08-28-2006, 02:37 AM
Has anyone read this novel By Thomas Holt, 2003? I just finished it and found myself laughing out loud at many points. Holt has a very witty way of writing. Very enjoyable.
The story is that Nero didn't die (a lookalike did) and the emperor escaped with our protagonist (Galen - the brother of the lookalike) and they have various adventures. The plot is as convoluted as a baroque opera in places and there was a bout of intrusive swearing in the middle which seemed to suggest it was written out of synch with the rest. There were only a couple of anachronisims (a banana was mentioned at one point). Not too much on the military side but enough action to keep most interested.
By contrast I then startred William Dietrich's Hadrian's Wall and it has not sustained my interest half as much (not helped by the error in the second sentence - 'The northern wind blew across the ridge with a howl like an army of barbarians. The metaphor pleased the emperor ...' Yikes! :roll: )
A Song for Nero is certainly worth a look though.
Cheers
Murray
The story is that Nero didn't die (a lookalike did) and the emperor escaped with our protagonist (Galen - the brother of the lookalike) and they have various adventures. The plot is as convoluted as a baroque opera in places and there was a bout of intrusive swearing in the middle which seemed to suggest it was written out of synch with the rest. There were only a couple of anachronisims (a banana was mentioned at one point). Not too much on the military side but enough action to keep most interested.
By contrast I then startred William Dietrich's Hadrian's Wall and it has not sustained my interest half as much (not helped by the error in the second sentence - 'The northern wind blew across the ridge with a howl like an army of barbarians. The metaphor pleased the emperor ...' Yikes! :roll: )
A Song for Nero is certainly worth a look though.
Cheers
Murray
Murray K Dahm
Moderator
\'\'\'\'No matter how many you kill, you cannot kill your successor\'\'\'\' - Seneca to Nero - Dio 62
\'\'\'\'There is no way of correcting wrongdoing in those who think that the height of virtue consists in the execution of their will\'\'\'\' - Ammianus Marcellinus 27.7.9
Moderator
\'\'\'\'No matter how many you kill, you cannot kill your successor\'\'\'\' - Seneca to Nero - Dio 62
\'\'\'\'There is no way of correcting wrongdoing in those who think that the height of virtue consists in the execution of their will\'\'\'\' - Ammianus Marcellinus 27.7.9
