|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In Roberts's entertaining, fast-paced Roman historical, his eighth to feature Decius Caecilius Metellus (after 2003's The Tribune's Curse), Decius has just become an aedile, a city manager responsible for overseeing urban infrastructure, when he's summoned to a fatal building collapse that claims more than 200 lives. While the evidence of shoddy workmanship is consistent with the pervasive but tolerated corruption in the construction trade, Decius's trained investigative eye notes anomalies on several of the corpses; he risks his political future and his life to follow the clues. His powerful family's efforts to navigate the treacherous shifting alliances that preceded Julius Caesar's return from the Gallic Wars add to the pressures the aedile faces. Once again, Roberts does a nice job of bringing the past to life, though his scholarship and detail fall short of Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series, which serves as the gold standard for ancient historicals. Despite the small universe of suspects and a solution involving nearly as much luck as dogged legwork, the book's many fine qualities should boost the ranks of Roberts's readers and send newcomers in search of the previous entries.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
He would rise up as savior of the State, but Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger already has a lot on his mind. In the year of his aedileship, Decius is expected to stage elaborate and expensive games out of his own pocket. Along with his duties of pleasing the crowds with the feats of gladiators and wild beasts, are the more practical, and commonly neglected, ones of maintaining the city and its laws. It is these more mundane duties that call him to the scene of a recently built and more recently collapsed tenement building. Determined to punish the greedy parties who used cheap materials and caused the deaths of hundreds, Decius sets out to exact justice. It is easier said than done, especially when bodies and evidence go missing, and his family pressures him to cease the investigation. As he seeks out the politicians, philosophers, and tradesmen of the day, it becomes clear that the collapse of the building was deliberate, and Decius could be going after some of the most powerful men in Rome.
In this eighth installment of the series, Roberts once again provides authentic detail in the everyday Roman customs, as well as a fascinating picture of the growing unsteadiness of this famed Republic.
In this eighth installment of the series, Roberts once again provides authentic detail in the everyday Roman customs, as well as a fascinating picture of the growing unsteadiness of this famed Republic.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
IT WAS THE WORST YEAR IN the history of Rome. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
IT WAS THE WORST YEAR IN the history of Rome. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable series,
By
This review is from: SPQR VIII: The River God's Vengeance (Hardcover)
I found this to be another enjoyable entry in an entertaining series. The SPQR series is set in the last days of the Roman Republic, as powerful men, including Julius Caesar, Pompey, Crassus, and various lesser figures, including the heads of criminal gangs within the city of Rome, compete against each other to gain power over Rome. Each novel in the series fits a mystery plot into actual historical events of the period. The protagonist, a young nobleman who is an idealistic believer in the Republic, always fights hard not only to solve the mystery confronting him, but also to protect the Republic. An intrepid investigator, he invariably solves the mystery, but sees the Republic nevertheless growing ever more endangered as the series progresses. While the main characters are not as strongly created as those in Lindsey Davis' somewhat similar mystery series, set later during the Roman Empire, the author's wryly humorous reinterpretations of Roman history and the figures who shaped it never fail to entertain.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Preachy,
By
This review is from: SPQR VIII: The River God's Vengeance (Hardcover)
This is a good book but the ending isn't done well.He preaches the virtues of good and justice to the villain when he should be running for his life.This preaching goes on far too long.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great fun. Fascinating historical mystery,
By booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: SPQR VIII: The River God's Vengeance (Hardcover)
Roman tenement apartments fall down all the time and aedile Decius Caecilius Metellus figures this is just another straightforward prosecution of building code violations. But as he investigates, he discovers that the pattern of late Roman Republican corruption has spread even further into the city than he had imagined. The building collapse might not be just bad building materials, but premeditated murder. And his investigations put him in both physical danger and at odds with his powerful family. And then there are the filthy sewers. With the Tiber River set to flood, the sewers seem ready to back up. To a good Roman, the crimes threaten to go beyond criminal all the way to impious. Decius makes a wonderful and memorable character with his offhand comments on Roman society, on figures like Caesar, Pompey, and Cicero that have become history, and with his strangely consistent attitudes toward corruption and friendship. This case pushes Decius outside of his comfort zone--making him deal with the one man he hates more than any other--the stuffy Cato. It also gives him plenty of opportunity to walk the streets of ancient Rome, dodge the gangs fighting for control of the dying republic, and give his pithy observations on the curious and fascinating social structures that made Rome work. Author John Maddox Roberts does a fine job recreating a critical period in world history, delivering an interesting mystery that fits the historical period, and offering a fascinating first-person protagonist. I found myself laughing out loud at Decius's observations on his world--and his thoughts on humanity in general. Roberts's writing is fast-paced and compelling. I read the book in a single sitting then checked to make sure there weren't more books in the series that I need to get my hands on right away. I recommend THE RIVER GOD'S VENGEANCE to anyone who enjoys history, democratic government, or a rollicking good mystery.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
