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This is... pretty good for a self-published book, but it does look and feel indefinably like a self-published book. (After finishing it I looked up "Godstow Press", and it is indeed owned by the author, which confirmed the impression I'd had from the moment I first picked it up. )
The protagonist, Togidubnus, is a man caught between two cultures, the son of a British client king who was sent off in childhood to be brought up in Rome as a hostage with the promise that he would become a proper Roman citizen. Conveniently for the historical narrative he rubs shoulders with Seneca, Claudius and Vespasian, beds Messalina (about whom the author appears uncertain whether she ought to be revisionist or not) and is then sent back to Britain with the mission to persuade the local rulers to surrender to Claudius' intended invasion without a fight. He has before him the example of Vespasian, who comes from thoroughly Romanised Iberian stock, and the dubious example of his Gaullish grandfather, who may or may not have betrayed both sides according to whose bards you listen to.( Read more... )
The protagonist, Togidubnus, is a man caught between two cultures, the son of a British client king who was sent off in childhood to be brought up in Rome as a hostage with the promise that he would become a proper Roman citizen. Conveniently for the historical narrative he rubs shoulders with Seneca, Claudius and Vespasian, beds Messalina (about whom the author appears uncertain whether she ought to be revisionist or not) and is then sent back to Britain with the mission to persuade the local rulers to surrender to Claudius' intended invasion without a fight. He has before him the example of Vespasian, who comes from thoroughly Romanised Iberian stock, and the dubious example of his Gaullish grandfather, who may or may not have betrayed both sides according to whose bards you listen to.( Read more... )