Review: Enjoyable time-travel read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 1, 2013
The Last Roman begins in the near future, a little over a decade away, with the formation of an elite combat group whose purpose is protection of the Pope and advancement of Vatican interests.  No, this is not a dogmatic or religious book -- Mr. Crichton's initial setting sees our world in the close future engaged in global war, fought by terrorists and proxy governments and ostensibly along sectarian Muslim/Christian lines.  We don't spend much time in that future world before time travel begins.  I hope that Mr. Crichton writes a prequel to this series, perhaps featuring the main character's father, that tells the story of how we get from here to there.  It's an interesting premise as laid out in The Last Roman, and a story that I'd probably enjoy reading.Once the travelers find themselves in ancient Rome, there's enough explanation of the time, culture and combat techniques that the reader won't be lost.  Every now and then, I'd get impatient with too much exposition about theory of time travel, possibly because I'm a fan of time travel stories and it would have been difficult for any writer to hold my attention for a character-driven discussion of time-travel philosophy.  That small nit-picked, overall the story does move quickly, there's a lot of action, and a bit of romance that stays firmly within a PG rating.  For that matter, despite the regular violence expected with this type of story and characters (including Caligula!), the author conveys the story and action vividly, without a lot of mangled-meat graphic description.  Don't misunderstand, this is not a YA book by any means, I'm just saying it's not one of those books with the soft-porn scenes or slasher violence that would make you cringe if your kid was sitting next to you while reading it.I'm looking forward to reading the second novel, and give this one an unqualified recommendation for solid summer escapist reading for folks who aren't necessarily looking for realistic science fiction time travel, but are do want a satisfying time-travel related adventure.