Romanitas by Sophia McDougall – Review
Romanitas by Sophia McDougall is a story about two slaves from London and the nephew of the Roman Emperor. But there is one big twist to the story: it's not set in the past. The world of Romanitas is a world where the Roman Empire never collapsed but actually prospered. They control most of the world with the exceptions of Australia, Southern Africa, China, Japan and the area we would call Alaska, British Columbia and Washington today. In other words: it controls almost the entire world.
The book essentially begins as two separate stories. On the one hand we have the nephew, Marcus, of the Emperor who needs to flee from a conspiracy that killed his parents and is about the kill him. And on the other side we have the two slaves, Sullien and Una, escaping from their owners in London and risking their lives doing so. It's fairly obvious where this story goes: the wealthy aristocratic Marcus and the two slaves meet up and, after a short moment of betrayal by the slaves, join forces to escape from the officials that are chasing them.
The story has great potential and the book actually delivers on most aspects but there are definitely a few problems with it. Although the author set up an entire world with geopolitical tensions she didn't use them at all. The entire story is basically about the personal lives of the three hunted persons and the conspiracy that wants to get rid of Marcus and the rest of this well thought out universe is wasted and completely unused. This brings me to another critical aspect of the story: the conspiracy. It's not a very believable or interesting conspiracy. The reason behind it is blatantly obvious after the first few pages and although there is a final twist at the end of the story it doesn't take the characters much to figure it all out. My final problem is with the pacing. Although there are definite fast-paced parts of the story in the beginning and at the very end large swaths of the story aren't that interesting and it doesn't feel like the characters have a lot at stake. The book could have lost 20% of the pages and it wouldn't miss that much.
Now, with all the complaining it does sound like it's a book that isn't that great and should be left alone. This is not the case, I definitely advise to read the book if you're capable of imagining an alternate world like this. And I do think the book is worth reading for the exciting fast-paced parts where you do feel the heroes have a cause and are really fearing for their lives. And, although I haven't read them yet, I have a feeling that it's worth to read the first book just to read the next two books. Judging from the reviews it does sound like the next two books are definitely worth it.
I give Romanitas 3 laurel wreaths out of 5.
Romanitas – will I do a book review?
So, after sitting in my cabin in the woods for a few days I found a wireless hotspot willing to carry my message to the rest of the world. I'm not sure if the owner likes this but if you don't secure your wireless connection I assume you want to share it to the world.
I really like reading books but I never find the time for it, a holiday is the perfect time to read something. That being said, I'm reading a novel by Sophia McDougall called Romanitas right now. It's a story based on a dystopian world where the Roman Empire never ceased to exist. I must say it's an interesting premise and I do enjoy the story (~100 pages in). But I have one problem with it: the hero characters seem too strong, clever and indestructible. Things might change but that's the feeling I get right now, to me that's a negative especially with stories set in such a gloom environment.
So why do I post about this? Well, I'm thinking about writing a book review on it and post it on here. Maybe not really the right style for this blog but I think I'll enjoy writing about it.