Roma

The Novel of Ancient Rome

By: Steven Saylor

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 22 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Weaving history, legend, and new archaeological discoveries into a spellbinding narrative, critically acclaimed novelist Steven Saylor gives new life to the drama of the city's first 1,000 years - from the founding of the city by the ill-fated twins Romulus and Remus, through Rome's astonishing ascent to become the capital of the most powerful empire in history.

Roma recounts the tragedy of the hero-traitor Coriolanus, the capture of the city by the Gauls, the invasion of Hannibal, the bitter political struggles of the patricians and plebeians, and the ultimate death of Rome's Republic with the triumph, and assassination, of Julius Caesar.

Witnessing this history, and sometimes playing key roles, are the descendents of two of Rome's first families: the Potitius and Pinarius clans. One is the confidant of Romulus. One is born a slave and tempts a Vestal virgin to break her vows. One becomes a mass murderer. And one becomes the heir of Julius Caesar. Linking the generations is a mysterious talisman as ancient as the city itself.

Epic in every sense of the word, Roma is a panoramic historical saga and Saylor's finest achievement to date.

©2007 Steven Saylor (P)2007 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"Solidly anchored in fact and vividly imagined." (Publishers Weekly)

A Epic story spanning the ages.

I loved it. It begins with Roman myth and ends with rule of Augustus. You get the feel of being there and seeing all historical events take place. The story breaths life into history.
The reading was excellent.
I recommend it to all that love history.

Good listen

Not the most complex of narratives but keeps your attention and has a good flow, some good classic roman stories and myths brought to life in a compelling way

Steven Saylor has another Roman triumph! (And it’s no mystery)

I have enjoyed all his Roma Sub Rosa mysteries and especially A Twist at the End but this epic historical novel shot to the top of my favorite books of his. By weaving a twisting family linage into the first half of the history of Rome (from hunter/gathers to dawn of the emperors) he gives a fascinating and cogent look at not just the history of Rome but the nature of history itself. A great read!

Fabulous!!! So good I listened twice!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

YES!! I completely recommend this to any of my friends who enjoy history.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved how all of Romes history could be tied in by following a heirloom. (It's just extra awesome it's a penis pendant.)

What about John Lee’s performance did you like?

His voice is just perfect!

Who was the most memorable character of Roma and why?

Probably the Fascinus, even though it's not really a character. It's the penis with wings pendant that the family passes down from generation to generation.

Any additional comments?

While listening to this I felt as if I knew the Potitius & Pinarius families. Fabulously written!

Rome must have been more exciting than this.

Having recently enyoyed Ken Follett's "World Without End", I figured, "Let's see what living in ancient Rome was like."

I found some of Saylor's explanations for many myths, gods, and legends as originating from ignorance, over-interpretation, and sometimes, just plain chicanery most amusing. My problem with the book, and what has frankly stopped me part of the way through, is the writing. It is so simplistic that I felt I was reading a children's book -- or at least a young adult's book.

Mildly interesting but numbingly simplistic -- just not enough excitement in Roma.

Fascinating!

From beginning to end, I was intrigued by the story and the history of how it all started. If you enjoy the history of Rome , this book is for you.

Spoiled by James Michener

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Perhaps I am spoiled by James Michener, but I don't get the word pictures that describe people and things in as much depth as I had hoped. However, it was a good "read" in terms of understanding the times. It sped through history and lacked the sense of depth at any particular part of it that would have made it more "real" to me.

Would you recommend Roma to your friends? Why or why not?

Oh, if someone wanted company on a long commute, or was bored, it would have value, but as to learning something from it, not so much.

What aspect of John Lee’s performance would you have changed?

I don't know. Maybe just more substance to the characters? I didn't get to know or like any of them.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

Beginning is great

The imaginative opening story of the salt traders is masterful. I won't reveal the end, but I found it a bit contrived.

Outstanding but over-ambitious for a single novel

This is an outstanding, well-written and fascinating book with a perfect narration by John Lee. The only thing that is frustrating about it is that it tries to cover too much in a single volume. It would have been much better as a series of as many as ten novels. The material is there, and the author is easily up to the task: The characters, background, dialog, exposition and everything else are all wonderful. But as soon as you get familiar with a group of characters the story suddenly moves on a hundred years and you have to get used to another group. After every little episode I had the feeling of being short-changed.

In a way, it's more like a historical docu-drama than a novel. But that's not quite right either, because it really does have the quality of a novel; or rather, of a series of frustratingly unfinished novels. This feeling gets heightened towards the end, where I started to get the feeling that the author was getting a little tired of the project. The whole story of Julius Caesar and his murder was much too perfunctory, with much less introduction and background than many of the other episodes.

This is a good book and I'm not sorry I read it,but it could have been much, much better. And that's a pity.

Best novel on Rome I've ever read, now listened to

Narrator was great, funny, that as he's English, all the Roman rabble was in cockney