3.5 

Wrath of the Furies

By Steven Saylor
Wrath of the Furies by Steven Saylor digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

In 88 B.C., it seems as if the entire ancient world is at war. In the west, the Italian states are rebelling against Rome; in the east, Mithridates is marching through and conquering the Roman Asian provinces. Even in the relatively calm Alexandria, a coup has brought a new Pharaoh to power and chaos to the streets. The young Gordianus has been waiting out the chaos in Alexandria, with Bethesda, when he gets a cryptic message from his former tutor and friend, Antipater. Now in Ephesus, as part of Mithridates' entourage, Antipater seems to think that his life is in imminent danger.

To rescue him, Gordianus concocts a daring, even foolhardy, scheme to go "behind enemy lines" and bring Antipater to safety. But there are powerful, and deadly forces, at work here, which have their own plans for Gordianus. Not entirely sure whether he's a player or a pawn, Gordianus must unravel the mystery behind the message if he's to save himself and the people he holds most dear.

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Wrath of the Furies Reviews

3.5
“In 88 B.C., Rome began to face serious challenges to its post-Punic Wars dominance. The Eastern King, Mithridates, had successfully expanded his kingdom in Asia Minor and was extending his influence throughout the East. In this context, Saylor's main protagonist, a Roman private investigator named Gordianus, makes his appearance as a younger man in Alexandria. From there, he travels across the eastern part of the Roman world to Ephesus and begins to unravel the puzzle of what Mithradates is planning in that region. The main narrative of the book focuses on the cultural conflict between Romans and the more cosmopolitan Eastern peoples. Mithradates appears as a populist figure, stoking anti-Roman sentiment and setting up a major conflict down the line. As with all of Saylor's books, he provides us with an insight into the ancient Roman world and introduces us to characters from history. The story is clear and the writing moves through the streets of ancient Ephesus and Alexandria with ease and familiarity. Though Saylor's novels often carry a sense of wonder as we observe the grand narrative of history unfold around us, this novel felt a little less real to me. Perhaps it was that the conclusion felt so inevitable, while the trap of historical fiction is that we are dealing with things that DID happen, here it was obvious that the climax of the book was on the cards for most of the story and there was no realistic chance of changing the destiny in front of us. Similarly, it was a classic case of good vs bad, which was explored with some nuance on a character level and the reasons for the tension between Romans and Pontus were well explored, but there wasn't a sense of tension so much as a looming sense of dread throughout the story.”

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