Moreover, the whole story is very thrilling. What more could one want from a historical novel? Oh, and I should also mention that this was only Steven Saylor's debut novel! Absolutely intoxicating and strongly recommendable to any fan of history, especially about the Roman Empire! Apr 17, Ram rated it really liked it Shelves: An interesting book set in Rome at the end of Sula's dictatorship.
The book is a combination of a crime thriller, historical novel and legal thriller and mostly reads like a page turner but includes some dull moments. I liked the descriptions of every day life in Rome, both of the nobility and of the more simple people. The struggles of power and the political schemes are interesting too. The emphasis of the book, on the day to day life in Rome as opposed to the big battles and expansions that ar An interesting book set in Rome at the end of Sula's dictatorship.
The emphasis of the book, on the day to day life in Rome as opposed to the big battles and expansions that are described in other books about the era, suited me. View all 4 comments. Jul 01, Victor Bruneski rated it really liked it. I wasn't expecting when I first started this book. I had read a Finder story years ago. At the time I wasn't that impressed with the story, maybe because it was in the middle of the series, and I couldn't remember much of it now anyway. On the other hand, Roman Blood is the first in the series, so that is a better start.
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Starting at the start is a better start, so start there. The first thing that leaps out to the reader is how detailed Mr. Saylor is on showing Roman life back then. I think most b I wasn't expecting when I first started this book. I think most books about Ancient Rome tend to focus on battles, and their leaders. The story focuses a lot on Sulla and Cicero, but from a normal Roman citizen's point of view.
You can tell the author's love for Roma in the opening chapters as the protagonist travel's to meet his client Cicero. These moments, and when Gordianus is talking politics is my favorite parts of the novel. The mystery part almost seems secondary. The mystery is pretty much solved halfway through, although there is a twist at the end. It also does not have a happy ending, but something more realistic. If you are looking for a historical fiction set in Rome, I would highly recommend this book.
However, if you are looking for a mystery, then I'd look elsewhere. Aug 15, Kavita rated it really liked it Shelves: Roman Blood is a fictional narrative of Cicero's first major case, Sextius Roscia's defence for killing this father. He hires the services of Gordanius to find out exactly what happened, and the author has woven a thrilling story. I am not much of a Roman history fan, but I looked up some aspects of the case and was surprised by how true Saylor has been to history, even with the inclusion of a major fictional character.
The narrative was good too, and the action is consistent. The only parts tha Roman Blood is a fictional narrative of Cicero's first major case, Sextius Roscia's defence for killing this father. The only parts that bored me was when the author had Gordianus pontificate about Roman history. When you are in the mood for murder and mysteries, you don't want to read about who won wars or what their aristocratic background is. A murder mystery must keep to the theme.
The characters were well etched, and I especially loved Tiro. Every person behaved as we would have expected them to behave, and that is a huge plus. I also enjoyed the details about daily Roman life that Saylor wove in effortlessly in the story. Jan 31, Ensiform rated it really liked it Shelves: Gordianus the Finder — a Roman detective with a lust for the truth, hard drinking, and his slave-girl Bathsheba — is hired by Cicero to unearth the facts behind a mysterious killing.
This is a superb historical detective novel. Gordianu Gordianus the Finder — a Roman detective with a lust for the truth, hard drinking, and his slave-girl Bathsheba — is hired by Cicero to unearth the facts behind a mysterious killing.
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Gordianus is a Roman Matt Scudder, a hard-living survivor with no special interests or abilities except a deep need for the truth and, possibly, a liking for rough justice. You get a sharp portrait of Roman life in 80 BC, from the street gutters to the gangs to the games of trigon to the slave economy. Cicero in particular is brought to life in fine detail. All together, a promising start to a mystery series with a very solid historical background. Oct 31, Dawn rated it really liked it Shelves: In this book I have finally found a Roman historical fiction that details a vast portion of the roman political and justice system.
