""Roma" resurrects the world's greatest city state, but also puts
human flesh on the bones of history and installs a beating heart
sizzling with passion. Fans of Steven Saylor will savor this novel;
fans of ancient Rome will thrill to Saylor's in--depth
understanding of Roman lifeways and be dazzled by the speed and
sureness of the story . . . The shades of nobles, plebes, tribunes,
and emperors past surely are united in giving him a thumbs
up."--Kilian Melloy, "Edge" (Boston)
"A modern master of historical fiction, Saylor has built his
reputation on an ongoing series of ancient-world mysteries that
have cumulatively and poignantly traced the collapse of the Roman
republic. Now the well-regarded author stretches to even more epic
goals for "Roma." . . . In content and scope, Roma calls to mind
James Michener's bestselling string of mammoth popular histories .
. . In literary tone, however, and in its attempt to posit a
plausible truth beneath Rome's well-worn myths, it invites
comparison to such landmarks of the genre as Mary Renault's "The
King Must Die." Writing in a spare, elegant style shorn of excess
description, Saylor convincingly transports us into the ancient
world . . . What Saylor has produced is not just the history of
Rome, but the history of history--of the way fact is buried by myth
and of the way societies cling to traditions even when the meanings
behind them are lost to memory . . . by the end, those stories have
cohered into one, enthralling whole."--"USA"" Today
""
""Livy meets Michener in this sprawling, episodic 1000-year novel
of the rise of ancient Rome from its first settlement to the
assassination of Julius Caesar . . . Saylor's gift for dramatic
narrative brings alive familiar tales from Roman history."--"Kirkus
Reviews
""Author of the critically acclaimed Roma Sub Rosa series of
historical mysteries, Saylor breaks out on an epic scale in this
sprawling novel tracing Rome's extraordinary development over five
centuries. . . . Solidly anchored in fact and vividly imagined,
this long book moves at a sprightly clip and features some vibrant
personages."--"Publishers Weekly""Before the Roman Empire, there
was the Roman Republic, and before that, what? If all you recall is
Romulus and Remus, here is a more complete story of the founding of
Rome, from 1000 B.C.E. to the much more familiar territory of
Julius Caesar and his successor in 1 B.C.E. Many customs and
legends lingering into the Empire era have their original
explanation here, such as the sacred geese or the building of
various temples. The city's fictionalized history is likewise full
of original source material, which relates, the author notes,
'uncannily familiar political struggles and partisan machinations.'
Class warfare, nepotism, and moral and theological battles dogged
the development of this often idealized Roman Republic, and a truly
remarkable propensity for cruelty and merciless judgment
foreshadows the later Empire. Unlike Saylor's popular mysteries,
this work compares more to Edward Rutherfurd's "London"""as it
focuses on crucial incidents in the intervening centuries. Two
families of ancient origin who pass an amulet onto the next
generation provide continuity. This work will attract a different
fan base from Saylor's other work but should prove appealing to
history and political buffs who enjoy comparing our current events
with ancient Rome."--Mary K. Bird-Guilliams, "Library Journal"
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