A review by psteve
Empire, by Steven Saylor

3.0

A novel about Rome from about AD 14 to 141. Good portraits of the emperors during this time, told through several generations of a single family. The sweep sometimes leaves the author with putting dialog into people's mouths that they would never say: "As you know, Pinarius, emperors usually beheaded their enemies and displayed the heads on the Avetine." Not an actual quote, but there's a lot of awkwardness like that: imagine saying, "as you know, Americans elect their presidents every four years." Towards the last 100 pages of the novel, this gets a bit old. On the other hand, the emperors are well-drawn with a good view of Roman history. The earlier novel, Roma, sounds interesting too.