Goodreads meta-data is 227 pages, rated 3.81 by 26 members of the extended family.
Genre is krimi.
Verdict is not for me.
While I found the context and circumstances intriguing with a sub rosa secret service and the research into the period details is noteworthy that was all that kept me flicking the Kindle pages.
The protagonist is so inept it is hard to believe he made it that far alive, given what an imbecile he is. He takes as many pratfalls as a slapstick performer in a burlesque without the timing. Nor are any of the supporting players better delineated. The obnoxious superior officer is cardboard, as is the seductive (hardly) empress, while Hero’s notional superior is almost as inept as he is. No wonder the Empire fell if likes of these two were charged to hold it up. Hmm, may be I should have read it as a satire.
None of that is eased by the laboured prose and typos that keep the reader guessing. There are several volumes in this series. Decide for yourself.
Inspired by listening to a BBC Radio 4 episode of ‘Great Lives’ on Hadrian I thought to read Marguerite Yourcenar’s biographical novel on the Roman Emperor, Memoirs of Hadrian (1951). (By the way her full name is Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour. She shortened that to Marguerite Yourcenar.) I read her novel Coup de Grâce (1939) about star-crossed lovers in Latvia long ago. Sorry to say Memoirs of Hadrian is not available for the Kindle, and so I eschewed it. I did click the button to request it become available on Kindle, a new feature to me.
In the course of consulting Amazon about it, several other titles concerning Hadrian were proffered and I took this one, proving my humanity because I erred.