Rating: 
Summary: Ok, but not at all what I was expecting.
Review: When I saw this book at the library and read the synopsis on the book jacket, I thought it looked like a really interesting concept. I was expecting a story set roughly in the present in a vast all-encompassing Roman Empire that never fell. I wanted to see the differences of culture an technology and how they would be different in modern life if they had evolved out of such a mighty empire. However, what I got instead were several short stories set in a constantly decaying, but never quite falling, Roman Empire.Despite being a little disappointed that this was a book of short stories, instead of what I had expected, I still thought it might be interesting to see some of the things that I mentioned above, as the Empire evolves. However, while a couple of the stories were pretty good, most were just ok, and a couple (including the last) were terrible. Instead of telling stories about the greatness of the Empire and how it expands throughout the years, and the technology that comes along with it, the stories are more about how the Empire just barely hangs on (or doesn't, temporarily) despite many factors that threaten it. And the technology that I thought would be particulary interesting was barely mentioned at all. There are passing mentions of a printing press and picture postcards, and some talk of building an elevator that is never realized, but no discussion of how technological advancements were made in this alternate version of history. I was also particularly disappointed by the fact that the technology that was mentioned in the stories pretty much corresponded to when those things came about in actual history. But I would have thought, that if the Roman Empire never fell, technology would have progressed at a slightly faster, if not much faster rate, especially considering how advanced the Romans seemed to be in such things. Also without the Dark Ages that followed the Empire's collapse, I would think things would have progressed further in that time. Finally, the most annoying thing about the book was that the last story did not seem to belong at all. It was not a story about the Empire, aside from being set in it, and was completely different from all the others in the book. It was also one of the shortest and probably the worst of the stories in the book. I wouldn't recommend this book, although if you know what to expect going into it, you may enjoy it more then I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Does not meet expectations
Review: While the book is well written, the plot outlined in the blub takes place in the last few pages and is terribly disappointing. It jumps through time and by the time you know the characters you have more to look at and the others are gone.
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