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A review by readers_block
Empire by Steven Saylor
4.0
3.75/5
Not quite as good as the first book (Roma), but still soooo good.
Some people might find some of the style of the book off putting. There's a lot of explanations of things that read sort of strangely, that a person wouldn't normally say in a regular conversation, because Saylor is trying to explain a historical event/the backdrop without distracting from the plot at hand. Ie/ he violates the rule of "show don't tell". I personally, however, loved it.
I learned so much from these two books about Roman history. It got me on a kick and I'm excited to read more. The sheer drama in the political world of imperial Rome is insane and so entertaining. Caligula, Domitian, Hadrian, etc.
The one thing I liked less about this one than the first one were that it followed fewer people (four instead of a ton of ancestors in the previous one-- not even sure how many). All of their stories are a lot longer so if you don't like one of them, it doesn't move on quickly.
Would highly recommend these books to anyone interested in Roman history. Excited to read more of his stuff.
Not quite as good as the first book (Roma), but still soooo good.
Some people might find some of the style of the book off putting. There's a lot of explanations of things that read sort of strangely, that a person wouldn't normally say in a regular conversation, because Saylor is trying to explain a historical event/the backdrop without distracting from the plot at hand. Ie/ he violates the rule of "show don't tell". I personally, however, loved it.
I learned so much from these two books about Roman history. It got me on a kick and I'm excited to read more. The sheer drama in the political world of imperial Rome is insane and so entertaining. Caligula, Domitian, Hadrian, etc.
The one thing I liked less about this one than the first one were that it followed fewer people (four instead of a ton of ancestors in the previous one-- not even sure how many). All of their stories are a lot longer so if you don't like one of them, it doesn't move on quickly.
Would highly recommend these books to anyone interested in Roman history. Excited to read more of his stuff.