Review of In The Shadow of Rome

[Rebecca De Figueiredo]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "In The Shadow of Rome" by Joanna B McGarry.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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IN THE SHADOW OF ROME
Author: Joanna B. McGarry.

Joanna has chosen a glorious piece of history, with the coming together of the ancient druid traditions of Iron Age Britain and the very different and domineering Roman culture mixed with the influence of Scandinavia. That's a lot to cram into a single story, yet she does it.

After a skirmish between Sigdan and his Scandinavian band and a group of Romans, the Scandinavians were taken as prisoners to be used as Roman soldiers and taken to a fort at the Antonine Wall to train. The Romans were ruthless officers, particularly the cruel Roman Legion, Vespasian. Sigdan, A.K.A. Sigdanus Scatinavii, was frustrated with Vespasian's cruelty, as were the other men. Giorsal lived close to the camp in the settlement, Clotagenium. From the Caledonii tribe, she was proud of her roots, with a mother who was fierce and proud. I enjoyed the descriptions of Clotagenium, with its roundhouses, vineyard, bathhouse, tavern, brothel, etc., which gave me an interesting image as a background to the main story. The reader longs for the paedophile and pervert Fabious to be somehow eliminated as justice for the little girl Edda and others.

I would have liked some explanation of how the Romans organised themselves and the fort and some background information on the various characters, especially Vespasian (the bad guys are always more interesting); it would have given an interesting angle to his personality. More description about the state of Britannia at that time would have been nice, but I realise that this part of history is massive and might have 'taken away' from the storyline.

Sigdan and Giorsal find themselves in the south participating in the Roman Games, and I leave it to the reader to find out what happened, it is an exciting ending.

It was a light read, but as I've mentioned before, I would have liked some background information. In the Shadow of Rome is a nice book that can introduce young people to the Ancients. In view of this, I will award the book a 4 out of 5 star rating.

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In The Shadow of Rome
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