lollia’s string of husbands is definitely believable but even though she finds love in an unusual place I never really connected with her and her plight. Like Marcella, her character felt rather hollow. Marcella’s character didn’t ring true to me because even though she’s a bookworm much like myself, she gets into all of these situations that feel like they’re the direct result of Kate Quinn’s manipulation of historical fact. It doesn’t feel natural that she finds herself in the midst of all of this trouble as it should; it feels forced and as such her character doesn’t grow in the way you would expect it to. Cornelia, the eldest of the four cousins and sister of Marcella, is a bland Roman matron who also finds love in an unexpected place. She at least is a believable character and I could sort of connect to her plight.
While the plot was certainly fast-paced and interesting (how could the Year of the Four Emperors not be, though?), it was surprisingly unsatisfying. Kate Quinn uses the most gossipy of all the gossipy sources on Roman history and takes the worst of said gossip to portray each emperor as a caricature of what they probably really were. This is not surprising given her portrayal of Domitian as a total sadist in the Marquis de Sade mold but it does make it seem like she’s going for the most drama no matter the historical reality. Galba was a stick in the mud, Otho was a jealous brooding sort of hedonist and Vitellius was a total glutton/hedonist but I think Quinn takes things just a little too far and it seems like she’s playing things up for her audience. As some people on Goodreads mentioned, it makes it feel like you’re reading The Real Housewives of Ancient Rome. Really, the story would be just as good if she toned down some of the drama and didn’t rely so heavily on Flavian-biased historians.
Overall, I felt that compared to Mistress of Rome was a much better book than her second book. That’s kind of shocking considering it was her debut but it was certainly much more satisfying than Daughters of Rome, which ends so randomly and incomprehensibly that I was left scratching my head in disbelief at the actions of three of the four sisters. There were a lot of good things happening in this book, mainly the portrayal of the chaotic events and the uncertainty that gripped all of Rome but on the character front it was the most unsatisfying book I’ve ever read by Kate Quinn. It’s just a complete disappointment to me, considering the fact that I loved her Borgia Chronicles and her debut novel. Really, the only thing that can adequately express my feelings toward this book is the word ‘meh’.
I give this book 2/5 stars.
Forgotten Figures: Aurelian
Lucius Domitius Aurelianus—Aurelian to modern scholars—is one of the most famous men you’ve never heard of. What I mean by that is he is remembered as an absolutely amazing Emperor within Roman history, but the average person has never, ever heard of him. That’s a shame because as you’ll see, Aurelian deserves to be put up there with the more recognizable Augustus, Trajan and Hadrian.
A bust of Aurelian.
Background
Aurelian is not as familiar to our modern ears because he ascended to the throne during what’s known as the Crisis of the Third Century. This crisis of political, economic and social factors is a confusing mess of events for modern historians trying to piece together a coherent narrative and not much is actually known about it. What is known, however, is that during this period, the Roman Empire split into three distinct areas ruled by different emperors and pseudo-emperors.
This period is not the high point of Roman culture, believe me. The written word was rarer, there were severe manpower shortages throughout the empire as the plague made its rounds and emperors rose and fell with alarming frequency. In the so-called Middle Empire of the time, the Emperor Gallienus ruled until he was assassinated by a military coup led by Claudius, who would later earn the title Gothicus for his campaigns against the Goths. Unfortunately, Claudius Gothicus likely succumbed to the plague killing his men, leaving no clear successor and a bunch of ambitious, seasoned military officers behind.
In the western Gallic Empire consisting mainly of Britain and Gaul, a man named Postumus had been ruling wisely and justly. He was beloved by his troops and the people he ruled over because the Western provinces had been neglected by the emperors in the central Empire. And when Gallienus, the current central emperor tried to launch a military campaign to retake the provinces, Postumus repulsed him twice. He was no dummy and managed to maintain his hold over the Gallic Empire for around nine good years.
In the East, a man named Odaenathus had been the de facto ruler for years. His main strength was that he was keeping the Sassanids in Persia from retaking territory they had lost to Rome centuries ago. Odaenathus was also no dummy and had a sphere of influence over most of the eastern provinces, including Syria, Egypt and Asia Minor. He ruled from the trade city of Palmyra, which had grown influential as it was one of the last main stops along the silk road before traders entered Persia. As such, it could charge taxes and create protection rackets that made the city obscenely wealthy. When Rome’s influence was degrading in the East, Odaenathus seized his opportunity to extend Palmyra’s influence over the surrounding provinces and although he officially had the approval of Gallienus, Gallienus couldn’t have dislodged him if he tried. Odaenathus was too smart and too powerful.
A map of the three different ’empires’ that had split from Rome during the crisis years.
The Hunger Games and The Third Servile War
The Third Servile War is probably one of the most famous wars you’ve never heard of. What I mean by that is that everyone knows about Spartacus’ rebellion from the movie Spartacus, but few people know that there really was a Spartacus and he really did start a rebellion that morphed into what the Romans knew as the Third Servile War. In Roman history, it was a monumental event that forced the Romans to reconsider their treatment of slaves and paved the way for later legislation to give slaves some protection (you could be charged for murder if you killed a slave during Claudius’ reign!).
What really struck me when I read The Hunger Games is that the Third Servile War is startlingly similar and is probably at least what partially inspired Suzanne Collins’ depiction of the rebellion of the Districts. First I think we need a little background on the inspiration behind this and then we’ll go more in depth into why there are so many similarities.
The Third Servile War didn’t start out as a war. It started out as a breakout from a gladiator school in Capua that included some two hundred slaves and gladiators. Unsurprisingly, with that many people involved, the plot was discovered and the rebel slaves had to fight their way out of the school. Spartacus was among them and he was naturally looked to as a leader, but what most people forget is another man who was a key player: Crixus. Crixus was a Celt who had also been captured to fight in the gladiator schools of the Roman Republic and he didn’t like his situation any more than Spartacus did. He and Spartacus, even though it may not have started out that way, became the ringleaders of their little revolt. Continue reading