Review: Enjoyable if somewhat flawed story set in an alternate ancient Rome -- I think
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 31, 2014
I'm rounding up a bit. (Given Goodreads' different rating system, I gave the book three stars on that site.)I enjoyed this book, with caveats that appear below. The writing is generally good, the POV character sympathetic, and the story absorbing.The author (who provided a free copy in exchange for an honest review) described it to me as "authentic Roman military adventure (albeit in a fantasy setting)." The book itself reads as if set in Rome at the time the Republic was dying, but refers to "Arcadia" rather than Rome. I'm therefore not sure -- though it doesn't much matter -- to what degree it is set in an alternate universe. Some mystical or magical elements are gradually introduced.The book has some failures in editing. For example, there are several passages (of a sentence or two) that appear twice, in addition to some redundancies that aren't quite word-for-word. I noticed a few spelling or word usage (homonym) errors, and one missing paragraph break. It is also sometimes difficult to keep track of which "general" is being discussed (Marius or Seneca).The book breaks off rather abruptly. While it is the first of (I believe) a trilogy, it would be more satisfying, at least for this reader, if some mini-arc reached a conclusion.