Ruth Downie

This is the fifth installment of an entertaining historical crime fiction series set in the Ancient Roman Empire.

It is A.D. 122 and Roman Army medic Gaius Petreius Ruso is now back with the Twentieth Legion after sojourns in Gaul and Britannia. When the legion gets “swept up into an orgy of practicing, polishing, and sharpening” in preparation for the visit of the Emperor Hadrian, Ruso volunteers to go on a tour to inspect the medical facilities of remote outposts.

He and his wife Tilla show more find themselves in Eboracum (now York) where they discover that the new British recruits have been subject to a rash of accidents. The men believe they are under a curse, but Ruso suspects something more is afoot. In spite of his loathing of becoming embroiled in investigations, he begins to do just that, helped by Tilla, who, being a native herself, is able to get more information out of her fellow Britains than Ruso could.

As Ruso’s friend Valens says to Tilla, “He just can’t resist taking on other people’s problems, can he?” Tilla replies, “No. That is why I like him.”

As Ruso and Tilla begin to ask questions, their own lives are in danger, but as always, they manage to sort out the truth of what is happening and who is behind it.

Tilla continues to grapple with her own problems: her failure to conceive, which she believes is from the damage of a botched abortion after being raped; her desire to learn to read and become a better healer; and her quest to find a faith that serves her needs. Back in Gaul, she learned about Christianity, and sometimes resorts to praying to Christos. In this book, when she is threatening someone with bodily violence, “She hoped Christos was too busy tending to some other follower to listen to this. This was a matter for the old gods.”

Evaluation: This series is quite entertaining. While there are few facts about the period to base her stories on, the author does what she can to fill in the gaps with her imagination. Ruso and Tilla fight an uphill battle to do good in this violent society, but Downie makes them believable, and adds just the right amount of humor, affection, and exasperation to their relationship. show less

Funny, I wonder if there is a bit of truth in the way the "barbarians" underestimated the Romans by their effete appearance. Sadly, the tribe leaders met with maybe the least impressive, Claudius. Tragically so.

I've always found it odd that the Romans wiped out the Druid practice/religion when they pretty much left all others alone, even encouraging people to build temples in Rome to foreign gods.

Interesting the self-interest on display when the outraged Britons quake under the prospect of show more becoming Roman slaves when they enslave each other with abandon.

Not sure I'll finish this. It's a foregone conclusion and there is a ton of grisly action and cruelty, to be expected with war, but I'll never listen to it again even if I do get through it. Back to Audible it will go.

Ok, I made it through, but skipped over some more gratuitous passages - droning on about curses and battle blows. It strikes me, in the fierce pride of the women in the book, that the only way they can have any agency is to adopt the bloodthirsty violence made the cultural norm by men. Behaving with gentleness, kindness, compassion and compromise are all weak and despised. Why? Because they are the default position of many women? Because they don't result in absolute domination and oppression? Why do we value those qualities in humans over the others? Why are we, and by we I mean the culture as a whole and men in particular, so afraid of that other side to us? Sometimes called the feminine side, but I don't think it's that specific. It's just been nearly completely wiped out of so much of how we think of ourselves and what we consider normal and natural. Sad really. We never learn and it will be the end of us one day. And, sadly, probably all life on earth as we know it. show less

What an unusual twist on co-authoring! The story of Boudica's rebellion is told in (mostly) linear time, but from the points of view of several different characters with each installment carrying on the story from a different p.o.v. as told by a different author. Surprisingly, there's not a blatantly lesser section in the lot.

Given how little we know about Boudica, the culture of Celtic Britain, and Druidism, the authors had very little to work with, yet they've created a very plausible show more sociopolitical setting for their novel. The characters are round and believable and often sympathetic. There's not a single uninflected "good guy," which seems appropriate, given the historical roots of the tale and the fact that this is primarily a story of war.

As expected, the subject means that the book gets pretty much all the content warnings. Violence, SA, child abuse, gore, cruelty to humans and animals, homophobia, racism, etc. There are many disturbing scenes and elements, but none are exploitative or unnecessarily detailed or prolonged. If you've somehow gotten this far in life without realizing that humans, even those who are generally decent in other contexts, often do abjectly horrific things to each other in war, this novel will thoroughly correct that oversight. Also, if you don't know the source story, be aware that Boudica revolted against the Roman occupation of Britain after the Roman provincial procurator had her publicly stripped and flogged and allowed Roman soldiers to rape her daughters, so things get ugly pretty quickly in this book and then just stay ugly.

Human nature is actually the most disturbing thing about the book. As in life, there are a few characters who are so thoroughly degenerate and brutal that we feel pretty comfortable hating them and it's a relief when they're taken out of circulation, but the vast majority of the characters are not so easily managed. Nearly every main character, whether Roman or Britton, does things that, to a comfortable 21st-century eye, are terrible. Sometimes they have no choice, but often they make what seems like the best decision in the moment, even if it leads them into committing injustices. And yet every single one has moments in which the reader sees their humanity and feels for them. For a book with seven authors, that's pretty impressive. show less

Ruso and Tilla have arrived back in Britain, newlyweds and in need of a place to live and a job for Ruso. Ruso's old friend Valens, from his army medic days, has found him one--as an investigator for the procurator, to locate the missing tax money, not to mention the missing tax collector, Julius Asper, from the town of Verulamium.

Asper's lover Cama (spelling optional since I listened to the audiobook), traveled the twenty miles from Verulamium to Londinium to report Asper's disappearance show more and what she believes to be the perfidy of the town leaders. She quickly winds up at Valens' house, giving birth to Asper's baby with Tilla as mid-wife.

Meanwhile, Ruso is tracking down Asper, and instead finding his corpse. That's not nearly so unpleasant for Ruso, though he's not pleased, as discovering that his old enemy Metellus is also interested in the case, and also expects a report from Ruso. Soon Ruso is off to Verulamium "to help the town council," and Tilla is also, accompanying her patient Cama and her baby. The tight bond between Ruso and Tilla, and the counterpoint of their disagreement about nearly everything, including marriage, relationships, and investigating crimes, ensures that they are often working at odds even as they have much the same goals in mind.

This is a nicely complex mystery, with enough but not too much Roman and British history layered in, and the continuing growth of Tilla and Ruso as characters. I've enjoyed every one of these stories so far, and I expect to continue doing so.

Recommended. show less