Started slow but finished with a bang!

I didn’t expect much as I don’t know the author and chose it because the reader was John Lee. It turned out quite interesting as it was my first experience of a Roman criminal investigation. I might have a look at the next books of the series.

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Very enjoyable

An excellent story. Having listened to Mike Duncan’s podcast The History of Rome it was easy to follow the characters and place them into the overall historical context. I found the narration really good. The matter of fact delivery gave the impression of listening to a detailed report on actual events. This may sound somewhat geeky but I thought it brilliant.

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Mispronounced Roman fun!

Very enjoyable! John Lee is, as usual, magnificent.

My sole gripe is that the Latin is mispronounced. It could presumably have been easy to get right. A Decius person is very different to a Dekius person.

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"You constantly underestimate these people."

I am very fond of anything set in, or about, ancient Rome, and the SPQR series is none of my favourites, which I first read in paperback several years ago. Seeing this, The King's Gambit, available for free in the Audible Plus programme, I decided to revisit it and how glad I am that I did.
Set in the final decades of the Republic when Julius Caesar was still a young rising star in the political world, the main protagonist of the story is also still young and making his slow climb through Roman society, currently serving as a minor official, the Highbury commander of the local vigiles. When a warehouse burns down and the bodies of a foreign merchant and a recently freed gladiatorial slave are found separately murdered, soon to be followed by that of one of the richest man in Rome, Decius investigates, despite warnings to quietly drop the case.
The novel has a slow start but, once past the initial pages, is so rich in details of p!ace and time, it is completely captivating, and the characters very personable, especially a young rogue, Milo, also aiming for power and fame but this time in the street gangs so prevalent in Rome.

A great read, though possibly the least of the stories to come, and well performed by John Lee, who seems to slip effortlessly into the persona of Decius, telling of the events from his perspective of investigator. I'll continue now with the rest of the series.
Recommended.

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Brilliant

I have listened to the whole series at least 3 times, I love the stories and the characters portrayed!!!!

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Entertaining

I chose this book as I like the narrator John Lee, and was not dissapointed. Indeed, given some of the previous reviews I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the story.

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A roman Sherlock Holmes.

Its fun, gives you plenty of insight into history, and paints pictures of some of the giants of history.
A bit too detailed for a supposed tale told from memory a lifetime later, but its overall a fun book. As a history buff, its extra fun hearing some of Rome’s giants as mere background characters, or humans doing mundane stuff.

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A good start

I have seen these books often over the years but only recently started to read or listen to them.

The underlying plots will be familiar to Roman history buffs but will probably be accessible to any reader. Possibly more accessible to a relative newcomer as the storyline is approached quite obliquely and I struggled sometimes to mesh the storyline with my understanding of real events. The quirks of Roman law and society are well explained where necessary but not in a patronising way - just enough.

The characters are well performed and the narration is good after the first few minutes.

I am still not really clear on the basis of the personal enmity between our hero and Clodius but perhaps that’s just me.

Engaging story and lovely ending.

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couldn't finish

couldn't finish, but then I couldn't hardly say I atarted. very odd tone of narrative that I couldn't endure

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1 person found this helpful

Could have been good

I found this an interesting and educative story. However, it’s undermining by the Vaudevillian narration.

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