Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire

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	• Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire Ruth Downie Bloomsbury USA, 2008 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 39 reviews view larger image
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Very Entertaining

So maybe it is not the most accurate portrayal of life in Roman occupied Britain. But it was a lot of fun to read, and a lot of the charm came from the contemporary angle of the story. It was more a story of modern characters set in a backdrop of an imagined Roman era with all the motivations of contemporary people. I found the main characters to be very engaging and human, and the central mystery story intriguing. Plus it was very humorous. I enjoyed the follow up novel "Terra Incognito" every bit as much. Highly recommended for an entertaining read.

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Short on History, Short on Mystery

This novel, set in Roman Britain during the reign of Hadrian, features an army doctor posted to Deva (modern Chester). While Downie writes well and the character has a certain engaging charm, the plot is thin and very slow to develop.

I enjoyed the first 200 pages, but the mystery, such as it is, had barely begun to develop. Before long I started skimming and managed to finish the book, but even that took some effort.

As a mystery, it's weak and badly plotted. It takes forever to get going, and then, it's still fairly thin. Added to that, this is not really a novel about ancient times. Roman Britain is not an ideal setting for a "Roman whodunit", in part because it's so far from Rome itself. Britain was never really romanized and as the author mentions in her afterword, there is not much documentation to go on. I can't help but feel that if she had dug a little deeper, she might have painted a more convincing portrait.

In any case, the story is weak, and lacks tension and suspense. It took more effort than it was worth to plow through it, and I don't plan on reading any more in the series. It's a shame, really, because there's some potential here; but if I had been the editor on this manuscript, I would have rejected it and sent it back to the author with encouragement and recommendations for a thorough rewrite.

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Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire

I can only concur with the very positive reviews of Ms. Downie's inaugural work. Her use of the British vernacular in order to make the Romano-British world seem more authentic to the modern ear is a well-established technique, dating back to Robert Graves, at least. However, her sly sense of humour, and her determination not to romanticize this brutal world, makes an otherwise straightforward murder mystery into a most involving human story.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

?The highest praise I can offer this wonderfully entertaining portrait of the Roman Empire at its most far-flung is that I hope Downie is planning a series. Ruso is too good a character for just one book.??Malcolm Jones, Newsweek

Divorced and down on his luck, Gaius Petreius Ruso has made the rash decision to seek his fortune in an inclement outpost of the Roman Empire, namely Britannia. In a moment of weakness, after a straight thirtysix- hour shift at the army hospital, he succumbs to compassion and rescues an injured slave girl, Tilla, from the hands of her abusive owner.

Now he has a new problem: a slave who won?t talk and can?t cook, and drags trouble in her wake. Before he knows it, Ruso is caught in the middle of an investigation into the deaths of prostitutes working out of the local bar. Now Ruso must summon all his forensic knowledge to find a killer who may be after him next.

With a gift for comic timing and historical detail, Ruth Downie has conjured an ancient world as raucous and real as our own. Published in the UK as Medicus (Ruso) and the Disappearing Dancing Girls.

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