Gather The Princess And The Pirates (SPQR, #9) Narrated By John Maddox Roberts Accessible In File

terms of plotting and characterizations, it not one of the best, but it is an interesting look into the twisted way money, power and politics influenced trade and commerce.
Most of the main characters have been thoroughly drawn by now and Roberts never wastes much effort anyway on the side characters,
The title is somewhat misleading as there are pirates and a princess in the story but the twain never really meet, Η ένατη αυτή SPQR περιπέτεια δεν αποκλίνει από το επιτυχημένο και αγαπημένο ποιοτικό ύφος που χαρακτηρίζει τη σειρά στο σύνολό της. Είναι ένα μικρό ιστορικό αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα με άρτια πλοκή και γρήγορη, σπιρτόζικη δράση. Μετά από τη Ρώμη, τη Γαλατία και την Αλεξάνδρεια ήρθε ο καιρός να επισκεφτούμε την Κύπρο. Το βιβλίο ξεχωρίζει για τη ζωντάνια και την αυθεντικότητα που προσδίδει στην εποχή που περιγράφει. Αβίαστα και πλήρως εναρμονισμένα με την κύρια αφήγηση παρατίθενται πλήθος λεπτομερών πληροφοριών για τον τρόπο ζωής και σκέψης των ανθρώπων. Η βαθμολογία/οφείλεται στο ότι, παρότι απόλαυσα το βιβλίο, δε με συνεπήρε εξίσου με κάποια άλλα της σειράς όπως το "Σατουρνάλια και αίμα", "Ο θάνατος του εκατόνταρχου" και "Ένα νομικό ζήτημα"και προτείνεται κυρίως σε παλιούς φίλους της σειράς και όχι σε αυτούς που θέλουν να την αρχίσουν. As I walked back through the City, my mood was moderately elevated, This appointment did not displease me nearly as much as I pretended, Like most Romans I abhorred the very thought of sea duty, but this was one of the rare occasions when I was looking forward to getting away from Rome.
. .

For years I had complained of the disorder of the City, and now that it was gone, I found that I missed it.
All the peace and quiet seemed unnatural, I did not expect it to last, Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger in SPQR IX: The Princess and the Pirates, His two years of aedileship over, Decius is ready for his next adventure, He would rather do anything than join the war with Caesar in the dismal forests of Gaul, so he and his slave/protg Hermes find themselves on a mission to rid the Mediterranean of pirates.
They set off with shoddy ships and sailors to the island of Cyprus, where a young Cleopatra is staying, Between her impressive crew and the expirate Ariston providing insider knowledge of that cutthroat occupation, Decius thinks he stands a good chance of bringing himself some glory.
That would be

too simple, though, The ruler of the island, Silvanus, is murdered in a most peculiar fashion and Decius, as a guest in his home, has a sacred duty to find and punish the guilty party.
Because world relations are already strained, he would rather not suspect Cleopatra, heir to the Egyptian throne, But she has plenty of reasons to hate Rome and murder runs in her family, Another guest and suspect is Gabinius, who is in exile and could have easily given up loyalty toward his friend if it meant a quicker return to Rome.


In the meantime, Decius is being humiliated in his pirate hunt, and as if this weren't enough, Aphrodite herself seeks Decius's help by appearing to him in a dream vision.
As Decius investigates world trade, the island history, and the new kind of piracy plaguing the waters, he is finding connections more menacing than he had ever imagined possible.
In this ninth book in the series, Roberts crafts another skillful mystery, this time fervently pulsing with the collision of Roman, Greek, and Egyptian interests.
This is another engrossing entry in this ancient Roman mystery series, It uses the historical fact of the danger that pirates posed on the Mediterranean at this time to weave a tale that gives us many insights into the culture and history of the period.
This is number nine in a terrific mystery series set in the late Roman Republic period, The main character, Marcus Decius Metellus, is a swashbuckling rake on his way up the Roman political ladder who also has a talent for solving crimes in the midst of historical events.
Besides great stories, this series is also very enjoyable historical fiction especially for an Ancient Rome buff, The author definitely belongs in the class of others in the genre such as Steven Saylor and Lindsey Davies, Consider this a rating for the series as a whole, Great fun Decius goes to Cyprus under Rome's orders to stamp out pirates that have been raiding in the area, When he gets ther he finds a young Cleopatra who demands to work with him, I love this series and its characters, But this was not my favorite, Decius is given a commission to clear pirates from the seas surrounding Rome's newest colony of Crete, Shortly after arriving the governor of Crete is found murdered, his throat stuffed with frankincense, favorite of the pirates trying to circumvent Ptolemy's monopoly.
Great story, poor proofing,

There were a couple of typos in the Kindle version, minor stuff, But the paragraph structure for dialog was poorly rendered, It was often difficult to determine which line belonged to which speaker, Somehow this one did not appeal, Same great writer and narration, but, . .
Perhaps it was just my mood at the time as I have loved all of the others in this excellent series, I will probably return to it at a later date, What one expects from the SPQR series: palace intrigue, corruption, and the prowl for power, Roberts does a good job of incorporating history into his story without wonking out on it, I had read several of these "SPQR" books likeyears ago and decided to read another for fun, and this book was solid, The characters are entertaining, and the murder mystery reasonably well done although not particularly complex, I could have used more action, for a story allegedly about fighting pirates there is literally no fighting pirates,
I will include a quote I really liked: "He had the true aristocrats distaste for people who earned their own money instead of stealing or inheriting it.
" With The Princess and the Pirates, the reader hits the ground running: the protagonist's archenemy is dead, one of his best friends exiled, his family's power fading.
But these issues weren't really tackled in this book instead they served as a backdrop to Decius' adventures in Cyprus,

