Review: The Judgment of Caesar

The Judgment of Caesar by Steven Saylor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



In this second to the last installment of the Roma Sub Rosa series, Gordianus again ventures outside of Rome--this time to find a cure for his wife's illness.

Egypt, as painted by Saylor, is quite fascinating--I'm now counting Alexandria as one of my future travel destinations. But I didn't find Egypt as novel as reading about Massilia. Maybe its because I've read too many books (or seen too many tv shows) about Cleopatra and the Ptolemies. Maybe it's just me.

There were quite a number of interesting facets to Cleopatra's personality that were not explored too much in this book--such as her intelligence and leadership qualities. Maybe I'll read more about it in "The Triumph of Caesar." After all, I totally agree with what Saylor said about Cleopatra: "As one of history's losers, Cleopatra was vilified and marginalized by those who triumphed over her."

I was quite happy with the reconciliations in this book. I do hope that the final reconciliation in "The Judgement of Caesar" will be explained more fully in the next book. I'm sure it will, though :)



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