CompleteMartialArts.com - Roma: The Novel of Ancient Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome)
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List Price: $15.95
Our Price: $10.85
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Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780312377625
ISBN: 0312377622
Label: St. Martin's Griffin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 592
Publication Date: 2008-03-04
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: 2008-03-04
Studio: St. Martin's Griffin
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Editorial Reviews:
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Spanning a thousand years, and following the shifting fortunes of two families though the ages, this is the epic saga of Rome, the city and its people.
Weaving history, legend, and new archaeological discoveries into a spellbinding narrative, critically acclaimed novelist Steven Saylor gives new life to the drama of the city’s first thousand years — from the founding of the city by the ill-fated twins Romulus and Remus, through Rome’s astonishing ascent to become the capitol of the most powerful empire in history. Roma recounts the tragedy of the hero-traitor Coriolanus, the capture of the city by the Gauls, the invasion of Hannibal, the bitter political struggles of the patricians and plebeians, and the ultimate death of Rome’s republic with the triumph, and assassination, of Julius Caesar.
Witnessing this history, and sometimes playing key roles, are the descendents of two of Rome’s first families, the Potitius and Pinarius clans: One is the confidant of Romulus. One is born a slave and tempts a Vestal virgin to break her vows. One becomes a mass murderer. And one becomes the heir of Julius Caesar. Linking the generations is a
mysterious talisman as ancient as the city itself.
Epic in every sense of the word, Roma is a panoramic historical saga and Saylor’s finest achievement to date.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Fictional Rome Coupled with Historical Rome
Comment: As always, Saylor has done a good job getting the minds of ancients. However while he spends a great deal of time on Rome prior to the city's foundations and it's very early centuries, I think he gives the Republic, especially the last century of it, too little focus. Yes the book is huge and perhaps may have been better suited to two books instead. But I think a lot of the repeated information could have been cut as well though it did an excellent job of speculating on how legends get changed over the course of generations. I also liked that he spend a good amount of time on women, a very important part of Roman society for all it's patriarchal BS, and a bit on slaves though that too could have been pulled out more I think. The lack of evidence makes such speculation dangerous for historians before for novelist it can be very rewarding.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Roman history
Comment: For a book that spans five centuries, you don't really expect to fall in love with the characters or read about much more than death and war. However, this book completely rose above my expectations. It not only focuses on specific families, it really takes you into their everyday lives and what it was like from the time when Rome was practically a bunch of huts to the building of a great empire under Augustus. A really good read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: epic story!
Comment: and one that will stay in my memory for a good while!
great read, got thrown off track a bit by the same names,
but i enjoyed roma nontheless!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book
Comment: I could not put this book down. Great historical fiction that takes place right in Rome from when it was a trade route to Caesar Augustus. If you are looking for battles and war this is not the book for you. This is about the families and politics of Rome. It follows certain family members of a bloodline through 1000 years.
Well written and well told story.
I will re-read this book again easily.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An Entertaining Read
Comment: I thoroughly enjoyed reading Roma. It's largely a series of connected short stories about colorful characters - real and imagined - that lived and ruled Rome through Augustus.
This was quite entertaining, and although over 500 pages in length, it was easy to read quickly. Don't let the size of the book dissuade you in the least.
I did have some disappointments, however. Saylor repeatedly used a technique of characters reciting recent events or political situations to each other that would have been perfectly obvious to everyone in the story. This grew tiresome to me, as such dialogue was quite stilted, lengthy, and completely unnatural. After a while, it became an annoying habit and interrupted the flow of the book for me.
Obviously, this was done to bring the reader up-to-date or to provide historical background, however I think this way of doing so was greatly overused. It was disruptive enough to me to have a significant impact in my immersion in the stories themselves, and providing the necessary information through a variety of other means would have been welcome.
Secondly, I would have greatly enjoyed additional character development, even if that meant reducing the scope of the work itself. I think the project may have been far more effective split into two or more parts to allow for such development. I found myself truly engaged with the lot of Pinaria, for example, yet her life after giving birth was told only as a sketch. Understandably, this detail was relatively unimportant to the rest of the history being told, yet as a pleasure reader, I felt cut off.
Even with these criticisms, I recommend the book to others. Overall, it was an interesting book full of clever plots, historical fancy, and dramatic people. A solid 3-stars.
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