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Remember when I wrote about books regularly? That sure was an age of the world ago, wasn't it.
But, whatever. @rachelmanija has been encouraging people to write about books whenever, and I both read this book recently enough and thought about it enough afterwards that I can write up my thoughts in a semi-coherent fashion. Onward!
From Unseen Fire (DAW, 2018) is the debut novel by Morris, who clearly knows her Roman history, society, and culture backwards and forwards. Basically, this is Rome with magic; that's the big change. The novel opens in the waning days of Sulla's dictatorship (he's not called Sulla here, but he's Sulla) and follows Latona, a mage of Fire and Spirit who hails from a well-connected Senatorial family, and Sempronius, whose career as an aedile was interrupted by being put on one of the proscription lists. The Senate sets about picking the pieces of the republic back up and Sempronius (who has to be Pompey, because he's clearly not Caesar) runs for military tribune. Meanwhile, the locals in Lustania (I'm pretty sure they are Basque? Or Basque analogues? I admit my knowledge of Roman Iberia is not as good as Roman Gaul, Greece, Egypt, or Dacia and the German frontier, because the Roman scholars I hung out with worked on those areas) are restless under the hegemony of Aven, and a leader emerges from among them who is willing to indulge in blood magic and necromancy to try to drive out the Romans, even though his wife isn't happy.
( I bet you are very curious about the ideology of Roman sexual practices )
But, whatever. @rachelmanija has been encouraging people to write about books whenever, and I both read this book recently enough and thought about it enough afterwards that I can write up my thoughts in a semi-coherent fashion. Onward!
From Unseen Fire (DAW, 2018) is the debut novel by Morris, who clearly knows her Roman history, society, and culture backwards and forwards. Basically, this is Rome with magic; that's the big change. The novel opens in the waning days of Sulla's dictatorship (he's not called Sulla here, but he's Sulla) and follows Latona, a mage of Fire and Spirit who hails from a well-connected Senatorial family, and Sempronius, whose career as an aedile was interrupted by being put on one of the proscription lists. The Senate sets about picking the pieces of the republic back up and Sempronius (who has to be Pompey, because he's clearly not Caesar) runs for military tribune. Meanwhile, the locals in Lustania (I'm pretty sure they are Basque? Or Basque analogues? I admit my knowledge of Roman Iberia is not as good as Roman Gaul, Greece, Egypt, or Dacia and the German frontier, because the Roman scholars I hung out with worked on those areas) are restless under the hegemony of Aven, and a leader emerges from among them who is willing to indulge in blood magic and necromancy to try to drive out the Romans, even though his wife isn't happy.
( I bet you are very curious about the ideology of Roman sexual practices )