EMBED for wordpress. Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Rome is torn apart by war, plague and internal power struggles between the Emperor, the aristocracy and the Church. Into this morass stumbles the young and handsome Aelric. His father was murdered and his inheritance stolen. When he is forcible separated from the woman he loves, he is determined to win back all that he has lost. Through his naivety and ambition, he unwittingly becomes involved in a heretical plot that will lead to fraud, murder and high treason.
There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write a review. Internet Archive Books. This was the aggrandisment of their Church. They had taken this from those who went before them. They would hand it on to those who followed. You can achieve much in your own lifetime. But this is nothing compared to what can be done in the lifetime of a corporate entity.
This never tires and never sleeps and never grows old and feeble. It recovers from mistakes and reverses. Like the waves on Richborough beach, individual follows individual, sometimes pressing forward, sometimes falling back. But the tide comes in with unbroken force. It can, by sheer perseverance, change the manners of whole nations, and can by unending repetition make statements that, considered rationally, are nonsense, gain acceptance even by the wise as self-evident truth.
Such I gathered from my first real encounter with the Imperial Church of Rome. A series of anachronisms though pulled me out of the story every time I felt like I was getting immersed in the period, which is a pity since most of the research for the book is well done.
But I don't think corn was imported from Sicily in the seventh century, or that a Stock Exchange existed at that time that functioned like a modern one What he wanted to buy was the right to obtain shares on a future date at a certain price.
Nor do I believe a murder inquiry would have been performed according to modern criminal procedure searching for clues, investigating witnesses. Some of the faux-pas and histrionics in dialogue can be assigned to the youth of the hero, believably gullible at that age, others are just a wrong vibe that could be directed at my personal preferences for what is ancient style and what is modern. I did like Aelric as a protagonist and I intend to continue with the series, giving him a second chance to win me over.
Some of the groundwork for this is well established with making him a bit of a bookworm and more of a skeptic in a world of religious intolerance: But it was now that I conceived my true mission in life. This has not been wealth and sex and pleasure of the bestial kind — though I'll not deny I've managed more than the common share of all these. It is something of which Epicurus himself would have approved. My mission has been to save all that I could of the ancient learning.
Where miracles are concerned, you need know only the part of how they're produced to dismiss the whole effect as a fraud. Recommended to history fans with less stringent literary expectations. This is one of those books that is not quite there and yet you instinctively know as a reader of series' that it is the jumping off point for a potentially terrific series.
Think author Michael Jecks and his Knights Templar series as an example. That author himself is the first to admit that the debut book in his series is not the best he can do, it was only the best he could do at that time.
It was a foundation book for a good series where the author matures as his skills mature. And that, I This is one of those books that is not quite there and yet you instinctively know as a reader of series' that it is the jumping off point for a potentially terrific series.
And that, I trust, is where this book by Richard Blake is placed. At the start line of a long journey. Fresh, enthusiastic, ready to run, but not quite honed and toned nor convincing enough to bring it home. Clearly the author gave it all to his debut and I appreciate that. The descriptions of seventh century Rome were well done and I found myself transported easily to a city which had wearied itself in war and invasion, and consumed itself from the inside out with a parasitic political culture.
Our protagonist, Aelric, is a Briton, from Richborough. In his birthplace he was to find love in a childhood sweetheart and a friend, Maximin, a priest from Ravenna who he served as an interpreter and general secretary.
In a matter of moments he lost it all, his love, his home, his family and he fled Britain at the side of Maximin to the faded city of Rome. It was here that I felt the story finally became something worth knowing, although I did spend many a moment wondering where the story was going. I had assumed, wrongly it would seem, by the bookcover and the book blurb, that the book would be action adventure, but this never eventuated.
By about halfway through the book it surprised me by turning into a historical mystery. A most unexpected outcome. The books biggest asset was the descriptive writing. Richard Blake is very good at creating environment and I enjoyed that immensely. He is an excellent writer in so many ways and I look forward to reading more by him.
