A #DDRevs Diamond Read
AMAZON UK
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| Cover US and Canada |
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| Cover UK |
Historical fiction
1st Century
Rome
Margaret George has done it again - she’s delivered another vivid, dramatic
historical novel that sweeps readers along on a journey of exhilaration and
betrayal. This time, her focus is on ancient Rome, beginning around the year 40
AD, and the early life of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, later called Nero
Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. The novel opens with an early memory of
Lucius, when his uncle, the infamous Emperor Caligula, tries to drown him in
the sea and allows a sympathetic sailor to rescue him. From then on, Lucius’s
life is one set of traumas, upheavals, and betrayals to the next as he
struggles to find his place in a dangerous political world he doesn’t yet
understand. When he does eventually and unexpectedly rise to power as the
youngest man ever to become the Emperor of Rome, he must learn to trust himself
and figure out the intricacies of Roman politics while still coming into his
own as a man.
As usual, George has done impeccable research in this novel. Every detail,
every event, is minutely depicted. I felt as though I could close my eyes and
then open them again upon ancient Rome. Nero himself is a sympathetic figure,
sensitive, well rounded, thoughtful, peaceful, not at all the man driven by the
madness that most of us are familiar with from the works of Tacitus. George is
a (possibly diabolical) genius at crafting Nero. Throughout the book,
especially as he got older, I found myself wondering if this was the real man,
or if this was how he saw himself and he was so out of touch that he didn’t
notice everyone else just placating him. It was absolutely brilliant writing.
It took me a minute to make up my mind that no, he wasn’t actually unhinged as
history would have us believe. As the Author’s Note very logically explains,
unpopular leaders do not get memorials made for them, are not beloved by the
commoners during their lifetimes, are not honored and missed by those common
people after their deaths. His real error was not seeing how his actions were
rubbing the nobles the wrong way. He wasn’t playing by the rules they were used
to or approved of. He wanted to do things in a new way.
I think honestly that a
lot of his behavior could have been explained by his youth. Nero was at the
time the youngest person to become Emperor, and what teen doesn’t want to set
the world on fire in some way? Add power and prestige to that and I can easily
see how he could ruffle feathers and not see the danger until too late. But
mad? No. Nero was vilified, a victim of history like Richard III was.
Some of my favorite scenes or people in the book:
●
Locusta. I have always been
interested in herbal medicines and poisons (yeah, I know, morbid). Seeing a
strong woman use them and never get caught is terrific.
● Acte. A freed slave who
Nero wants to marry but she isn’t about to fall for that nonsense. She loves
him as best she can and they both have to deal with the repercussions of that.
●
Boudicca. I’ve always been
fascinated by her and thought it was really interesting to see her from the
perspective of her male enemies. I’ve only ever read books about her from her
own first person perspective and so it was a new experience to read from the
other side.
●
The scene when Nero
realized his own mother was heading up a conspiracy to kill him. That was
powerful and wrenching. I’m really close to my mother, and my mother is
actually not a sociopath. Huzzah! So I can’t really imagine what it must have
felt like for Nero to realize that the one person who is supposed to love you
unconditionally and always support you no matter what is not only NOT doing
that but is actively trying to kill you. What a horrifically surreal
experience.
●
The scene when Nero and
Acte are looking at the villa he is building for them. I liked the visual of
them deciding what to put in where as it was built, much like any couple would
do when having a home built today. It felt so domestic and normal. It really
made them both feel far more accessible than they might have otherwise. I loved
it.
Literally my only quibbles, and they are super minor, are that the parts with Boudicca were short (just
because I am fascinated by Boudicca and was hoping for a little more with her),
and that I had to wait until book two to read the rest of Nero’s story.
Technically, of course, I didn’t have
to wait, I know how history records
Nero’s story. But I wanted to see what Margaret George does with it. I was
surprised to see that she wrote a two-part book, since I think she hasn’t done
that before. However, I now have an advanced reading copy of the second book in
my hot little hands, so I’ll be reading and reviewing that one very soon. I
can’t wait!
© Kristen
McQuinn
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