Steven Saylor, Roma

My spate of reading trashy books continues with Roma by Steven Saylor. However, unlike Never Go Back  this is the good sort of trash: uncomplicated, swords-and-sandals escapism.

  
The Plot: Following the fortunes of the Potitii family and the history of Rome, as the city changes from a campsite on a trade route to an impressive metropolis,  Roma covers 1000 years of history.

Rating:  3/5

Robert Harris, Pompeii

Robert Harris is best known for Fatherland, a novel about an alternative reality in which Hitler won the war, but he has also written loads of other historical fiction.

I'm sure most people have heard of Pompeii, the Roman city which was devastated and then preserved when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE. Harris' novel imagines the days leading up to the event with both fictitious and real historical figures.  Pompeii is the first in a trilogy.

The Plot: Marcus Attilius Primus arrives in the Bay of Naples to take charge of the aqueduct that supplies water to 9 towns in the area. A drought and a corrupt millionaire, Ampiliatus, makes Attilius' job all the harder. Will Attilius be able to read the warning signs in time and escape Pompeii before ash and lava engulf him and the town?

Rating: 2/5  
full review under the cut