Gordianus the Finder is hired to aid Cicero with the defense of a man accused of patricide. Cicero is a young man at the start of his career and he is determined to make a name for himself. As Cicero prepares to argue his first case, Gordianus must travel through the most disgusting of slums and to the farms in the countryside in order to solve the mystery. I almost In this book I have finally found a Roman historical fiction that details a vast portion of the roman political and justice system. I almost loved this book. It was entertaining and informative, with enough action to keep the story from getting boring and enough accurate history about the laws and living styles of Romans in 80 BC to hold my interest.
Eco is the beating heart at the center of everything. He made me shiver. At his appearance in this book, I hoped for the best, but I prepared for the worst. Eco Echo , child of a destitute widow turned prostitute, impoverished, mute, deserted, is the scapegoat of the poor, rude neighborhood. All he has is courage and a strong sense of justice. But he is a tiny, starving little boy, beaten savagely by all and unprotected, voiceless and without strength.
He must run and hide to stay alive at all. Survival is very very doubtful for this small silent symbol, yearning for Roman justice. He is an insignificant matter to the universe. However, he saw a man murdered, and he saw who did it. Gordianus the Finder, Roman detective, is hired by none other than Marcus Tullius Cicero, who soon will become Rome's greatest advocate, legal defender for the 'unjustly' accused.
Gordianus has never met Cicero before, so he is wary but curious when the slave Tiro, owned by Cicero, comes to the Finder's rundown Roman house. The case Cicero wants researched is one that may involve Sulla, the current Roman dictator, or his relatives, or his favorite freed slave, beautiful and now powerful master of his own house. Sextus Roscius is accused of murdering his father after he feared being cut from the elderly man's will. Roscius is denying all charges but no one believes him, except for certain supportive patrons and friends. Parricide is REALLY frowned upon in Rome, which is amazing, considering that rampant legal State executions were recently conducted by the paranoid Sulla, who stuck the heads of thousands of suspected enemies on stakes through a 'legal' process called proscriptions, entitling the Roman State to confiscate all property and money from the family of the man so proscribed, and selling the property leftovers to interested or connected favorites of Sulla.
Sulla had only just declared the proscriptions finished, so all of Rome was a tad bit nervous about going against anyone connected to Sulla. The ambitious and righteous Cicero was having none of it - he was going to prove Sextus innocent no matter who's toes he stepped on. Of course, he neglects to tell Gordianus of many of these issues. Gordianus takes the case, thinking he will be able to stay under the radar of Rome's finest families, as well as it's underworld.
Bethesda, Gordianus' slave, does her best to make a clean habitable home from the inherited furnishings of her master. She loves her cat Bast, which Gordianus allows. So Gordianus is understandably upset when he comes home after stepping on a few toes and finds the cat dead in his house.
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Gordianus is a nice man in a not-so-nice Rome. He has a heart of gold under a skin as tough as nails. Eco and Bethesda have touched his heart, and they, along with other friends, remind Gordianus that as difficult as justice is to uphold, personal integrity sometimes is enough. This is one of my favorite literary references, and I think it would be the author's too: Is it a foot or a claw. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment. Look, look, down here. They were a boy and a girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility.
Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread.
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Scrooge started back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fine children, but the words choked themselves, rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide the end. May 08, Kam rated it really liked it Shelves: It was something of a blind acquisition, really, given that I was looking for something to tide me over after I'd gotten something of a "Roman high" from watching Spartacus: Blood and Sand and was waiting for the arrival of my copy of Gods of the Arena.
This seemed like a decent-enough series to start out with, so I decimated an entire shelf at the local thrift bookstore miracle of miracles, it turned ou I honestly wasn't quite sure what to think when I'd acquired Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series. This seemed like a decent-enough series to start out with, so I decimated an entire shelf at the local thrift bookstore miracle of miracles, it turned out they had the entire series up to the most recent book , and brought the whole lot home.
