Render Unto Caesar

Oh God I stayed up far, far too late reading this. But it was worth it.

This pushes a button for me. That button is the hero who gets in so over his head, knows it, and grits his teeth and does his damnedest. And is *awesome*. Bonus points for people around him thinking he's a total BAMF, and his response being, omgwtf I am so not the droid you are looking for. See also: Season 1 John Sheppard, and whatsherface in Naamah's Curse.

While this doesn't pass Bechdel (on-screen; there's a referenced conversation but it's very brief), I am willing to forgive on the grounds that Maerica kicks every possible variety of ass and the hero clearly adores his (off-screen) daughter.

I love that the book is from the perspective of the conquered peoples show more of Rome. I love that the plot is explained clearly without a single instance of "as you know, Bob." This is one time when the audience knowing as much as the point-of-view character works really well; pace Lawrence Block, but I find I often prefer stories where the audience knows more than the characters.

Oh, and the treatment of sexuality in early imperial Rome is pretty awesome. show less

Excellent fun read - had me up late several nights! You can pretty much see where things are going but there enough obstacles in the way that one is thrown into doubt - lots of tension and action!

I do wonder - would anybody at that time really be so focused on justice as some abstract kind of rule of law? It's an interesting puzzle - probably the actual ways of thinking of people of that time are so foreign to us modern readers that we could never get engaged in the story. We just wouldn't understand the motives etc. What's the point of historical fiction? To place action in a historical scene, or use the scene to explore historical ways of thinking?

Bradshaw does repeat a stanza of praise to Isis that makes justice one of her domains. show more Anyway Bradshaw does a very nice job of exploring justice in that ancient context. show less

Young-ish Greek man visits Rome; gets tangled up in politics and plots; makes vehement speeches about citizenship, slavery, honor; meets brash female gladiator; falls in lust love; writes many sad-face letters to his daughter; returns home.
Gave it three stars, because it's terribly engaging, but it's not very *good* so feel as tho I am being dishonest. Hermogenes is just too freaking perfect. He's clever, he's brave, he's rich, he's forthright and honest. His slaves love him. Other peoples' slaves love him. He makes immaterial mistakes and prays feverently and OH MY GOD I WANTED TO SMACK HIM. (plus: he's cool with homo/bisexuality 90% of the time and lets out with a nasty slur, randomly, why?)

Characterization was an utter fail, & there show more were too many (useless) info-dumps; and thanks for pointing out how to pronounce your daughters name *yet again*; but the attention to detail caught me now and then. Like: a rag is stuffed in his mouth and it tastes of ashes and oil - it's a rag to clean armor (affecting to me, for whatever reason, but it's another irritant: how and why would Hermogenes know this?)

(1/8-1/9, 460 pages) show less

This is a light historical romance, but its an intelligent one, grounded in solid knowledge of real history and with plenty of action and adventure. I really enjoy Gillian Bradshaw's novels, they're a fun recreation and I don't feel dumber after I read one.

Hermógenes, un comerciante romano de Alejandría, se dirige a Roma para cobrar una deuda. El deudor, un rico cónsul romano, se niega a pagar, y además, intenta asesinarle. Pero el alejandrino no ceja en su empeño y recorre las callles de Roma, donde conoce a toda clase de gentes y sufre todo tipo de dificultades. Hermógenes es uno de los muchos ciudadanos romanos de la periferia a los que el Imperio discrimina.