Taking place in Rome and Britannia during 70 AD, after the reign of political chaos of the Year of the four emperors, Lindsey Davis uses this historical fiction novel to focus on the series of events of Marcus Didius Falco. Considered to be an amateur private informer during this time, Falco’s sleazy reputation with a sense of strong justice ultimately depicts his un-success and need of funds. However, Falco runs into a complicated issue as the fiction novel shifts toward a mysterious standpoint, thus shaping our protagonist to mature and add experience to his disqualification as a private informer.
With the Roman Empire under fire by the tenure of unwanted civil wars and various emperors the past year, corruption and political overtone linger throughout Rome. As the protagonist is caught in between a murder case and conspiracy, his encounter with a senator’s niece named Sosia Camillina sparks the powder keg. With Sosia developing Falco’s main purpose in the novel her death ultimately inclines action and adds mystery to the novel. After Sosia’s death, her cousin Helena Justina is then introduced into the novel after her father supports Falco to investigate his niece’s killer. With …show more content…
The novel is well rounded, but only falls short due to the accidental mistakes made by the author. Nonetheless, the fact that the book is followed by several sequels ultimately provides the possibility that the author fixes the issues within the next installments. However, despite being a well rounded novel the book at times is dragged out with unnecessary additional words where the author attempts to further describe her point. The reader at times will have to re-read several passages to understand the repetitive word choice and will have to overcome the lack of suspense within the novel’s key
With the Roman Empire under fire by the tenure of unwanted civil wars and various emperors the past year, corruption and political overtone linger throughout Rome. As the protagonist is caught in between a murder case and conspiracy, his encounter with a senator’s niece named Sosia Camillina sparks the powder keg. With Sosia developing Falco’s main purpose in the novel her death ultimately inclines action and adds mystery to the novel. After Sosia’s death, her cousin Helena Justina is then introduced into the novel after her father supports Falco to investigate his niece’s killer. With …show more content…
The novel is well rounded, but only falls short due to the accidental mistakes made by the author. Nonetheless, the fact that the book is followed by several sequels ultimately provides the possibility that the author fixes the issues within the next installments. However, despite being a well rounded novel the book at times is dragged out with unnecessary additional words where the author attempts to further describe her point. The reader at times will have to re-read several passages to understand the repetitive word choice and will have to overcome the lack of suspense within the novel’s key