Catilina's Riddle

Rating:
Summary: Not just a school assignment
Review: I thought that Catilina's Riddle was a great book that I would recommend to anyone intrested in life lessons. Not only was the book jam packed with politics, mystery, confusion, and utter excitement, but it had a sentimental side that made the characters come alive. This compelling story was one that showed the true complexities of the Ancient Roman family and government structures. I was amazed by Saylor's personal characterizations that made the characters and the plots very believable and relatable to us, in the new millinium. I found myself looking forward to the next page, on the edge of my seat waiting for the adventure to take another wild turn. Read this book and you will find yourself drawn to the themes, and relating them back to your everyday struggles. This memorable book makes you think.

Rating:
Summary: An Enthralling Mystery
Review: I thought that Catilina's Riddle was an excellent book. The author, Steven Saylor, made this book very suspenseful, and it kept me on my toes wondering what would happen next. The author also integrated real Roman history into this excellent fiction book. He also turned a very tumultuous time in Roman history into an action packed mystery. I liked how I got to hear the story of the conspiracy from Catilina's point of view. This is monumental because throughout history, we have only heard Cicero's side of the story. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes history woven into a suspenseful fictional book.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the first 2
Review: I thought this book was OK, not too great, but not too bad either. I enjoyed reading about the politics in Rome, since I have read all of Colleen McCullough's Roman books and they are very heavy on politics. This book just got bogged down several times and did not always keep my interest. I'm reading the books in order, and I was put off at first to find that Gordianus had aged very much in this book and was living on a farm instead of Rome, but after a while I got used to the idea of a middle aged Gordianus. I'm looking forward to the next books in the series that fill in the missing years between the 2nd and 3rd books in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the first 2
Review: I was lucky enough to find Saylor's works through Amazon.com and I have to say that I have never read a series of novels so entertaining and literate. I am more of a fan of ancient Rome than of mysteries, but the characters in this series are so remarkably well-depicted and the overall experience of reading these books is so pleasurable I would recommend them to anyone. Saylor does a superb job of bringing this time period to life while using his own imagination to create the fictional characters who live in it. I look forward to reading the next in the series, but I don't know how I will react once I have finished the latest novel. The solution: keep writing, Mr. Saylor!

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Novel of Ancient Rome by Saylor
Review: I was lucky enough to find Saylor's works through Amazon.com and I have to say that I have never read a series of novels so entertaining and literate. I am more of a fan of ancient Rome than of mysteries, but the characters in this series are so remarkably well-depicted and the overall experience of reading these books is so pleasurable I would recommend them to anyone. Saylor does a superb job of bringing this time period to life while using his own imagination to create the fictional characters who live in it. I look forward to reading the next in the series, but I don't know how I will react once I have finished the latest novel. The solution: keep writing, Mr. Saylor!

Rating:
Summary: Gordianus goes gay!
Review: I'm enjoying this series a lot. They make great airplane books. There were many aspects of CATALINA'S RIDDLE that I really enjoyed, like the details of Roman life and the rather titillating scene wherein our hero is seduced by another man. The characters of Gordianus and his family became much deeper in this volume. However, the parts that dealt with the Cataline conspiracy were dull, dull, dull in comparison to the parts dealing with Gordianus, his family, and his neighbors. There was too much history and not enough mystery. The Cataline background overwhelmed this installment of Saylor's Sub Rosa series. I enjoyed this book's humor and irony, but it was not as consistently entertaining as the previous volumes.

Rating:
Summary: Gordianus goes gay!
Review: I'm enjoying this series a lot. They make great airplane books. There were many aspects of CATALINA'S RIDDLE that I really enjoyed, like the details of Roman life and the rather titillating scene wherein our hero is seduced by another man. The characters of Gordianus and his family became much deeper in this volume. However, the parts that dealt with the Cataline conspiracy were dull, dull, dull in comparison to the parts dealing with Gordianus, his family, and his neighbors. There was too much history and not enough mystery. The Cataline background overwhelmed this installment of Saylor's Sub Rosa series. I enjoyed this book's humor and irony, but it was not as consistently entertaining as the previous volumes.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and informative!
Review: I've always enjoyed historical novels, particularly those which managed to teach me about a particular period in depth while still telling me a good story. Because of the "dumbing down" of mass market publishing, it's more difficult nowadays to find really top tier historical novels. In this instance, Saylor's historical novel almost obscures the mystery. But readers who love accurate historical fiction can't miss with this one.

Rating:
Summary: Roman life during the "conspiracy of Cataline"
Review: I've never been a big fan of mysteries. Frankly, most of them are contrived nonsense. However, I do enjoy the Gordianus series, not for the "mystery", but for the insight into Roman life of the first century BC. This tale shows the trials and tribulations of family life during the time of the "Conspiracy of Cataline". Saylor makes this time come alive. Personally, the tale of the three headless bodies just does not interest me. The true wonder of this book is the wonderful depiction of Roman family life and the dangers that it held.

Rating:
Summary: Very good, although not a mystery strictu sensu.
Review: Marxist theorethician Ernest Mandel, who loved detective novels, and wrote a study on them (Delightful Murder) said that the detective novel, dealing as it does with the question of justice between individuals, could be conceived of only in a bourgeois society and, as he died before Steven Saylor had his say, I believe he would have found Gordianus' adventures impossible in advance. But then one has to marvel at the ability with which Saylor has found a way around this problem. In a pre-bourgeois society like late Republican Rome, no one seems very concerned about what Gordianus the Finder has to "find" or has actually "found": what they want from him is only a confirmation of their Ex Ante ideas about any issue. That leaves Gordianus himself with the task of pondering what is his place in a world he finds, as he grows old, incrasingly more uncongenial, brutish and corrupt and leaves a smaller room for mystery and more for historical speculation. But then that's the best solution that could be found for this book. Very good, highly recommended.