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Steven Saylor is mostly famous for his Roman mysteries series set during the last decades of the Roman Republic, collectively known as Roma Sub Rosa and starring one Gordianus the Finder as his main detective. He also published two multigeneration novels about Roman history - Roma and Empire which have nothing to do with the Roma Sub Rosa series, and two collection of short stories featuring Gordianus, set at various points of his life not covered by the novels. While I always enjoy Saylor's style and way to give us believable Roman characters, not contemporary ones dressed up in togas, my response to his books is varied. Three of the Roma Sub Rosa novels I really, truly love, and they're from the middle of the serie - Catilina's Riddle (deals with the Catilina conspiracy), The Venus Throw (Clodia) and A Murder on the Appian Way (death of Clodius Pulcher). These three I would unhesitatingly recommend to anyone. The others I like in varying degrees, and sometimes even see as interesting failures. As for Roma and Empire, they're okay, but the very format prevents connecting with characters, and they feel more like illustrated highlights of Roman history. So my expectations for this newest novel, which features Gordianus again but is set in his youth, years before the Sub Rosa series starts, were that it could be anything from compelling to merely okay-ish to "try again, Mr. Saylor".
Well, I'm happy to report this one is a highlight again. Saylor has managed to meld his short story and episodic epic approach to his mystery novel approach; the premise of the novel is that young Gordianus (and he's really young, only 18 years old as opposed to the middle aged man he's through most of the series) is travelling the ancient world with his Greek tutor in order to see the fabled Seven Wonders of the World, and while he's at it also growing up in emotion and spirit as well as starting his life long penchant of solving mysteries. So it's a coming of age novel as well as a travelogue through the ancient world, like a miniseries where every episode takes place at a different place, but with an overreaching and connecting emotional arc. He's also in great form bringing the places and people to life, be they Ephesus, Halikarnass, Babylon, Rhodos or Egypt, and convey the awe and amazement the wonders inspire (only one of which, the Pyramids at Gizeh, still exist today) in a way that allows the readers to share it, which is no mean feat. If you're familiar with the previous books ,then it's interesting to meet Gordianus so young; he's both different and similar enough to his older self to be a just out of teenagedom version of his character, and because of all the mess that happened to Gordianus and his family over the course of the novels, the youthful idealism feels like a breath of fresh air. Otoh if you have never read anything by Steven Saylor before - and you can start with this novel, which requires no previous knowledge - then this effect will be missing, but this won't stop you from enjoying the story.
Of couse, Gordianus on his lonesome never was what made the Sub Rosa series so compelling, but the fact that Saylor keeps throwing him against a rich cast of interesting characters, some historical, some not, some showing up in more than one novel, others limited to one book. In The Seven Wonders, we get a great cast as well, and more interesting women in the same book than in any previous Saylor novel. Said previous novels also feature great female characters, but percentage-wise they're simply more men around, and so in most of the novels, you have more interesting men than interesting women per book. Not so here. My favourite is Bitto, the cousin of Gordianus' tutor, who became a hetaira, but there are plenty of others in all ages.
Another ongoing theme: the overall resentment of Rome as the new superpower of the Mediterrenean, which for Gordianus, a young Roman on his first trip abroad, is something he increasingly and keenly becomes aware of. This isn't just a question of atmosphere but ties in the personal story of the novel, as his Greek tutor, Antipater, increasingly shows his own issues with Rome in a way the man for obvious reasons never did when living at the place. (Speaking of, only the opening scenes of the novel are set in Rome before the big journey starts, but they allow Saylor to describe a Roman funeral and pulling all the stops there, which is great. Roman funerals were elaborate and highly theatrical affairs with mimes, and are immensely entertaining to read about.)
Complaints: only one. Now Gordianus in the series has been established as mostly straight but not completely unreceptive to the occasional homoerotic impulse, though with one possible exception, he doesn't follow up on it (being a married man for most of the series, he also doesn't follow up on heterosexual temptation, again with one exception). In The Seven Wonders, at one point a young Gaul hits on him, and Gordianus says no, which isn't my problem. It's ic (especially for a younger, more naive Gordianus), not least because the Gaul in question is quite full of himself and more like an enthusiastic gold retriever than someone bothering with seduction, so a "err, thanks, but no thanks" reaction is what this particular reader would have recomended, too. However, by the end of that particular episode in a sudden reverse Saylor leaves it open whether Gordianus finally did come around to the Gaul after all. Given that by contrast we're left in no doubt about the women he does and doesn't sleep with elsewhere in the book, this strikes me as unworthy in its coyness. (Before anyone says anything, yes, I'm aware Saylor is gay himself and also writes gay erotica. But each book should be judged on its own merits and not what its author does elsewhere.)