Thankfully, I was not disappointed. Roman Blood was an interesting ride, a look at late Republican Rome that was of a different flavor from the one I was used to - then again, the Rome of this period that I was used to was based mostly on history books, and there are just some days when those aren't nearly as fun as fiction. The language reads very well, and while I don't know how close it is to the colloquial Latin that was spoken during the period, I think Saylor has done enough research to at least give it that feel as any good writer should, I think.
Part of the novel's charm is its cast, both fictional and non-fictional. I'm not sure if Saylor's depiction of Cicero is accurate, but it is interesting nevertheless. His slave, Tiro, is a sympathetic character as well. But what I truly appreciated was that, come the ending, no one is truly guilty or innocent - which is all I'm going to say, because to say more would be to spoil the ending totally.
Either way, I appreciate the "gray" morality more than if it was clearly black-and-white. As to the plot, it's nothing new - the mystery fan will find similar likely better in other novels. But the milieu is exotic and distracting enough that maybe its faults can be ignored. Jun 11, C. First in the Roma Sub Rosa series. I read all of them. This review covers the series.
Editorial Reviews
Most are good, but after the seventh book ninth if you count the short story collections the series begins to falter. By A Mist of Prophecies, it begins to seem the author was contriving whatever personal crisis he could for the hero, Gordianus, as if Rome lacked crises enough to move along character And his scholarship was NOT good enough to warrant a lot of the hype.
While his take of events i First in the Roma Sub Rosa series. While his take of events is often plausible, by the time the series reaches Julius Caesar, he appears to accept what antiCaesar sources related and not taken a very balanced approach at all. And if he understood ancient Rome so well, he would know NO ONE as overtly bisexual as he makes Caesar would have succeeded at politics.
Colleen McCullough's First Man in Rome books were far more detailed about Roman life, and her interpretation of events and people more plausible. I have not read the whole canon of ancient sources, but enough to know that much. I had to read this one for my Roman History class in college, and while it was ok, I didn't get a sense of Rome, its political atmosphere, and what made it tick anywhere near to what Colleen McCullough manages to do in her Masters of Rome series. Despite the professor's insistence that this book was more "accurate" wrt to Cataline's conspiracy and the portrayal of Cicero, the writing was pretty dry and uninvolving.
I'm not big into mysteries anyway, so my enjoyment suffered from Genre Apathy, Re I had to read this one for my Roman History class in college, and while it was ok, I didn't get a sense of Rome, its political atmosphere, and what made it tick anywhere near to what Colleen McCullough manages to do in her Masters of Rome series. I'm not big into mysteries anyway, so my enjoyment suffered from Genre Apathy, Required Reading, Comparison To A Great Book, and Professorial Hype she knew Saylor, a habit which made me leery of one's opinion then and now. One of my favorite books, featuring the actual murder defense that made Cicero's reputation.
Gordianus the Finder is a wonderful protagonist; you really get to know and like him tremendously. And Saylor makes Rome come alive, describing the streets and people quite vividly. The actual solution to the murder really surprised me, even the fourth? One of my favorite things about this series is the way Gordianus' unconventional famil One of my favorite books, featuring the actual murder defense that made Cicero's reputation.
One of my favorite things about this series is the way Gordianus' unconventional family grows. Nov 14, Jamie Collins rated it really liked it Recommended to Jamie by: I'll read more in this series. It's set towards the end of Sulla's dictatorship and features a young Cicero preparing to argue one of his first cases, defending an accused parricide. I liked the "detective" and the descriptions of the city were vivid. Dec 20, Sharon Penman rated it really liked it. This is an excellent historical mystery series set in ancient Rome. It has darker undertones than Lindsay Davis's Falco series,which I also enjoy, and Saylor's main character interacts with all of the major players in the twilight of the Roman Republic.
