A review by ganglari
Shadows of Athens by J.M. Alvey
4.0
I checker TWICE while reading this book if JM Alvey was a pen-name for Steven Saylor, that's how much it reminds me of the Roma Sub Rosa-series. Basically, if you enjoy those books, these are the almost the same but set a 450 years earlier and in Athens.
The only real difference in style is the Forrest Gump/Zelig-like quality of Roma Sub Rosa, where Gordianus works on the periphery of great men known to history. That is not the case here. Philocles seems inspired by a real-life playwright of the same name who lived a few hundred years later, but both him and his cases seem less grounded in real historical happenings. This can be seen as bot a positive and a negative, of course. The historical details are spot on and extremely interesting though.
The only real difference in style is the Forrest Gump/Zelig-like quality of Roma Sub Rosa, where Gordianus works on the periphery of great men known to history. That is not the case here. Philocles seems inspired by a real-life playwright of the same name who lived a few hundred years later, but both him and his cases seem less grounded in real historical happenings. This can be seen as bot a positive and a negative, of course. The historical details are spot on and extremely interesting though.