The books biggest flaw was one of the reasons a severly downgrade this book from a 4 star to a 3. The obnoxious language used not only in dialogue, but in the narration was a difficult hurdle to clamber over and I never quite managed it.
There are swearwords and many a slang word that may alienate or befuddle a non Commonwealth reader eg an American, Asian, or a European who's first language is not English,. An example would be 'have a butchers'. To those familiar with rhyming slang most English and countries such as Australia , we know this means 'look'. As in 'butcher's hook' rhymes with 'look', therefore to have a butchers means to have a look.
I must also mention another of these obnoxious language niggles of mine. In the early stages of the book especially, Aelric was much preoccupied with when and how often he wanted to or felt like having a sh t. It was too much, too often. Swear words were used multiple times in dialogue and in many scenes became the common denominator.
Replacing clever choices for dialogue with f cking f ckers and the like. I am no prude and I swear like a fishmonger's wife, but I can only handle a few well placed swear words in a book. This one was too thick with swearwords and it detracted from the story. On this issue I am told by the author that later in the series swearing is less dominant and I am glad to know that, because if he had not told me that, then I probably would not have gone on with the series.
I will, however, absolutely go on with the series. I am keen to see where it goes as I had been on the look out for a protracted series to follow. This is a series I have opted to give a chance to and I am very selective when it comes to following a series, so that should tell you something of my feelings towards this book.
View all 6 comments. Very anachronistic - that almost made me put it down - but the protagonist with his cynical, take no prisoners attitude is superb, the book is ultra-fast and I became a fan of the series An A. Plot: 7 strong start maintains momentum through drab conclusion Characters: 10 scandalous and highly entertaining Accuracy: 9 overly modern language aside, it captures the period well I really enjoyed this book.
Learning is his driving passion, although in most other respects he follows the ultra-manly attributes of a warrior. Wine, women, fighting, etc. But this book manages to effectively make his lust for knowledge compatible with his lust for women and life in general.
The entire novel is told in a first person flashback with Aelric back in the monastery of Jarrow at the improbably age of Young Aelric is every bit as much a scholar as old Aelric so the contrast is not so severe.
And while both are basically atheists they have strong Christian ties, so the shift from warrior-scholar to Christian scholar is basically just a matter of age. Not that the old Aelric bookends are entirely convincing. Like most such narratives it makes no attempt to imitate accurately the style of such contemporary narratives and instead uses the memoir as an excuse to tell the story how they want.
Thank God. This book would be so boring if we removed all the sex and smut. The story itself is strong enough to start with. The whole thing aims to tell a dirty and scandalous account of the various powerbrokers inhabiting the 7th century world. I thought that this was a disappointingly traditional format for such a nontraditional story. The time up til then is filled with action and adventures.
I found the murder mystery the least interesting element of the book. It also seemed out of character for Aelric. I appreciated how Aelric remained within the bounds of contemporarily plausible morality for the period in question a brief Libertarian digression on just laws and the inefficient implications of slavery aside but to have a red-blooded Saxon forswear easy and consequence-free revenge is like having a fish forswear water.
It was unmotivated and seemed to belong to a much nicer book. The level of historical research here is superb. The few issues I had with it were more of style than substance. Specifically, the extremely colloquial dialogue. I realize that this is largely a matter of taste, but I find it somewhat distracting to see everyone talking like Freshmen enthusiastically trying out new swears for the first time.
It could also be irritatingly vague or modern. Thus we get France for Francia actually covering modern France as well as Belgium and much of the Netherlands and Germany , England for the various Angle and Saxon kingdoms , and various other oddities. The criminal justice system seems a bit too modern as well, with postmortems and at least a theoretical obligation to investigate all crimes that I highly doubt existed. Ditto the papal grain dole. These are, as I said, more a matter of stylistic and clarity concerns than serious criticisms.
So I really enjoyed this book and look forward to further adventures of the warrior-scholar Aelric and his seemingly endless ability to say or do anything it takes to get what he wants. Impersonating the Bishop of Laodicea to spy on the King of Persia sounds particularly fun. I look forward to the next one. May these adventures continue to impress. View 1 comment. May 11, Quinox rated it it was amazing Shelves: historical , adventure , ancient.
