The goal for this year is to read more books!
I got so wrapped up last year in finishing The Secret Service Agent, that I slacked off on my reading list!
So starting off the New Year with my first book review:
Roman Blood by Steven Saylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Having read Steven Saylor’s ‘Roma’ I was fascinated to start at the beginning of the Roma Sub Rosa series and meet Gordianus the Finder.
This was an easy and enjoyable read from start to finish, though it did flag a little bit in the middle, and I’ve only given it 4 stars here because the repetition of certain information that the reader had already been given previously in the book, started to get very tedious after a while.
I understand that repetition is often necessary to make sure the reader gets the point, but this didn’t feel like that kind of writing tool from my perspective.
The characters are hard to like at first. Their pace of life is very slow, and many of them are utterly irredeemable. But stick with it, it’s worth it.
I had no idea until the end that it was based on real historical documents from the famous Orator Marcus Tullius Cicero, whom we meet in the story as the man quite literally guiding the need for Gordianus to go Find him information on a case to be presented before the Rostra in the ancient Roman Forum.
I would absolutely recommend this book, and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the next one in the series.