Has anyone read Romanitas by Sophia McDougall

[Septimus Flavius Galarius]

I am very fasinated by the idea of a modern Roman Empire and am tempted to buy this book, but the reviews are not that great and i was wondering if anyone here read it, is it worth the the money to buy it and the time to read it?

[The Augusta]

I am very fasinated by the idea of a modern Roman Empire and am tempted to buy this book, but the reviews are not that great and i was wondering if anyone here read it, is it worth the the money to buy it and the time to read it?

 

Unfortunately, Septimus, for me at least, barge poles spring to mind! I have read some poor reviews too, including one on Amazon UK where a reader actually says that her writing style reminds him of Dan Brown (although the reader, strangely, meant that as a compliment). I have seen the book in the supermarket and had a quick leaf through, but was not tempted to buy.

 

If you do get it, I'd be interested in your thoughts.

[Northern Neil]

When I saw this book, I thought 'wow!' and instantly bought it. The first few chapters had me enthralled, then for some reason it just lost its momentum - for me, at least - and by the middle of the book I put it down, and eight months later it remains unfinished. I think the problem with this kind of book is that everyone has their own idea as to how things would have turned out in an alternative history. After the first few chapters, the story seemed to become yet another thriller set in the modern world, the only difference being the placenames were a slightly altered, and there were the occasional references to an alternative history already described in previous chapters. This disappointed me, as I felt there was still lots of mileage left in attempting to describe this alternative world in more detail.