But this is my only complaint. Otherwise, I really loved the book, and highly recommend it, whether or not you've read anything of Saylor's before, especially if you want to read a historical novel set in the first century BC which doesn't follow the usual patterns and manages to bring the ancient world alive (as opposed to focusing on one particular part of it only, be that Rome or Egypt).
Well, I'm happy to report this one is a highlight again. Saylor has managed to meld his short story and episodic epic approach to his mystery novel approach; the premise of the novel is that young Gordianus (and he's really young, only 18 years old as opposed to the middle aged man he's through most of the series) is travelling the ancient world with his Greek tutor in order to see the fabled Seven Wonders of the World, and while he's at it also growing up in emotion and spirit as well as starting his life long penchant of solving mysteries. So it's a coming of age novel as well as a travelogue through the ancient world, like a miniseries where every episode takes place at a different place, but with an overreaching and connecting emotional arc. He's also in great form bringing the places and people to life, be they Ephesus, Halikarnass, Babylon, Rhodos or Egypt, and convey the awe and amazement the wonders inspire (only one of which, the Pyramids at Gizeh, still exist today) in a way that allows the readers to share it, which is no mean feat. If you're familiar with the previous books ,then it's interesting to meet Gordianus so young; he's both different and similar enough to his older self to be a just out of teenagedom version of his character, and because of all the mess that happened to Gordianus and his family over the course of the novels, the youthful idealism feels like a breath of fresh air. Otoh if you have never read anything by Steven Saylor before - and you can start with this novel, which requires no previous knowledge - then this effect will be missing, but this won't stop you from enjoying the story.
Of couse, Gordianus on his lonesome never was what made the Sub Rosa series so compelling, but the fact that Saylor keeps throwing him against a rich cast of interesting characters, some historical, some not, some showing up in more than one novel, others limited to one book. In The Seven Wonders, we get a great cast as well, and more interesting women in the same book than in any previous Saylor novel. Said previous novels also feature great female characters, but percentage-wise they're simply more men around, and so in most of the novels, you have more interesting men than interesting women per book. Not so here. My favourite is Bitto, the cousin of Gordianus' tutor, who became a hetaira, but there are plenty of others in all ages.
Another ongoing theme: the overall resentment of Rome as the new superpower of the Mediterrenean, which for Gordianus, a young Roman on his first trip abroad, is something he increasingly and keenly becomes aware of. This isn't just a question of atmosphere but ties in the personal story of the novel, as his Greek tutor, Antipater, increasingly shows his own issues with Rome in a way the man for obvious reasons never did when living at the place. (Speaking of, only the opening scenes of the novel are set in Rome before the big journey starts, but they allow Saylor to describe a Roman funeral and pulling all the stops there, which is great. Roman funerals were elaborate and highly theatrical affairs with mimes, and are immensely entertaining to read about.)
Complaints: only one. Now Gordianus in the series has been established as mostly straight but not completely unreceptive to the occasional homoerotic impulse, though with one possible exception, he doesn't follow up on it (being a married man for most of the series, he also doesn't follow up on heterosexual temptation, again with one exception). In The Seven Wonders, at one point a young Gaul hits on him, and Gordianus says no, which isn't my problem. It's ic (especially for a younger, more naive Gordianus), not least because the Gaul in question is quite full of himself and more like an enthusiastic gold retriever than someone bothering with seduction, so a "err, thanks, but no thanks" reaction is what this particular reader would have recomended, too. However, by the end of that particular episode in a sudden reverse Saylor leaves it open whether Gordianus finally did come around to the Gaul after all. Given that by contrast we're left in no doubt about the women he does and doesn't sleep with elsewhere in the book, this strikes me as unworthy in its coyness. (Before anyone says anything, yes, I'm aware Saylor is gay himself and also writes gay erotica. But each book should be judged on its own merits and not what its author does elsewhere.)
But this is my only complaint. Otherwise, I really loved the book, and highly recommend it, whether or not you've read anything of Saylor's before, especially if you want to read a historical novel set in the first century BC which doesn't follow the usual patterns and manages to bring the ancient world alive (as opposed to focusing on one particular part of it only, be that Rome or Egypt).