Somehow, I could not reconcile the image of Decius as a piratehunter with Decius the politician or even Decius the soldier, But I guess wellborn Romans were really trained to be allaround "servants" of the Senate and the People, Cleopatra in this book did not really dazzle, and I think the eventual development of her character in this book did not do the very interesting intro justice.
Still liked the book though, and it's better than the last one for me, So this book started along similarly to all the others except that at some point did I miss a book Clodius is killed and Milo exiled.
Um, WHAT!!! Way to completely skip over two of the main plot points of the entire series that probably would have made a full book in and of themselves.
This felt like the chicken's way out, Anyway, this book was very much in line with all the others excepting this point, Recommend: Yes

Pros: Very short concise book characterization, plot, setting, are all strong,

Cons: Very short, The ending was a little off,

The Bottom Line:
Best book in the nine book SPQR series at the time of review,book series, Very quick read, very enjoyable dip into this time period, Historical/Murder/Mystery.

Full :
This book is the ninth book in the SPQR series, The SPQR murder mystery series follows the career of Decius Caecilius Metellus during the last days of the Roman Republic this particular book occurs inB.
C. , or as Roberts notes at the end of the book: therd year of the city of Rome, The Metellus family are a prominent family, though on the decline,

The SPQR series and the Gordianus the Finder series by Steven Saylor both occur at roughly the same time period in history, so comparisons between the two are common.
The SPQR series, as mentioned, follows a relatively a youngish man from a wellplaced family, while the Gordianus the Finder series follows a much older man from the lower classes of society.
Both men solve murder mysteries, and both, on occasion, meet up with historical characters, For instance, both Decius and Gordianus run into Cleopatra in their most recent novels at the time review written, Saylor's book The Judgment of Caesar though, deals with an old man returning his ailing wife to her homeland, in an attempt to restore her health and occurs inBC, mostly in Egypt.
Roberts book, on the other hand, deals with a younger man still trying to climb the political ladder, and meets up with Cleopatra before she is Queen in roughlyBC, and before the CaesarPompey civil war which is in the final stages in Saylor's book.
Also, unlike Gordianus, who is married to an exslave his own, Decius is married to the niece of Julius Caesar,

I was surprised to find out that I ended up rating Robert's book slightly higher than Saylor'sth Gordianus book, I wasn't surprised, though, to find that I had rated this Roberts book as the highest rating of all the books in the SPQR series.
On the whole, Saylor's series is better, but Roberts series is still a very enjoyable read,

Roberts book is about a youngish Senator on the rise in therd year of the city of Rome officially, the city of Rome was founded inBC, take awayyears, and you getBC who, after serving for two years as an aedile, is tasked by his family actually by the Senate, the family has already set aside its resources to elect candidates and cannot, yet, push Decius up to the next position of power to go off to fight the pirates springing up in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Roberts book is very wellwritten, gripping from beginning to a weak ending, While not the best book Roberts has written, in my opinion, it is the best book in the series, Robert's book, for the most part, is tightly written, needing justpages the rest is a glossary to tell a very good story, The characters are, for the most part, fully formed personalities, The plot is strong. I gave Robert's book.out of five.
Auch in diesem Band der Reihe erfährt der Leser viel über römische und dieses Mal auch ägyptische Geschichte, Nach wie vor finde ich Decius und Hermes, Julia und Titus Milo, sogar Kleopatra überaus sympathisch, Allerdings tragen nicht alle Personen zur Handlung bei, Für so einen dünnen Krimi gibt es zu viele Personen und eine eher schwachen verkomplizierte Handlung,
This was a nice addition to the SPQR series,

Much to his dismay, Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger gets assigned to Cyprus to deal with a new tide in piracy, The story is fairy typical for this series, as the main "mystery" doesn't happen until a good ways in, I don't mind that, as we then get glimpses into the ancient world through the eyes of Decius, The titular princess is the famous Cleopatra as a teenager, who inserts herself in Decius's duties of hunting the pirates, adding her barge to his meager fleet of ships, giving him a total of four.


Julia Minor eventually joins him on the island, I liked learning more about the cult of Aphrodite on the island, Milo also eventually joins the group, arriving later than Decius would have liked, Decius gets into his usually troubles and scraps, always with Hermes at his side, I can always trust JMR to provide us with good banter between the two,

Unlike some of the other books, I didn't guess the culprit, andlike Deciushad started suspecting the wrong person, while guilty of some minor involvement, but not enough that Decius, for once, lets it slide.
There was some good side characters in this one too, and of course, an attractive female not Cleopatra that almost manages to ensnare Decius.
His weakness for beautiful woman is still prevalent, but his fear of Julia's wrath is stronger, She still hasn't let him forget about the German princessand that was before they were married, Thankfully, Hermesfor oncehas his wits about him and intercedes when he sees Decius is far too compromised to think straight.


My biggest complaint would have to be that the book starts with Clodius, long time foil for Decius, already dead, His murder, and the events that took place after it, including Milo's exile, would have made for a great book, And while I normally don't like it when JMR relies too heavily on a historical event, considering the built up animosity between Decius our protagonist and Clodius, it seems odd to then skip over this key event.
I do enjoy these little mysteries, and found this one to be particularly fun, Entertaining as always. Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger is sent to Cyprus to clear out some pirates but, as usual, gets involved with a murder, Listened to the audio version which was narrated by John Lee who did a firstrate job, .