Paperback:
 Latest edition: 2022 Publisher: Sharpe Books ISBN: 9798411868739 Pages: 233 Availability & latest prices:  |
Rome's End: What’s it about? From the blurb: 45BCE. Rome is under a Dictator. Caesar has won the final battle of a bloody Civil War, and Romans are ready for peace. So, when Lucius Sestius Quirinalis, an aspiring lawyer, is called into his father’s study one autumn morning, he is thinking of nothing more than the family’s latest case. The charge against the historian Sallust is his corrupt rule in Roman Africa. But it is his research into the twenty-year-old Catilinarian Conspiracy which is proving unsettling for some. The Sestius family are alarmed when their friend Caecilius is killed in mistake for Lucius. Their involvement in the case has brought murder to their own house, and Lucius is in danger. With the aid of Cornelius Rufus, an informant from the Subura slums, Lucius goes into hiding. His mistake is to travel to Hippo Regius where Sallust was governor. With nowhere left to hide, Lucius risks a return to Rome and a confrontation with Caesar. In the aftermath of the Ides of March, his questions will be answered. Caesar, it seems, was not the only one to suffer a betrayal. Background This is a debut novel and the first in a series following Lucius Sestius in the first century BCE. It’s a quick read, 233 pages in paperback. It was published by Sharpe Books and is also available as an ebook. Book two, entitled The Emperor’s Servant continues the story of Lucius and a further book, The Third Daughter has been recently published and follows a different character in a slightly earlier period, but also in the era of Julius Caesar. The Good and the Not so Good This is an intelligent and intriguing thriller set against the backdrop of the final days of Julius Caesar and begins with the historian Sallust before dragging in Cicero and the Catilinarian Conspiracy from twenty years earlier. The repercussions of the conspiracy form the basis of the plot and we see how not only Cicero but also the lawyers investigating the charges against Sallust have to deal with the difficult moral dilemmas around supporting the right powerful individuals while preserving their own principles. The author was a teacher of the classics at a top UK school for many years and her knowledge of the subject is easy to see in the way she constructs a complex story and letting the characters explain many of the issues of the time, from the role of Dictators to the impact of the change in the calendar. It’s lightly done and doesn’t feel jarring. The plot rolls along at a steady pace for the most part and kept me interested until the end. The main characters are sympathetically drawn, especially Lucius who I generally cared for. It was interesting to see how he reacted to being put in a difficult moral position at the end. I did struggle with remembering who was who, there were several characters with similar names and an actual List of Characters at the beginning would have probably helped. Cicero is a familiar character to most but I had only heard of Sallust recently and they were portrayed with very real concerns and fears. I would have liked to have seen the character of Decius the head house slave fleshed out a bit more, he was competent and loyal but we didn’t really get an insight into how he felt. Perhaps the most enigmatic character was bodyguard Cornelius Rufus, referred to as a Subura rat from the slums but who spoke to the main characters as equals, with no real change in tone compared to the Sestius family. Final thoughts Overall, Rome’s End was an enjoyable read, well-researched and a different take on the period and setting, an intelligent mystery rather than action-filled story and I will definitely read the sequel to see how Lucius deals with his next challenge. | Kindle:
Latest edition: 2022 Publisher: Sharpe Books Availability & latest prices: |
If you want to read more about Fiona and her work, her website is fionaforsythauthor.co.uk and she posts on twitter as @for_fi.
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