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A review by sch91086
The Chiron Confession by Thomas Greanias
3.0
I'm a history nerd. I've always been a history nerd. The Romans have fascinated me for as long as I can remember. So when I read the description of this book I was instantly intrigued. Romans? Super secret religious cults? Conspiracies? Yes please!
Unfortunately, the execution of the conspiracy itself fell a little flat for me. The Dominium Dei.... are supposed to be a Christian religious order going to war with the Roman empire/caesar. Then they are suspected to be an imperial organization, (I think) framing Christians for the murder of Roman officials so that Caesar can keep the Christian church out of Rome. I won't spoil anything, but let's just say the final conclusion given is very foggy. Ninety nine percent of the time, the Dominium Dei don't even know what or who the Dominium Dei are outside of a tattoo under the arm pit and a symbol engraved on a ring. Everyone the protagonist meets is just following the orders of the next Dominium Dei. Then when their goal has been accomplished or they have been discovered... they commit suicide by sucking poison out of a ring on their finger or asking a co-conspirator to shoot an arrow or stab a dagger in their back. I'm sorry, but how does a super secret organization, one so secret no one even knows the identity of their own leader, the Chiron, continue to survive when they are all committing suicide and limited to the one or two contacts they know? I absolutely love this idea, I just didn't see how it could ever have worked.
Additionally, no matter where the protagonist goes, the Roman Legionnaires are always there first and hunting him. I'm a little baffled about how, in a world without telephones and the internet, they were able to track Athanasius so quickly from island to island and city to city. So for these and the above reasons, the believability factor is where I felt this book mostly went wrong.
That said, there were a lot of good things about this book too. The author painted an excellent picture of ancient Rome/Greece. We see the coliseum, statues of gods and goddesses, sewers, bathhouses, villas, an island prison, a floating pleasure palace, a vineyard, and an underground Christian city. The setting was awesome and felt very authentic. The plot was full of action and very fast paced, which keeps the reader turning the page.
The characters were written well enough. I think the Emperor, Domitian was portrayed best of all. He is everything a Roman Emperor presiding over a reign of terror should be: a delusional, paranoid, murdering, self-loving, self-preserving, rapist. The protagonist, Athanasius, is a reluctant hero and a self proclaimed atheist. He definitely develops and changes through out the story and his arc was interesting to follow. (On a side note: I loved that the author attributed the faces of most statues to Helena and I wonder if there is any truth in the idea that one or only a few models acted as the muse for many artists.)
There was a lot of Christian history intertwined with the Roman history, and admittedly, I found some of it confusing to follow, but all very fascinating. I don't want to spoil anything, but based on the conclusion as to the real identity of the Dominium Dei, I have to wonder how much of modern Christian ritual might actually have been influenced by this group or government/commerce in general? Although I do have some hesitations about the convoluted plot, I think Greanias gives the reader a lot to think about in this regard, and I'd definitely be interested to read more about the Dominium Dei in the future.
I'd recommend this to conspiracy theorists and anyone interested in the origins of Christianity. Thank you to Atlantis Ink and Net Galley for providing an ARC!
Unfortunately, the execution of the conspiracy itself fell a little flat for me. The Dominium Dei.... are supposed to be a Christian religious order going to war with the Roman empire/caesar. Then they are suspected to be an imperial organization, (I think) framing Christians for the murder of Roman officials so that Caesar can keep the Christian church out of Rome. I won't spoil anything, but let's just say the final conclusion given is very foggy. Ninety nine percent of the time, the Dominium Dei don't even know what or who the Dominium Dei are outside of a tattoo under the arm pit and a symbol engraved on a ring. Everyone the protagonist meets is just following the orders of the next Dominium Dei. Then when their goal has been accomplished or they have been discovered... they commit suicide by sucking poison out of a ring on their finger or asking a co-conspirator to shoot an arrow or stab a dagger in their back. I'm sorry, but how does a super secret organization, one so secret no one even knows the identity of their own leader, the Chiron, continue to survive when they are all committing suicide and limited to the one or two contacts they know? I absolutely love this idea, I just didn't see how it could ever have worked.
Additionally, no matter where the protagonist goes, the Roman Legionnaires are always there first and hunting him. I'm a little baffled about how, in a world without telephones and the internet, they were able to track Athanasius so quickly from island to island and city to city. So for these and the above reasons, the believability factor is where I felt this book mostly went wrong.
That said, there were a lot of good things about this book too. The author painted an excellent picture of ancient Rome/Greece. We see the coliseum, statues of gods and goddesses, sewers, bathhouses, villas, an island prison, a floating pleasure palace, a vineyard, and an underground Christian city. The setting was awesome and felt very authentic. The plot was full of action and very fast paced, which keeps the reader turning the page.
The characters were written well enough. I think the Emperor, Domitian was portrayed best of all. He is everything a Roman Emperor presiding over a reign of terror should be: a delusional, paranoid, murdering, self-loving, self-preserving, rapist. The protagonist, Athanasius, is a reluctant hero and a self proclaimed atheist. He definitely develops and changes through out the story and his arc was interesting to follow. (On a side note: I loved that the author attributed the faces of most statues to Helena and I wonder if there is any truth in the idea that one or only a few models acted as the muse for many artists.)
There was a lot of Christian history intertwined with the Roman history, and admittedly, I found some of it confusing to follow, but all very fascinating. I don't want to spoil anything, but based on the conclusion as to the real identity of the Dominium Dei, I have to wonder how much of modern Christian ritual might actually have been influenced by this group or government/commerce in general? Although I do have some hesitations about the convoluted plot, I think Greanias gives the reader a lot to think about in this regard, and I'd definitely be interested to read more about the Dominium Dei in the future.
I'd recommend this to conspiracy theorists and anyone interested in the origins of Christianity. Thank you to Atlantis Ink and Net Galley for providing an ARC!