View all 9 comments. I loved this book. The combination of historical Rome with its ruthless rulers, merciless rich and spoiled citizens, poor slaves and bloody politics, with a part murder mystery part legal thriller, are very exciting! I'll look for more in this series. May 21, Kathy Davie rated it it was amazing Shelves: My Take I seem to be in a very interesting rut! I keep reading novels that are set in the same places. With the same historic characters, but at an earlier time with Cicero and Sulla. It's a fascinating look from the average man's perspective of a First in the Roma Sub Rosa ancient Roman mystery series featuring Gordianus, a disreputable Finder.
It's a fascinating look from the average man's perspective of a period in Roman history when the great generals were more interested in filling their treasure chests and placating their soldiers, when Sulla worked to ensure the stability of his dictatorship, and others suffered for his ambitions. The manner of law for that time is certainly enough to make me appreciate our current system! I am grateful to live today! It's a typical storyline that includes the investigator getting too close and being threatened with beatings and messages and death, chases and escapes, but it feels completely different when set in ancient times.
It was fun to read and observe the parallels between then and now. Nothing much has changed in how man behaves. I just love it! Saylor is so incredibly descriptive of the life in Rome. From the early waking to the crowds in the streets, the markets, the food, the, ahem, fragrances. He provides a sense of the Romans and how they live their daily lives. Rome wakes with a self-satisfied stretching of the limbs and a deep inhalation, stimulating the lungs, quickening the pulse.
I enjoyed Saylor's "info dump"well-disguised as a walk through early morning Rome to Cicero's house as Gordiano enjoys being alive and in Rome, appreciating the life around him, and having his own thoughts as well. The corruption is related as part of Gordiano's considerations as he investigates, enlightening us as to the not-so-fabulous features of Roman life. It was frustrating for Cicero and Gordiano to have young Sextus as a client; he was amazingly belligerent and uncooperative. Then when we learn more about his personal habits. I'd like to see him die for that!
It's a great way to learn about the history of Romemaking it stick in a way that a schoolroom history class never couldalthough, the more formal study does round it out and include the a broader spectrum of cause-and-effect.! It's all about the crazy politics, the patronage system, family life, career expectations, and the food and how one dined.
I can't wait to read Arms of Nemesis! The Story It's an unexpected start when Tiro finds Gordiano hungover, although he quickly impresses young Tiro with his powers of deduction. Gordiano does his best to talk Cicero out of the case, but it's a deep game with a challenge that Gordiano can't resist: The Characters Gordianus is a Finderan investigatorwho lives on the Esquiline Hill and is shunned by almost everyone. Bethesda is his young slave with whom he appears to be in love. She's a cheeky little thing. Bast is Bethesda's beloved cat.
Marcus Tullius Cicero is a young lawyer just starting out and needs to win this case that no one else will touch. His family has wealth though and he lives on the Capitoline. Tiro is his educated slave he's in King's Gambit as well who works as Cicero's secretary. Marcus Tullius Tiro is young Tiro's grandfather, freed by Cicero, and he acts as doorkeeper. Caecilia Metella is Cicero's aunt and was best friends with the murdered man.
And she's a bit of a nutcase. Ahausarus is a eunuch, and I don't know if he's dim or just very clever. Quintus Hortensius is the greatest lawyer in Rome, Rufus's brother, and Valeria's half-brother. Sextus Roscius is a middle-aged farmer in Ameria, running it for his father, Sextus Roscius. Gaius Roscius is a much younger, beautiful, son who was poisoned some years ago. Chrestus and Felix were Sextus the Elder's slave bodyguards who were with him that fatal night. Big Roscia and Little Roscia are Sextus the Younger's daughters a weird Roman habit of naming daughters by the father's surname and the order in which they were born!
Carus is one of the slaves on the farm. Magnus and Capito are Sextus' cousins; Mallius Galucia is a freed slave of theirs who is never far from his former master's side. Titus Megarus is Sextus' supportive neighbor in Ameria. Lucius is his son, and he has three daughtersyou can guess their names! Varus is a Go-Between who owes Gordianus a favor. This particular favor is named Zoticus , and he's to guard Gordianus' house and Bethesda.
