Number 27a- Delicatus - SP Somtow

 

This was a review copy i was sent in exchange for the usual fair and unbiased review. 

This is 27a because I started this whist still reading book 27, partly because I realised i had to leave feedback before the end of the month, and partly because cat's Cradle was such a bad book, I needed some quality fiction at the same time.

Fortunately it still fits with my "cat on the cover" theme I've been using to select books this month - look between "Deli" and "Us" in the title...

I'm always happy to review a Somtow novel since he's been an absolute favourite writer of mine for decades.

This is part one of a new sequence and I hope the next part comes out soon.  It's based on the remarkable true story of a slave boy in ancient Rome who became Empress to two Emperors.

The story is told in flashback n a conversation between Sporus and a make up girl making him ready for a very public execution. This makes for an unusually dramatic framing device that made the book speed along at a rapid rate of knots.

We start his story with his kidnap from an unnamed village and his experiences on board the pirate ship transporting him to Rome. Once in Rome he finds a kindly master in the form of Petronius, writer of the Satyricon. We find out he bears a stunning similarity to one of the most beautiful women in the land, the Lady Poppea, the wife of Senator Otho. She has her own eyes on the position of Empress and Sporus quickly becomes a pawn in her game.

This is compulsive reading and all the more remarkable for being broadly speaking a true story. All the key players in this story are genuine and the story follows real events in their lives. The book feels very well researched but the research is used to fuel the story rather than slow it down.

Somtow's writing has rarely been more compulsive than this. It's a fast, and incredibly easy read despite the complexities of the politics woven into  the narrative. 

The only negative I have about this book is that it finishes on an enormous cliffhanger, both in the flashback storytelling, and the discussions with his make up artist. Book two needs to come out sooner rather than later... As well as the cliffhanger, there has been a lot of foreshadowing towards events in the next volume/s and I need to know what happens!