I was hooked from this book’s cover and thought it worked well overall and enjoyed getting to read the book overall. The characters were everything that I was looking for and thought they worked in this universe. It had that element that I wanted and enjoyed it as a opening chapter in the Ex Romana series. Sophie Burnham does a great job in writing this and making me care about the characters and world. It left me wanting to read more in this series.

There's a lot to like about this book. It's very well written, for the most part, and the plot is absolutely riveting. I had a hard time putting the book down.

I did find it a bit difficult to get into - I think the time jumps in the opening chapters, and then the viewpoints from all the different characters contributed to that, but once I got past the first few chapters, it was very compelling. The book is plot driven rather than character driven, which is okay, but I do like more character development. The main characters are somewhat interchangeable, and the villains are VILLAINS. There was one character who was mildly morally ambiguous because he was motivated by belief in the system, rather than pure evil; I would have liked more of that. I also found the couples annoying - sort of insta-love and again, not much character development.

there is a big twist at the end, which I kind of saw coming, but that didn't lessen my enjoyment. I also very much liked the other twist at the end, which involves one character doing something unanticipated.

Even though this sounds very critical, I enjoyed this book very much - good writing and a good plot go a long way to captivate my attention. I'm a bit disappointed I'll have to wait so long for the next installment.

I received an ARC of this from NetGalley.

An alternative history Roman empire

Approximately 2000 years ago (no one knows for sure how long it's been), Augustus Caesar became the first princeps of Roma. The Empire grew, and Caesarian explorers crossed the Sargasso Sea to discover the continents on the other side. Some of them moved north to Sargassa, where they defeated the Ynglots and established the state of Roma Sargassa. But then 800 years after Augustus, Italia was decimated by plague. A few years later Roma was sacked, leading to a general breakdown of civilization, called The Great Quiet. No one knows how long the Quiet lasted -- historians estimate it was about 300 years. Much of the pre-Quiet historical record was lost. Eventually, Roma was re-established. Five years later Antal Iveroa was appointed the first Imperial Historian. The office of Historian passed from him to his descendants -- in 753 PQ (Post Quietam) Alexander Kleios became Imperial Historian. In 779 PQ Alexander Kleios was assassinated. Thus begins our story.

The preceding history is condensed from "An Official History of Roma and Her Client Empires", which appears as an appendix to Sophie Burnham's novel Sargassa, the first book in her planned series Ex Romana. I read the appendix before reading the novel, and I advise you to do the same. It spoils nothing and makes the novel easier to follow.

A Sargassan citizen who commits a crime will be forced into servitude. The children of servae (slaves) can be apprenticed to a trade, and if they do well (as judged by their masters, of course) become Sargassan citizens -- vernae, but they remain clients of their masters. There exists a resistance movement, called the Revenants, fighting for their idea of democracy. The government of Sargassa call the Revenants terrorists. The Revenants are immediately blamed by the Cohort Publica (think "police") for the Historian's murder.

Alexander left an artifact behind for his heir -- his daughter Selah. It's called the Iveroa stone, and everyone wants it. (view spoiler)

This was a good story, with lots of good characters, including not just good guys but at least one delicious villain. Near the end we get a huge reveal, which I will not spoil. I certainly intend to read the sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley and DAW for an advance reader copy of Sargassa. Release date 8-Oct-2024.

Another case of "well written but not for me."

It's dystopian, which is not a genre I enjoy, and it also features the kind of characters who you always feel are about to make a terrible decision that will plunge everything into tragedy, which I also don't enjoy. That's about taste, not quality; the author writes well, the mechanics are unusually good, and the premise (the Roman Empire somehow survived and, as far as I can make out, colonized North America; I think that's where we are), but it just isn't the right book for this reader.