The House of Swans is a brothel that Sextus patronizes, for he's in love with the pregnant Elena. Electra is an older whore with taste and skill. Polia is a terrified widow with an observant but deaf son, Eco. I love it Vespa for the name of a horse! Gaius Erucius is a freedman with the shadiest law practice in Rome. Lucius Cornelius Sulla has arranged to be elected dictator of Rome. Chrysogonus is a former slave of Sulla's, who was freed in thanks. He's really picked up the way of enriching oneself. Metrobius is a female impersonator and an old friend of Sulla's.
Marcus Licinius Crassus is a wealthy Roman, and we'll see how he manages to increase it. The Rostra is a "high pedestal decorated with the beaks of captured ships, from which orators and advocates plead cases". A night scene in ancient Rome at the very start of the story when the warehouse is burning up and people are fleeing. The title is a declaration of honor, for Roman Blood could never stoop to patricide. Mar 24, Stephanie rated it really liked it. Marred somewhat by moments of awkward writing.
Prior to this moment the author had seamlessly mixed historical exposition and original plot. Docking half a point for this, I was so annoyed. My wrath, this review can haz it. There's lots to like about this, though. Cicero is as 'gray and gray morality' as he s Fun historical mystery. Cicero is as 'gray and gray morality' as he seems to be in all fictional incarnations in which I've encountered him. It's especially fun to see him as a reckless, arrogant young man at very beginning of his career.
As narrators go, I rather like Gordianus his "hangover cure, do you haz one?
Tiro was pretty great and Bethesda shows promise; withholding judgement there, because her serene attitude towards slavery and Well, everything, all seemed a bit too convenient. The mystery itself is engaging, though sometimes feels like a prop for surprise, shock the larger social upheaval at hand.
Frankly, I think I prefer it that way. Crimes that seem to exist in a vacuum bore me. Overall, this is a vivid and fast read, for better or for worse. Thankfully, more of the former! Aug 04, Penny rated it really liked it Shelves: It plunges you into the life of an investigator, Gordiano, who is asked to help the lawyer Cicero. Cicero is defending a man, Roscius, who has been accused of murdering his Roscius' father.
The book is very detailed in its descriptions of the seedier life of Rome. All the different classes, their ambitions or lack of them, and the political gambles people take are all part of the plot, which weaves all over the place amongst the characters, but remains tightly focussed on the murder itself. The slaves also play a major part in the whole saga.
It is in places rather gory but not to the point of making me stop reading. It is very readable, fast-paced and I didnt guess the ending. This is a new author for me and I will be seeking out more of his writing. Good quality well researched historical fiction and mystery. If this is how Roman citizens and slaves acted, why do we idolize them? Oct 28, Angela rated it really liked it. Aug 06, Christopher Taylor rated it liked it. This is the first of a series of mystery novels set in ancient Rome, at the time of Sulla the dictator. It features the character Gordanius the Finder who is a professional fact finder, hired to dig up information for the rich and powerful.
This novels starts out with Gordanius being hired by a young Cicero, before he became famous as a litigator, author, and orator. Gordianus and his family had a cat named Bast after an Egyptian cat-deity , but Bast was killed in Roman Blood, by one of Gordianus's enemies, who had been trying to kill Bethesda. Later on, Bethesda acquires other cats: A pacifist, Gordianus shows a successive bitter criticism to the deeds of almost all historical characters shown in the series and their harsh and bloody consequences on ordinary Romans.
He remains a republican at heart, despite witnessing the crumbling of the ancient state and the beginning of the soon-to-be Roman Empire. Gordianus was thought to have died soon after the apparent death of his wife, while in Egypt, by drowning in the Nile The Judgment of Caesar. Gordianus returns in a prequel published in , The Seven Wonders: A Novel of the Ancient World. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article includes a list of references , related reading or external links , but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations.
Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. January Learn how and when to remove this template message. Retrieved from " https: Fictional characters introduced in Fictional detectives Fictional ancient Romans.