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A Song for Nero
 
 
A Song for Nero (Hardcover)
by Thomas Holt (Author) "So there we were in the condemned cell in Damascus - which is in Syria, and believe me, you don't want to go there, it's..." (more)
4.4 out of 5 stars  (5 customer reviews)
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Product details
  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown (2 Jan 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0316861138
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316861137
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 13.8 x 4.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 938,882 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
    (Publishers and authors: Improve Your Sales)
  • Other Editions: Paperback (New Ed) |  All Editions


Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Thomas Holt provides us, in A Song for Nero, with one of the more ingeniously unlikely what-ifs of the modern historical novel: what if the body rebel troops found and dishonoured was not that of the deposed emperor Nero, but that of his official double, Callistus? A decade later, he and Callistus's mouthy younger brother Galen are still wandering the provinces of the empire, living hand to mouth and scam to scam--in some ways, a more inventive punishment for a tyrant than any court could imagine.

Holt's Nero is a fascinating set of contradictions, a fairly likable man in recovery from the total corruption of absolute power and keen to deny his worst crimes, or at least play them down. The petty crook Galen is the ideal foil for him, someone who cannot quite believe that his companion once did those things. And then their problems start. Not everybody thinks Nero is really dead, and there are all sorts of people with a use for him.

Like Holt's other historical novels, this one combines some of the inventive wit of his fantasies with real knowledge of the Classical period and a dark sense of irony; its principal weakness--some very routine thriller plotting--does not diminish the effectiveness of this distinctive tone of voice. --Roz Kaveney

NEW YORK TIMES
‘Witty, ironic … and achieves a deeply felt authenticity’

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So there we were in the condemned cell in Damascus - which is in Syria, and believe me, you don't want to go there, it's scalpingly hot and the people are not friendly - waiting for the soldiers to come back and take us off to be crucified. Read the first page
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5 Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An improbable but funny historical romp, 25 April 2003
This book is the story of the Emperor Nero, his double Callistus, Callistus' brother Galen, and what might have happened if the Emperor Nero hadn't died in a ditch outside Rome. Despite some historical innacuracy, the book manages to evoke a dusty, raucous, long-ago time with great warmth and feeling. Told from the first-person perspective of Galen, I found the style to be a little grating initially, as the guy basically never shuts up. However, as the book progresses, the story really starts to flow; the humour and wit is everything you would expect from a Tom Holt novel, but the characterisation goes somewhat deeper, to great effect.
The plot lurches from one outrageous scam to another, with the "heroes" dogged by their own sheer stupidity, until you wonder how they can possibly blag their way out of yet another certain death situation. I spent most of the book wanting to give Nero a good sharp kick, and there were several scenes which caused me to laugh out loud (to the consternation of fellow train passengers). I thought the ending was very clever, it tied up enough loose ends to be neatish, without being an audience pleaser.
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