Raiders of the Nile: A Novel of the Ancient World Hardcover – Feb 25 2014

In this enthralling novel, we meet Gordianus the finder, as a young man on twenty-two, living in Alexandria with Bethesda, the slave girl who has won his heart. Readers of Steven Saylor’s mystery series, set in ancient Rome, will be familiar with Gordianus’s resourcefulness as a detective. He is equally resourceful here, when Bethesda disappears and he discovers she has been kidnapped.

There are mysterious events, and the presence of Ismene the witch, a character who appeared in Saylor’s last Gordianus book, THE SEVEN WONDERS, adds a touch of the occult to the plot. But the book is more an adventure story than a mystery, and Gordianus’s courage and physical stamina are tested along with his mental acumen. There are terrible dangers, hair-raising escapes, and a well-fleshed out cast of characters that includes the street-smart young slave boy, Djet. Djet leaps off the page so fully alive and so appealing that I very much hope we encounter him in another novel. There is also Cheelba, a lion who I came to care about as much as I did the human characters. I loved Cheelba and the role he played in the story!

I appreciate the moral seriousness that Saylor brings to the subject of a romance between a master—Gordianus—and his slave. This question is not belabored in any kind of heavy handed way, but it is not ignored either. Since Gordianus is a good man, one the reader admires, it would be wrong to portray him as oblivious to the ethical aspects of such a power differential.

I have an abiding interest in the ancient world, and there were plot elements that reminded me of Roman comedies (which were patterned on Greek comedies). I found Saylor’s discussion of ancient novels in the Author’s Note extremely interesting, and a reminder of this author’s true erudition. His knowledge of the ancient world gives his books a wonderful added dimension.

To sum up, I greatly enjoyed this book and found it a page-turner I could not put down. I regret that I read it in one day, because I would like to have lingered in Saylor’s ancient world a bit longer. I’ve read all of his historical novels and recommend them all. This one is great!

Warning - read or re-read "The Seven Wonders" before this one. Action packed adventures of "young" Gordianus in Alexandria. Something for everyone with the unique Saylor touch. Plenty of action and adventure, in a historically correct context, without sacrificing his unique blend of scholarship and accuracy. Saylor explains his choice of format in the author's note at the end. It will keep you in suspense through to the end.

As with the other books in my 3 book order, this volume arrived with stains on the covers as though the person packing it was eating something ( or worse ) and the post office took advantage of no padding to manhandle the box, break the packing tape, and damage the corners of all pages. This makes 2 out of the 3 books to arrive in similar condition from Amazon.

This new Gordianus series takes the reader back to the future Finder's very eventful youth. In the first book an eighteen year-old Gordianus visits the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World with his old tutor. In this second book, he is older, living in Alexandria, and romantically involved with his slave girl Bethesda. When she disappears mysteriously, he sets out to find her and bring her home.
A romantic adventure follows which involves everything from a mime troop to pirates and lion to a witch and, ultimately to a very fat Ptolemy, who is currently King of Egypt. It is a pleasure to read and includes the attention to bringing ancient people vibrantly alive that is hallmark of all of Saylor's stories. he makes Alexandria and the wilds of the Nile Delta accessible and as real as he made Rome and Italy in his earlier books. I look forward to reading these stories of the younger Gordianus as quickly as he writes them.

I have to admit a real liking for Steven Saylor’s novels of Gordianus the Finder. Though they vary in quality from the mediocre to the truly excellent, you can always count on a decent mystery and a good dose of history. As far as Raiders of the Nile goes, it’s solidly in the middle of the road.

Having seemingly exhausted Roman history and taken Gordianus to a ripe old age in previous novels, Mr. Saylor has backtracked in his past couple books to Gordianus as a young man. This time around, we have a twenty-two year-old Gordianus living in Egypt force to track his kidnapped slave (love, and future wife) Bethesda in the Nile delta where he runs into brigands and political fallout with the uncertain rule of Egyptian King Ptolemy.

Honestly, Mr. Saylor is saved this time around by the great character he has created in Gordianus and a plot that ticks along nicely for most of the book. He’s working against a real problem now: the historical ground he’s currently covering just isn’t as interesting as Gordianus’ adventures in Rome. He also does himself no favors by the very pat, very happy ending he brings all the main characters to in the closing pages of this novel. I used to be a big fan of Mr. Saylor’s often harsh but more realistic endings to his Gordianus novels. He’s lost that recently.

Still, this is a pleasant enough read. And no one can deny that Mr. Saylor knows how to create a real sense of an historical place, when he doesn’t get too instructional (which he doesn’t here). In the end, this book is a fun way to spend an afternoon.