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A review by radella_hardwick
The King's Gambit by John Maddox Roberts
1.75
My main problem with this book is that the first-person narrator regularly digresses into teaching us about Roman customs. The most egregious, to my mind, is when he has agreed to meet someone at a specific time and there's this whole digressions about sundials, water-clocks and Roman hours being different in winter. At the end of which, the narrating character goes "I'll just guess like everyone else"!
My other major problem with this book is the frequent fourth-wall-breaks. The book begins inside the head of the protagonist, living his life in the Roman republic but then he meets a historical figure who is famous later, turns to the reader and says "I know what you're thinking".
At which point, it transpires that the protagonist is retelling this episode from his youth some 60 years later. And that doesn't work for me because the way humans retell memories is significantly less detailed than if we're a fly inside someone's head.
Also, the protagonist never works out who the killer is. It's thrust upon him when he's confronting the mastermind behind the murders and the killer tries to kill him.
And Roberts seems to think he's writing a new Bond. The sex, the street-fighting and chase scenes, and expecting the mastermind to explain their dastardly plan.
My other major problem with this book is the frequent fourth-wall-breaks. The book begins inside the head of the protagonist, living his life in the Roman republic but then he meets a historical figure who is famous later, turns to the reader and says "I know what you're thinking".
At which point, it transpires that the protagonist is retelling this episode from his youth some 60 years later. And that doesn't work for me because the way humans retell memories is significantly less detailed than if we're a fly inside someone's head.
Also, the protagonist never works out who the killer is. It's thrust upon him when he's confronting the mastermind behind the murders and the killer tries to kill him.
And Roberts seems to think he's writing a new Bond. The sex, the street-fighting and chase scenes, and expecting the mastermind to explain their dastardly plan.