daphreads's review against another edition

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4.0

A really interesting, and truly hilarious and entertaining, reflection of the way we view the Roman Empire vs what it really is. An investigation into the socially constructed concepts of life, dignity, and murder, and how the Romans viewed it as opposed to how we do now 

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another_dahlia's review against another edition

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dark funny informative medium-paced

3.0


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tlholmes's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative sad tense medium-paced

4.75


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nassuada's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative sad slow-paced

4.5

A really interesting read, particularly when the author covers how the life of women, enslaved people, and children were regarded in Rome. Her writing style really elevates the content and it reminded me of a true crime podcast (but one of the good ones where they actually respect the lives of the victims and don't just use them for entertainment value). 

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panireads's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

3.0

Maybe I am not the target audience for this book, but as I like reading history , especially classic history I expected to like it a lot. I was put off by the language used, and the ( an in my opinion unneccesary ) constant pop culture references.  

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simixfe's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative medium-paced

3.25


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shelfofunread's review against another edition

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dark funny informative fast-paced

5.0


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anneshamitha's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative medium-paced

4.75

I really liked this book. I love how it grounded Rome in the slave state that it was, and never lost sight of that. I also appreciated how she walked us through her sources, including those that conflict, instead of presenting a singular narrative as fact. Unfortunately, she tries way too hard to be cool. This almost turned me off entirely, but because the actual substance of the book was so good it kind of felt like rolling your eyes at a professor who tries to be too hip, but that you like anyway because you’re actually learning. 

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j_squaredd's review against another edition

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dark funny informative medium-paced

5.0


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jhoiraartificer's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

4.5

This book reads like the best of Academic Tumblr and the Toast, and I mean that in a highly complimentary way. Clearly the author knows their stuff, and also knows how to make it very engaging.

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