Procurator [Paperback]

But it gets three stars from me, not four.

My recollection is that Procurator, and the rest of Kirk Mitchell's alternate-Rome trilogy, got re-released when the film Gladiator took off. This makes more sense than just some tenuous "let's dig out the ancient Rome backlist" thinking. The stories bear some resemblance to each other.

In Procurator, as in the movie Gladiator, it's not about figuring out who has amassed against you, who is plotting your downfall; no, by Jupiter!--the question is, what do you do about it! Procurator is a book of intrigue and conspiracy, but the reader is in on the scheming. There is not much mystery here...a few scenes after characters are introduced, gladhanding our hero Germanicus, we see them off in a corner, figuring out how to get rid of him, and the Emperor. Meanwhile, the "new barbarians" also threaten the sanctity of this Rome. Germanicus, then, has a very big problem, especially when it looks like some backstabbing friends are in league with the most powerful of the hostile "barbarians". The forces working to eliminate Procurator Germanicus do end up reminding me of the underdog position of the Russell Crowe character from Gladiator--although Germanicus is supposed to be on top!

The plot, then, must satisfy when it comes to showing how Germanicus uses strength and cunning, plus a few loyal allies like the wonderful character Rolf, to outwit or outfight his various opponents. And generally it does. I was also surprised at how much I became emotionally involved in what was happening to Germanicus, given the fast pace, and the short shrift given to the emotional reactions of the characters themselves (ie. "Germanicus wept.").

So what's not to like? Well, the clipped style does, I feel, take away from the overall effect. Could the writer not have caused even more of an emotional reaction, with more focus on mood, or character's inner thoughts and feelings? The opening of the book is of the "Hammer's Slammers" variety--big war-machines trundling about, spewing forth soldiers or missiles. And the reader, in these initial battle sequences, is trapped with the Romans' point-of-view here, so you don't really get to see what happens where the missiles land. The literary equivalent of riding around in a tank. A narrow focus to the start which did not bode well, but of course the plot opened up nicely, as I indicated already.

As for the theatre scene, which is full of irony because the play put on for Germanicus's enemies mirrors our own world, where Pontius Pilate made the opposite decision, it was slightly derivative of, well, A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare and, uh, The Man in The High Castle by Philip K. Dick. A clever plot twist, but not totally new.

This book has sections, the farther it goes along, which rate four stars--but overall I give it a three-star review. I do look forward to the next book.