A review by ewd09
Empire by Steven Saylor

4.0

I received this book from Goodreads First Reads!! Empire, Steven Saylor's second book in this series,is a very interesting/entertaining read!! I enjoy historical fiction and Empire does not disappoint. This book was written to cover a little over a hundred years and spans five generations of the Pinarius family. You go from the reign of Augustus to the height of empire under Hadrian. The Pinarii witness the madness of Caligula and Nero, the eruption of Vesuvius, the spectacular opening games of the Colosseum, and the building of many spectacular Roman landmarks! The story, to me, is a little slower than the previous novel in this series. I found it, at times, a little slow. I liked the faster pace of Roma, however, in Empire, you get a better understanding of the characters themselves, you're not just flying through history. In other words, this reads more like a historical fiction than the previous Roma (which read more like a VERY entertaining history text book). I really love this series, and hope to see more from Steven Saylor in the future.