jaina's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
chuckri's review
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
traveller1's review
3.0
Young Decius is now a Quaestor, on his way up in Rome, but he has the ill-fortune to, again, annoy the powerful. He becomes involved with Catiline and his conspiracy to overthrow the Roman government, however, on the side of the establishment. Decius informs the consul Cicero of the conspiracy, and aids in the destruction of Catiline and his men.
catmum's review
3.0
If this had been written as an historical novel I would have rated it four stars. The history, the anthropology were great. But it was sadly lacking in mystery. Still, I enjoy the writing enough to go on to book three in the series.
christopherborum's review
2.0
As other reviewers have noted, this reads more like a textbook than a mystery. I'm all for using real events as the backdrop to a story, but the crimes in this instance were "solved" almost incidental to telling the story of Catilina. It was interesting, but not particularly entertaining.
ruthbrarian's review
Good sequel to the first book. I enjoy the peculiar combo of mystery, history, and historical fiction in this series. It's light enough for me to pick it up and go through it in a couple days, but it does such a fine job of world-building that it draws on my imagination too.
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