Customer Reviews

The Aquiliad, Book I : Aquilla in the New World

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I should preface this by saying that I took four years of Latin in high school, and therefore am perhaps more predisposed to like this book than those who have not studied the language. There are jokes scattered (explicit and implied) throughout the volume that are clearly the result of Mr. Somtow's Latin teacher being much like the one I had third year. :->

That said, however, I don't think you NEED to have studied Latin to enjoy it. It's a lovely alternate history that doesn't take itself too seriously. Rome has acquired steamship technology FAR too early and has crossed the Atlantic and begun conquering the North American continent. This book is told from the point of view of Titus, a (not particularly smart, very provincial) centurion of a good old Roman family, but it's really about Aquila, the chief of a tribe known as the Lacoti.

Pygmies on bicycles battle Amazons with bows in the arena; the Romans bring bathhouse technology to the banks of the Missisippi; the difference between speaking Greek and speaking Latin is clearly demonstrated by using English dialect to hilarious effect. Perhaps one of my favorite bits was that all Amerind names are translated into Latin (Equus Insanus, Rufus Nimbus, and others harder to translate without a background in the tongue), and that the transliteration of native placenames and tribal names in the Americas is wonderfully Latinized.

I adore this book, and have for years; when I discovered through Amazon that it'd been reprinted (and the long-awaited sequels!), I went into raptures of joy. However, I am a hardcore geek. :->