Review: Roman Blood

Roman Blood by Steven Saylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If the author had chosen to simply tell the story without superfluous embellishment it may have been told in less than 401 pages. While the descriptions of Rome, the city, its inhabitants, its customs, its political maneuvering were interesting they were so repetitive that the text became as boring as the ancient words of Cicero hated by many enforced students of Latin classes in the modern world.

Sulla, unfortunately, sounds so much like the dreaded next Republican candidate for our Presidency that it strikes terror in the heart of this voter.

The mystery of whether or not the victim was murdered by his son is intriguing but getting to the heart of it was a long and convoluted journey through a sludge of overwrought prose. The best part of the book was the last chapters in which the trial is described and the later developments following its judgement.

Reader, beware, to read this book requires lengthy days of trudging through the unnecessary length of its words.

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