An epic novel that reads more like a narrated history than an immersive story with flesh-and-blood characters.
In this historical novel set in the last days of Imperial Rome, a senator comes up with a bold plan to keep the barbarian hordes to the north at bay.
In the year 372, the Roman Empire is governed from its two capitals of Rome and Constantinople, and it’s under siege on all sides. Fifty-five-year-old senator Marcus Tarquinii, one of the wealthiest men in Rome, goes to co-emperor Valentinian with an ingenious plan to save the empire by creating an autonomous Roman Federation, which can wage war on the barbarians in the far north—the Vandals, Goths and Franks—and create fortified settlements there. Once the emperor approves this plan, Marcus’ son, Scipio Tarquinii, is declared the governor of the new province of Raetia on the Danube and given several Roman legions with which to implement the scheme. Marcus and Scipio push through their initiative, with allies as diverse as Gaius Drusus, commanding general of the Raetian legions, and Sheik Ali Mustapha, leader of the Saracens and trainer of spies and assassins. But when Valentinian dies, a cabal of generals led by the scheming Merobaudes plots to take the empire away from his heirs. In the end, it’s up to Maeve, a Vandal princess and Scipio’s mistress, to save the day. Overall, this debut novel is as well-researched as a historical work of fiction can possibly be. Unfortunately, its many discourses on the military strategies, politics and economics of the late Roman Empire often read like position papers written by a fourth-century policy wonk. To make matters worse, the novel places this information in the mouths of one-dimensional characters, many of whom are based on historical figures. Unlike Lindsey Davis’ Didius Falco mystery series, which manages to make ancient Rome come alive, this novel smothers its narrative under an avalanche of research.
An epic novel that reads more like a narrated history than an immersive story with flesh-and-blood characters.Pub Date: March 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0990403838
Page Count: 434
Publisher: Guardian House Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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