New book: "Sargassa" by Sophie Burnham. A Roman Empire that changed and expanded and fell, but never quite went away, and is very queer, apparently.
Let's see if I can suspend my disbelief regarding Romans crossing the Atlantic successfully enough to establish colonies - "nec defuit audentia [...], sed obstitit Oceanus", as Tacitus writes*, feels like an accurate view of Roman seamanship 😝
*"Didn't lack for bravery, but the ocean hindered [him]"
This guy (grumpily standing watch at Mainz-Kastel station) feels like he could fit right into this book.
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.
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.
Ah, the plot twist, here it is. I kind of saw this coming and am slightly annoyed.
(CN'd Spoilers below)
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.
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.
Jules
Axel Rengstorf