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Roma (Hardcover)

by Steven Saylor (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
RRP: £16.99
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 600 pages
  • Publisher: Constable; First Edition edition (15 Mar 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1845291107
  • ISBN-13: 978-1845291105
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.4 x 5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 198,755 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review
"* 'Saylor's scholarship is breathtaking and his writing enthrals' Ruth Rendell * 'How wonderful to have a scholar write about ancient Rome; how comforting to feel instant confidence in the historical accuracy of the novel' The Sunday Times * 'Saylor's gifts include authentic historical backgrounds and clever plotting.' Times Literary Supplement * 'entertainment of the first order.' Washington Post"

Newmarket Journal
`A gripping, informative read'


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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
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3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (3)
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Is this a novel?, 29 May 2007
By J. Hansen "iwantit" (Denmark) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
The front of the cover reads "An Epic Novel" - but is it really a novel?

Personaly I would call it a collection of short stories - allthough the stories are linked together, primarily by an amulet which is passed down from generation to generation.

Also, many of the stories span several years - divided into small chapters, or sections, each titled by a year in which the action takes plcase.

All in all, this could be quite a fragmentary read - but it is not!!

Steven Saylor is a fantastic story steller - also in short stories. The stories are told in his ususal style: good settings, lots of intresting details - but always with a clear focus on the cahracters and the story.

Granted, the setting of the first stories is so far from our usual image of ancient Rome (and the time of the Roma Sub Rosa series) that some may be dissapointed, while others (like me) will find it facinating to get a glimpse of the early years Rome.

And connectiing these 500 years of history gives the book a true epic feeling - novel or not!
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Roma, 13 Aug 2007
By Iraklis Koumoullos - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Steven Saylor has used the genre of historical fiction to produce a fascinating and informative account of the first thousand years of the history of Rome. It begins with the salt traders who first camped by the Tiber and concludes with Octavian taking power and ending the Republic.

It is in effect a series of short stories linked buy lineage and a religious amulet and this structure works remarkably well. I've noticed one or two fans of the sub Roma series criticising the quality of plotting and characterization; I couldn't disagree more and, considering that the genre is the short story format, I found the characters well drawn and easy to identify with. This is a different type of historical novel from the Gordianus mysteries but equally rewarding.

Saylor is a wonderfully fluent narrative writer who deserves greater recognition. There is no one that I know of who can recreate the past with such intense, gritty clarity and he has succeeded here again.

I do have a couple of minor reservations:
1. I am interested by the brutalisation of the people of the Roman State. There are references to public games and chariot racing but I would have appreciated a section on how the State and its people moved from that situation to one where it was sport to watch men kill each other. And how did this progression relate to the politics and social situation of the day?
2. Rome created a military machine (the legionary army) which in the end defeated all other opposition but how did this machine come about? Who moved the Roman military system away from the Greek/Etruscan hoplite model to the legionary one? What was the process of evolution? I would have appreciated some references along the way because Rome was after all a military state first and foremost.

But these are minor gripes in the overall scheme of this book. This is an excellent read.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Saylor breaks the bonds., 31 Aug 2007
I picked this up in my local library, surprised to see a book like this by Steven Saylor. I'd read some of his "ancient detective" books and enjoyed them well enough - though not enough to write a review for any of them. I hoped this would be good and was not disappointed. It is somewhat derivative, obviously influenced by Edward Rutherfurd's books such as "Salem," "London" and so on - but what the heck, I enjoyed Rutherfurd's books so was willing to give Saylor a go. Taking the same approach as Rutherfurd, telling a series of short stories linked over time through one or two families, it tells the story of early Rome from its humble beginnings as a trade route through to the time of Octavius. It handles such themes as Romulus and Remus, Corialanus, the invasion of the Gauls during the 4th century BC, the Punic Wars, the Gracchi and the end of the Republic and tells the stories in an interesting and lively way. Along the way he explains the growth of Rome's peculiar customs and religious rites and the development of its political institutions in a very accessible way.

Well done, Mr Saylor - a thoroughly good read, well researched (thank God) and very well written.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Technically proficient, but not much else
Saylor tries to do with Livy what Graves did with Suetonius (I,Claudius), but while Graves' work has flesh and blood, memorable characters, Saylor's book is simply plot driven... Read more
Published 28 days ago by Bruce L

5.0 out of 5 stars A potted history of Rome
In my constant search for good historical fiction, this novel caught my eye. As a huge fan of this genre, I am always looking for new authors and new angles. Read more
Published 4 months ago by chuckles

3.0 out of 5 stars Informative, pacy, but a poor novel
This is undoubtedly a well-researched piece of work, and compellingly plotted. The characters through the ages, while part of the same two families, are different enough to keep... Read more
Published 6 months ago by A reader

3.0 out of 5 stars Neither one thing nor the other
A disappointment, I'm afraid - and had it not been book number 3 of a "buy two, get one free" offer I'd have thought it a waste of money. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Ms. Af Knight

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant piece of story telling and history !
This is a superb book. I have liked all of Steven Saylor's Roman detective series, but if you have a real interest in Roman history then "Roma" is even better. Read more
Published 7 months ago by sgeoff

5.0 out of 5 stars you must read this?
Nearly finished this massive book now.
Quite simply it is fantastic.
Anyone with any interest in Rome or history should read this book. Read more
Published 8 months ago by D. Chippendale

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as Rutherford
A bit like Edward Rutherford's books such as Sarum. They get very formulaic but are quite captivating. This wasn't, I'm afraid to say. Read more
Published 10 months ago by L. P. Lewzey

4.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag
This is a big book in every way: in 663 pages Steven Saylor covers some 1000 years of Roman history from hypothetical beginnings c.1000 B.C. to Caesar Augustus (1 B.C.). Read more
Published 12 months ago by Anthony Hedges

3.0 out of 5 stars Hardly historical -- hardly fiction
I too have enjoyed this author's Roman Sub Rosa series with Gordianus--surely one of the most likeable heroes in detective fiction. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Brian Butler

4.0 out of 5 stars Good and solid, though not as strong as the Gordianus series
I love Steven Saylor's Roman mysteries, but the fictional characters in this were not as well drawn or sympathetic, with a couple of exceptions like the Vestal Pinaria during the... Read more
Published 15 months ago by John Hopper

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