Friday, June 10, 2005
Review: Books: The Princess and the Pirates (John Maddox Roberts)
Technorati Tags: Books Book Review John Maddox Roberts The Princess and the Pirates SPQR History Rome Mystery
A slightly different review appears on Amazon.com.
The Princess and the Pirates, by John Maddox Roberts
9th in the SPQR series.
The murder mystery series follows the career of Decius Caecilius Metellus during the last days of the Roman Republic (this particular book occurs in 50 B.C., or as Roberts notes at the end of the book: the 703rd year of the city of Rome). The Metellus family are a prominent family, though on the decline.
The SPQR series and the Gordianus the Finder series (by Steven Saylor) both occur at roughly the same time period in history, so comparisons between the two are common. The SPQR series, as mentioned, follows a relatively a youngish man from a well-placed family, while the Gordianus the Finder series follows a much older man from the lower classes of soceity. Both men solve murder mysteries, and both, on occasion, meet up with historical characters. For instance, both Decius and Gordianus run into Cleopatra in their most recent novels. Saylor's book (The Judgement of Caesar) though, deals with an old man returning his ailing wife to her homeland, in an attempt to restore her health (and occurs in 43 BC, mostly in Egypt). Roberts book, on the other hand, deals with a younger man still trying to climb the political ladder, and meets up with Cleopatra before she is Queen (in roughly 50 BC), and before the Caesar-Pompey civil war (which is in the final stages in Saylor's book). Also, unlike Gordianus, who is married to an ex-slave (his own), Decius is married to the neice of Julius Caesar.
I rated Roberts book without paying any attention to my previous ratings for Roberts books, or recalling what I had rated The Judgement of Caesar. I was surprised to find out that I ended up rating Saylor's book 0.01 stars lower than Roberts book. I wasn't surprised, though, to find that I had rated the SPQR 9th book, in the currently nine book series, the highest rating of all the books in the series. On the whole, Saylor's series is better (which can be seen from the rating for 10th novel in his Gordianus the Finder series, which ended up being rated the 8th best book in his series - recall that it is just 0.01 stars below the highest rated book in Roberts series).
Saylor's 304 page 10th book in his series is very good, and very different from Robert's 9th SPQR book (though both are murder mysteries set in old Rome around the same date in time). I gave Saylor's book 4.38 stars.
Roberts book is about a youngish Senator on the rise in the 703rd year of the city of Rome (officially, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC, take away 703 years, and you get 50 BC) who, after serving for two years as an aedile, is tasked by his family (actually by the Senate, the family has already set aside its resources to elect candidates and cannot, yet, push Decius up to the next position of power) to go off to fight the pirates springing up in the Eastern Mediterranean. Roberts book is very well-written, gripping from beginning to a weak ending. While not the best book Roberts has written, in my opinion, it is the best book in the series. Robert's book, for the most part, is tightly written, needing just 188 pages (the rest is a glossary) to tell a very good story. The characters are, for the most part, fully formed personalities. The plot is strong. I gave Robert's book 4.39 stars.
A slightly different review appears on Amazon.com.
The Princess and the Pirates, by John Maddox Roberts
9th in the SPQR series.
The murder mystery series follows the career of Decius Caecilius Metellus during the last days of the Roman Republic (this particular book occurs in 50 B.C., or as Roberts notes at the end of the book: the 703rd year of the city of Rome). The Metellus family are a prominent family, though on the decline.
The SPQR series and the Gordianus the Finder series (by Steven Saylor) both occur at roughly the same time period in history, so comparisons between the two are common. The SPQR series, as mentioned, follows a relatively a youngish man from a well-placed family, while the Gordianus the Finder series follows a much older man from the lower classes of soceity. Both men solve murder mysteries, and both, on occasion, meet up with historical characters. For instance, both Decius and Gordianus run into Cleopatra in their most recent novels. Saylor's book (The Judgement of Caesar) though, deals with an old man returning his ailing wife to her homeland, in an attempt to restore her health (and occurs in 43 BC, mostly in Egypt). Roberts book, on the other hand, deals with a younger man still trying to climb the political ladder, and meets up with Cleopatra before she is Queen (in roughly 50 BC), and before the Caesar-Pompey civil war (which is in the final stages in Saylor's book). Also, unlike Gordianus, who is married to an ex-slave (his own), Decius is married to the neice of Julius Caesar.
I rated Roberts book without paying any attention to my previous ratings for Roberts books, or recalling what I had rated The Judgement of Caesar. I was surprised to find out that I ended up rating Saylor's book 0.01 stars lower than Roberts book. I wasn't surprised, though, to find that I had rated the SPQR 9th book, in the currently nine book series, the highest rating of all the books in the series. On the whole, Saylor's series is better (which can be seen from the rating for 10th novel in his Gordianus the Finder series, which ended up being rated the 8th best book in his series - recall that it is just 0.01 stars below the highest rated book in Roberts series).
Saylor's 304 page 10th book in his series is very good, and very different from Robert's 9th SPQR book (though both are murder mysteries set in old Rome around the same date in time). I gave Saylor's book 4.38 stars.
Roberts book is about a youngish Senator on the rise in the 703rd year of the city of Rome (officially, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC, take away 703 years, and you get 50 BC) who, after serving for two years as an aedile, is tasked by his family (actually by the Senate, the family has already set aside its resources to elect candidates and cannot, yet, push Decius up to the next position of power) to go off to fight the pirates springing up in the Eastern Mediterranean. Roberts book is very well-written, gripping from beginning to a weak ending. While not the best book Roberts has written, in my opinion, it is the best book in the series. Robert's book, for the most part, is tightly written, needing just 188 pages (the rest is a glossary) to tell a very good story. The characters are, for the most part, fully formed personalities. The plot is strong. I gave Robert's book 4.39 stars.