I love the writing style of this book, straight-forward, no nonsence, descriptive. It doesn't make pretence to have been written in some sort of elderly, litterary English. I think it's supposed to be read as a modern translation of an every-day antique language, complete with curses and slang. It's written as a memoir and although I'm not always fond of first-person narratives, this is an exceptionally good one. Can hardly wait for the sequel.
The hero is almost pathologically narcissistic, but I I love the writing style of this book, straight-forward, no nonsence, descriptive. The hero is almost pathologically narcissistic, but I cannot refrain from liking him anyway. That little personal trait of his actually makes me laugh.
At least he freely admits to being like that. But he also possesses a great love of books and knowledge and he also quite honestly and without false modesty describes himself and his way of thinking. I guess it can be attributed to the shamelessness of an old mind. Aelaric dipaksa menemani Maximin - rahib ternama di Inggris, utk mendampinginya ke Roma. Di Roma, kota ini sangat mengesankan Aelaric yg tampan dan berdarah muda.
Dia bertemu dgn Lucius yg kelak menjadi pasangan sesama jenisnya. Ternyata dirinya dijebak dalam konspirasi tingkat tinggi yg melibatkan surat-surat yg dibawa Maximin utk diserahkan kepada kaisar. Sayangnya surat tsb lenyap seiring Maximin ditemukan dlm keadaan tewas.
Siapakah dalang dibalik konspirasi ini? Ini novel pertama author yg s Aelaric dipaksa menemani Maximin - rahib ternama di Inggris, utk mendampinginya ke Roma. Ini novel pertama author yg saya baca dan sejujurnya saya kurang menikmatinya.
Petualangan Aelaric terlalu dihiasi deskripsi keindahan Roma abad 7 dan filsafatnya malah jadi cenderung kurang fokus pada inti permasalahannya. Misterinya baru terkuak secara beruntun dari mulut si dalang sendiri, malah menurut saya jadi kurang menggigit.
Sejarah Roma pada Abad Kegelapan ini digambarkan penuh skandal dan intrik, tetapi entah bagaimana saya koq kurang tertarik. Apakah karena cara penggambarannya yg monoton dan terlalu filsafat atau terjemahannya yg kurang enak dibaca? When I had just bought this book, about two years ago, I quickly read a few pages from it and thought the main character and first-person narrator was very rude.
The plot is intricate and surprising and made it hard for me to put this book down. The historical facts that are mentioned in it are, as far as I can tell, correct. I When I had just bought this book, about two years ago, I quickly read a few pages from it and thought the main character and first-person narrator was very rude.
It is the only novel I have read that is set in the Byzantine period at the time of Phocas' rule. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the descriptions of everyday life in Rome in the early 7th century as well as the descriptions of famous places in the city. It was one great circular room, topped by the coffered, hemispherical dome. The light of the very late afternoon entered obliquely through a hole, or 'oculus', at the centre of the dome.
This fell directly on the upper part of the dome, and was then diffused lower onto walls of the most glorious polychrome marble. Around the walls, taking the weight of the dome, was a circle of elegant Corinthians. The overall impression in that late, golden light was of immense yet restful magnificence.
I could hardly reconcile the people of the Rome I knew with the race that could have conceived and built something so completely wonderful. It was like the most beautiful and technically perfect ancient poem, enlarged and made into stone. Jul 26, Thomas rated it really liked it. As I explained back then, I'm a lazy scholar, and I refuse to read unless I absolutely must dry histories or boring biographies of historic figures. I'm happy to let hardworking authors such as Robert Graves and Stella Duffy do the heavy lifting and then present me with well researched stories of blood, guts, passion, This is one of those books I've read as part of the Fictional Understanding of Byzantium and Rome FUBAR studies project I began after reading Ghost Empire back in January I'm happy to let hardworking authors such as Robert Graves and Stella Duffy do the heavy lifting and then present me with well researched stories of blood, guts, passion, and fire conjured from their well educated imaginations.
