Dictator

 

Dictator – Robert Harris

The third installment of Robert Harris’s “Cicero” (for lack of a better word) trilogy, and by far the best.  Robert Harris seems to have a strong fascination with ancient Rome; I think he’s written 5 historical novels that take place about a century or so before Christ. I find these escapades breathtakingly original and incredibly educational. Although most would consider life anywhere on planet Earth two-thousand years ago to be “primitive”, ancient Rome was definitely the exception.  True, there was no electricity, motorized transportation, or telephones, but one gets the impression that his group of fortunate people with a unique set of privileges and had it pretty good.

The “Cicero” trilogies, though, mainly deal with politics. Alas, nothing has really changed all these years later. Marcus Tullios Cicero was one of the most famous lawyers, politicians, and orators of his time and this trilogy focuses on the many events where he was in the midst of during this time. The story is told through the eyes (and pen) of his slave/servant Tiro.  Tiro, to my knowledge, was also a real person, and had the gift of scribing in a personalized style of shorthand that allowed so many of the events to be accurately and meticulously described for future reflection.  How much of this story is true and how much is speculative is, I’m sure, notated by experts elsewhere. For my enjoyment, however, these particulars don’t necessarily matter.

What makes this novel the strongest of the three for my tastes is that this installment contains a lot more story which means it isn’t all politics. Oh sure there is plenty of  back-stabbing, temporary alliances, and conniving within the realms of power-play but this novel dealt much more with the major players and the events and details of many of their real-life predicaments.

Example: As the story begins Cicero (along with faithful slave Tiro) is living in exile. It’s highly interesting to see his forced exodus, how he copes, and the factors that lead to his eventual return.  There are other key events in this book (the assassination of Julius Caesar, for example) that add a much more enjoyable element rather than the persistent squabbling of the key-members of society who hold most of the cards.

Tiro, himself, is a bigger focus here as well.  True, he’s a “happy” slave, yet no one wants to live in such bondage and confinement for their entire life. We see how his situation progresses in a positive way, and get to read about may aspects of his life as opposed to simply being the story-teller for master Cicero.

To my knowledge, Tiro was fortunate to live a very long life; much longer than Cicero. His transcriptions are needed as we read this particular story.  One wonders if Tiro continued to scribe in some sort of fashion in his later years after Cicero died, and what, if he did, might be possible for a future novel or two.

Enemy of God

 

Enemy of God – Bernard Cornwell

The second book of author Bernard Cornwell’s “King Arthur” trilogy, and just as good – better probably – than the first. I stumbled on this author quite by accident, and his first two works have been pleasantly surprising. To be fair, the type of book along with the settings and characters aren’t exactly the genre that immediately appeals to me, so the fact that I actually enjoyed these books as much as I did says an awful lot about the author and his style of writing.

These books attempt to tell the story of the “King Arthur” legend.  Yes, his story is a legendary one, not a real one, yet this was a fact that was somewhat lost on me.  Oh sure, I’ve heard the tales of the Knights of the Round Table, and the quest for Holy Grail (-Ni!-) but I always thought there was some truth behind the tales.  Not so, and this is pretty obvious when one reads these stories.

These books remind me a lot of the ‘Game of Thrones’ books (and television show) yet are slightly more grounded in what many would call reality. There’s a lot of fantastic mythical elements though including wizards, magical cauldrons and spells, yet these tales are so well-told, that the fact that these are obviously fiction doesn’t take away from the enjoyment.

The story is told through the eyes of Derfel, who is a friend, servant, and advisor to King Arthur. There really isn’t one simply story here.  The book is a series of different tales, all somewhat related to each other, and all focused on the kingdoms, conquerors, friends, and foes of Arthur himself.  There are a lot of battles, a lot of evil kings and queens, a lot of wizards, yet all of the stories are enthralling and interesting.

Since there’s some level of “truth” in these 4^th century tales, there’s an awful lot of religious rivalry going on – mainly the dreaded Christians versus the reprehensible pagans.  It’s a bit much. Derfel is on the “pagan” side, yet the book (as did the first one) begins with him many years in the future looking back and dictating his tales.  In the future, he lives in a Christian monastery, so I’m sure book three will have a lot of explaining to do as to how Derfel ends up where he does since there seems to be so much animosity towards Christianity.  Anyway, my guess is this is where the title of the book comes from, since there is so much bitterness and distrust towards one religion and its partakers versus the other ones.

I believe that these books have been made into some sort of tv series, and this wouldn’t be surprising.  The fact that each book is packed with so many different stories lends itself to such a platform.  I loved this book, and am eager to not only finish the trilogy, but to explore other offerings (and there are apparently many!) by this author.