The novel shied away from this being a culture with slavery in my opinion, and didn't explore the differences to contemporary racism. That Selah, whose family owned Tair as a slave, and Tair are lovers wasn't dealt in a satisfactory way for me.
And there's a huge plot twist that I both suspected was coming and didn't find that interesting. So, a mixed bag and I'm not sure I'll read the sequel. But it is a nice read of you like ancient Rome!
(4/n, n=4)
The murder mystery that starts the story, Selah's additional quest, and the life of members of a revolutionary cell also worked well for me.
The characters didn't quite, unfortunately. While it's nice that all the romances are queer and there's nonbinary representation, there were just *too many* relationships for me. These parts felt very Young Adult to me, and not in a good way.
(3/n)
They're Theo, nonbinary revolutionary; patrician Selah, just ascended to chief archivist and hunting for a strange device entrusted to her; Arran, her half-brother with ill-defined social status; Tair, Selah's former lover; and policeman Darius, patrician in disgrace.
Through their eyes, we get to see their society from different points of view, and these parts of the worldbuilding are gorgeous: a rich culture, plausibly descended from Rome but also its own thing.
(2/n)
So, Sophie Burnham's "Sargassa". Marketed as "A Rome that never fell", it's clear from the start that this isn't, strictly does it, true. Burnham's Roman society is there, yes, complete with consuls and a senate, slaves and patricians and plebeians, but it has gone through an undefined period of chaos and data loss and only recently bounced back. It has also conquered North America, and this province is where we get to meet our characters.
(1/n)
I also just don't buy "a small group has all this secret knowledge". Conspiracy theories are bullshit because it never works to keep major things like your world's ancient high-tech secret. These things *will* come out.
So, as I thought: not like the 800s and 900s, because then at least you knew how much time had passed. And Ynglottis is no coincidence.
We're not in another world's present but our future, after a major collapse. And the Roman-loving techbros still won, and built a society they like.
It still evolves, apparently - there are nonbinary folk, and Gladiator games are outlawed -, but there's still slavery, and elite knowledge.
Ah, the plot twist, here it is. I kind of saw this coming and am slightly annoyed.
(CN'd Spoilers below)
I also am not that much into the YA feel of it. The main characters are pretty young, and go about their day like teenagers. Even the Imperial Historian isn't bogged down by grown-up responsibilities, but runs about as she pleases.
It's somewhat difficult to relate to.
I'd also have liked a bona fide plebeian character. But no, slaves and ex-slaves and patricians.
I am not really into the choice of calling this universe's slaves (because *of course* does Rome still have slavery, which even works similar to the one from antiquity) "servae" instead of "slaves". For a book that's decidedly not *supportive* of slavery as a system, this feels oddly like sugar-coating the issue.
And yes, I am aware that "serva" means "female slave" in Latin. Not every reader is going to though.
This guy (grumpily standing watch at Mainz-Kastel station) feels like he could fit right into this book.
Jules