A Discovered Diamond
shortlisted for Book of the Month
shortlisted for Book of the Month
short stories e-book novella
Novella/short
stories
Various time
periods/locations
I thoroughly
enjoyed this “Extra” to Alison Morton’s excellent Roma Nova series. My only slight grump being that I wish the
stories had been longer because I loved them!
One of the
reasons I am enthralled with the Roma
Nova series (aside from the skilfully written plots, excellent writing and
professional standard of production) is the concept
of the whole thing: that Rome survived into the modern day and that the women
are more dominant than the men. The customs are similar to those of Ancient
Rome, (adapted to modern day of course) with Roma Nova Saturnalia sounding much
more fun than modern Christmas. From the Praetorian Guard, the Vigiles, the
important families, the Empress (a female, not a male emperor) down to the ordinary
men and women in the streets, all are entirely believable. Add in the
‘thriller’ aspect of the plots and you get an exciting and engrossing read.
For Roma Nova Extra we meet some new
characters – those from the past – and some familiar ones from the twentieth
and twenty-first century setting of the main series of novels. The stories are
short, I’d say a train journey to work or one story at bedtime length, but they
are intended as quick glimpses into the years between the rest of the series –
vignettes into a different world of highly interesting fictional characters. And the intention works perfectly.
One of the
stories connects to Ms Morton’s contribution to the Diamond Tales
Christmas series that we published here on Discovering Diamonds last December,
and another is a slight adaptation of her story that appears in 1066 Turned Upside Down a collection
of ‘what if’ short stories by nine different authors.
An enjoyable,
enthralling read. Highly recommended.
© Helen Hollick
note: genuine review even though Alison Morton is known to me
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