Graves, Duffy and a several other great writers have guided me through the reigns of Constantine and Justinian. It covers the travels of a young Anglo-Saxon nobleman named Aleric or Alaric to the Greek and Romans who journeys to the ancient city of Rome, where he becomes entangled in a conspiracy which he must uncover to avenge the death of his best friend and continue surviving himself.
Along the way, young Aleric makes it his mission in life to rescue and preserve as many works of ancient Greek and Roman literature as he can locate, for they are rapidly being lost to neglect or intentional destruction in a world that no longer seems to have any use for them.
Blake brings the Rome of AD to life through immersive and atmospheric description. This city is no longer the center of a powerful and immense civilization with a population of over a million people. The image of grandeur has faded. War, famine, and disease have had their way and Rome by the 7th century is in complete and utter decline - its population having dwindled to a mere 30, souls living in squalor. The author not only takes you on a tour of abandoned and crumbling forums and temples through rubble filled streets, he evokes the stench of destitution and desperation.
Blake is able to paint a fascinating and grim picture of a society in complete and utter decline. The detail is amazing: Plumbing has broken down mainly because most of the aqueducts were never repaired after the Gothic Wars..
The wrecked pipes stink in and of themselves, but there are secondary smells because people can no longer bath themselves or clean their clothing. Swarms of rats rove the streets at night along with women selling sex to survive and packs of thieves trying to do the same.
The food is horrible.. The best meat seems to be roast rat. The other offerings from the butcher are rancid and dangerous. The bread is stale. The olives and wine not bad. The elite no longer speak proper Latin, merely Vulgate. Barbarians trained in the classics sound smarter and more educated. Besides describing such a real world, this book introduced me to a new aspect of the early days of Christianity in the West.
I especially enjoyed Pope Gregory I's strategizing, plotting, and politicking to one day make Lateran Rome the headquarters of all Christendom. I'm betting Aleric's book saving proclivities play a big part in the Church's plans to dominate the other sects by indoctrination over time. Conspiracies of Rome is a good combination of history, religion, politics and conspiracy. Highly recommended not just to fans of historical fiction but also to action-adventure, mystery and suspense readers as well.
Mar 22, Graculus rated it it was ok Shelves: historical , series. Apparently this is the first book of a trilogy, set in Rome at the time of the fall of its empire. Our protagonist is Aelric, who is looking back at his life from the perspective of being an elderly monk in Jarrow, telling tales of when he used to be a lusty literally young man. One of a family whose inheritance has been stolen, Aelric finds himself in trouble for having his way with the wrong woman and is forced to flee the country, reluctantly travelling to Rome with the missionary Maximinus.
The empire is in its death throes, overrun by invaders and struggling to maintain a grip on power while, in contrast, the power of the church continues to grow. In Rome, Aelric makes both friends and enemies after his fellow traveller is murdered and he determines to know the truth about who killed him and why. I'm a bit of a fan of historical detective stories, but sadly I guessed who was ultimately responsible for what had happened before the author revealed it, which is always a disappointment.
At times, also, the anachronisms got a little too much as the story got bogged down in very unRoman attitudes and mores, as well as the feeling the author is trying to shock and not always managing it.
Mar 26, Venetia Green rated it it was amazing. Fantastic characterisation, depth of historical context, and a startlingly bittersweet ending. Of course I had to give this novel of Dark Ages Rome 5 stars! Aelric whom the Romans dub Alaric is a ravishingly handsome his own words! He is vain, greedy, has a talent for stumbling into trouble, has a hunger for ancient pagan literature, and is quite regularly sexist.
Despite the aforegoing, his heart is mostly in the right place. This, and his passion for saving ancie Fantastic characterisation, depth of historical context, and a startlingly bittersweet ending.
This, and his passion for saving ancient manuscripts, redeem him from complete anti-hero-hood. Just occasionally, Blake's love of historical detail got a tinsy bit tedious. The example that springs to mind is the lecture on papyrus.
0コメント