Catilina's Riddle

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Summary: My Review of Catilina's Riddle
Review: This book is not a literary masterpiece. It requires little on the part of the reader. I would recommend it to anyone who needs to read a long book but does not want to think very hard while reading it. I found about 20 pages in the book engaging, which in my opinion is not enough for a 460 page novel. The situation of the main character, Gordianus, is unrealistic. He is not a very complex character, and I did not identify with or admire him. I just was not engaged by the plots. The end is not predictable, which is a plus in a mystery. Overall, Catilina's Riddle simply is not challenging enough to remain interesting.

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Summary: Latin 3 review
Review: This book, Catilina's Riddle, is a nicely told story about life in Rome. I thought that the author did a very good job explaining the duties of fatherhood and about how a boy becomes a man. He shows the true qualities of all the characters in the novel. He brings to life an image of the days in Roman civilization and that image is captured throughout the book. This is a greatly told story about one character's struggle with life in politics and life at home.

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Summary: This IS It !
Review: This is the book that got me hooked on Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series. After only one chapter I ordered Roman Blood so I could catch up. It was hard waiting to read this book in order ( 3 ), but it was worth it. On to The Venus Throw. Great fast reads that have mystery, good solid characters and Roman political and cultural history interwoven throughout.

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Summary: A Roman Feast!
Review: This is the first of Saylor's Gordianus books I have read, and I intend to read all of them. Saylor's description of the Roman political milieu was superb (politicians haven't changed much!). And the sexy, charismatic Catilina...Wow! I was in tears at the end. This book has inspired me to read more about the Roman Republic.

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Summary: Full of mystery and intrigue
Review: This is the first of Steven Saylor's books that I've read and I personally found it intriguing. Though it was slow at times, the plot was well developed and kept me interested and turning the pages. I found the life of Gordianus to be very mysterious, from the dead bodies he finds to his connection with Catilina. This is a novel full of mysterious plots, corruption, lies, truth, and trust that makes it enjoyable to read. The ending is also something totally different from anything the reader, or at least I, would of expected. I recommend Catilina's Riddle for anyone who is looking for an intriguing mystery.

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Summary: Catillina's Riddle Review
Review: This is the first Steven Saylor novel I have read. Fans of Steven Saylor will recognize the main character Gordianus from previous novels. Gordianus is peacefully settled on an Etruscan farm which he has inheirited from Lucius Claudius. Gordianus has left Rome and retired from his dangerous work. Gordianus reliniquishes his title of Gordianus the Finder to Gordianus the Farmer. His peaceful farm life is soon disrupted as he is drawn into the Catiline conspiracy by Cicero. One of the most interesting elements of the book is how Saylor analyzes the Catiline conspiracy. Catillina is not portrayed as the destroyer of Rome. However Saylor lets the reader draw their own conclusion on the character of Catilina. I found this a very entertaining novel, and it is a must read for any Saylor Fan. 3 stars

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Summary: A Supplement to the Catilinarian Conspiracy
Review: This is the second year I have used Catilina's Riddle in my Latin III class. As we translate Cicero and Sallust, this book adds a little levity. Although it's a bit longer than I would like, it's an easy read. Saylor sheds some personality on Cicero, Catiline, and other historical characters in a way that Sallust could not. He pulls translations almost verbatim out of Cicero's "In Catilinam." Students are able to relate more closely to the plight of Catiline. The work even lends itself to some lessons in historiography (i.e., since historians base their perceptions of Catiline primarily on the works of Cicero and Sallust, how do we know what the "real" Catiline was like?). The plot of Gordianus and his misgivings about his inherited farm are secondary, but they keep the story moving along.
I find Saylor's work to lack the passion and insight that some other historical fiction writers seem to conjure. Mary Renault's works, for instance, stand alone. However, I had several students who simply could not put the book down. Anything that inspires a 15-year old to read like that deserves applaud.

Rating:
Summary: A Supplement to the Catilinarian Conspiracy
Review: This is the second year I have used Catilina's Riddle in my Latin III class. As we translate Cicero and Sallust, this book adds a little levity. Although it's a bit longer than I would like, it's an easy read. Saylor sheds some personality on Cicero, Catiline, and other historical characters in a way that Sallust could not. He pulls translations almost verbatim out of Cicero's "In Catilinam." Students are able to relate more closely to the plight of Catiline. The work even lends itself to some lessons in historiography (i.e., since historians base their perceptions of Catiline primarily on the works of Cicero and Sallust, how do we know what the "real" Catiline was like?). The plot of Gordianus and his misgivings about his inherited farm are secondary, but they keep the story moving along.
I find Saylor's work to lack the passion and insight that some other historical fiction writers seem to conjure. Mary Renault's works, for instance, stand alone. However, I had several students who simply could not put the book down. Anything that inspires a 15-year old to read like that deserves applaud.

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Summary: Politics in Ancient Rome
Review: This new novel by Steven Saylor should really not be fitted under the umbrella of "mystery". It is, specifically, an extensively rich treatise about the politics of the late Roman Republic. There is no real mystery per se within the story, and the discourses of the diverse characters in it, though long, reel us into the vivid truth of roman politics. There's a lot of rhetoric, that science that roman politicians were so famous for, and lots of family life. Gordianus is getting on in years and, with the natural worries and sluggishness that come with being the head of a household, he takes a new dimension in the eyes of the reader. He is, after all, human and vulnerable.

Throughout the novel there is a lot of traveling - it bears mentioning that Gordianus is now a farmer and has retired, as such, to the Etruscan countryside. But just as he starts to settle in, quite a few headless bodies keep turning up in all sorts of places. Gordianus is also challenged when asked a favor from his old employer Cicero, now the Roman Consul. He has to play host to Lucius Sergius Catilina, a patrician of dubious reputation accused of conspiring against the Republic in order to establish himself as dictator absolute. But Gordianus cannot really quite convince himself that Catilina is such an impious character, being so charming, so full of life and, in some cases, of truth. But Catilina is also full of riddles. If only Gordianus could find out the truth...

Once again, the charming character of this ancient detective brings us into a world long gone but at the same time so full of the ideas that shaped our future as mankind. Delight yourself, once more, with a true, colorful story about Ancient Rome.

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Summary: Heavily padded but rather interesting
Review: Well, I had to read this for Latin II, so maybe I'm biased. I honestly do not think I would have finished it if it wasn't an assignment. It had some interesting history, but I'll be honest and say that the history was not well woven into the story like Harry Turtledove's excellent Civil War books. It seemed like Saylor threw in tidbits of history here and there just to demonstrate his knowledge and make readers feel like they're reading something "classical."

I am no mystery fan, but I think I know a mystery when I see one, and this was not a real mystery. I won't give away the ending, but even the most skilled mystery solvers could not figure this one out until Gordianus gets the culprit by the throat. I mean, sure, the real solution was the best guess based on the clues given, but I can see other possible solutions. It seems like he just got to the end and started floundering.

The story was padded just to please the publisher, who of course wanted to charge eight bucks for a 460 page book. He could have told this story in 350 pages and it would have been much crisper.

By the way--about that battle at the end--it's pretty unbelieveable that only two men out of tens of thousands would survive a battle. These days 10% casualties is an absolute bloodbath. The Civil War is well known for its horrific battles in which lines of troops would just march up to each other and pull their triggers in unison, but those battles rarely had greater than 30% casualties. Think about it. Not one man was knocked out and fell on the ground to wake up when the battle was over? Not one gave up and saved his life? I don't care how fanatical these guys were, it is simply not plausible. Still, it had its good moments. I liked that Gordianus was not a standard hero-type character. He had at least some depth.