The Course of Honor [Import] [Hardcover]

Lindsey Davis (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Century; 1St Edition edition (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0712677240
• ISBN-13: 978-0712677240
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,878,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lindsey Davis' Roman novels begin chronologically with The Course of Honour, the love story of the Emperor Vespasian and Antonia Caenis. Her bestselling mystery series features laid-back First Century detective Marcus Didius Falco and his partner Helena Justina, plus friends, relations, pets and bitter enemy the Chief Spy; there is a reader handboook, 'Falco: the Official Companion'. 'Master and God' set in the time of the Emperor Domitian, will be published in 2012. She has also written an epic novel of the English Civil War and Commonwelath, 'Rebels and Traitors'. Her books are translated into many languages and serialised on BBC Radio 4. Past Chair of the Crimewriters' Association and a Vice President of the Classical Association, she has won the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, the Dagger in the Library, and a Sherlock award for Falco as Best Comic Detective. She has also been awarded the Premio Colosseo for enhancing the image of Rome, and the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement as a mystery writer.
She was born in Birmingham but now lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Isn't it romantic..., December 6, 2009

By 

Lilly Flora "by Lilo Drandoff" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Course of Honour (Paperback)

This is an amazingly sweet book.

Two people, one a bad tempered angry slave and one the unimportant son of a provincial tax collector meet when the man and his brother get lost in the imperial palace in Rome. They come across a young slave girl cooking sausages and an attraction is formed for life between the young man and the slave.

Vespasian is not an important man in Rome when he meets Caenis. In fact, though he is later and senator and she is later a freewoman, there is a long span of time where her connections to the royal family make her important than he is. But they loved each other deeply their whole lives in spite of their long separation of twenty years when he married, and she even helped him raise his children. When Nero died and Vespasian took the purple in a military coup, he has his beloved move into the palace with him-defying all social conventions to be with her.

The absolute only thing I think could have made this book more sweetly romantic would be Vespasian overruling the law that members of the senate couldn't marry freedwoman. But hey, perhaps that was a more drastic step that it seems it would have been. Roman society confuses me, but in this book it is clear, wonderful, corrupt and a place where even social opposites can fall in love.

Five stars. I'm really looking forward to Lindsey Davis' new book, Rebels and Traitors which is about the second English civil war and comes out in January.

For more reading on Vespasian's younger son corrupt and disastrous rule of Rome check out The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good history, bad romance, June 7, 2009

By 

P. Whitlock - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Course of Honour (Paperback)

341 pages to cover 70 years of a very interesting man and his times isnt nearly enough, and it shows. The book is narrated by and focusses on the ex-slave Caenis rather than Vespasian directly and as a result much of the history is given in brief doses of lecture rather than portrayed. Interesting stuff though!

What is not interesting is Caenis. A moody, angry, stubborn, unlikable girl who's defining characteristic seems to be avoiding living any type of life whatsoever, and lashing out constantly at Vespasian anytime he makes an appearance. I cant imagine why he is interested in her, or why the entire City of Rome seems to have the impression to be rude to her is unforgivable when she is nothing but rude to him, and avoids everyone else but her lively friend Veronica, like the plague.

This is most definately not a Falco novel, nor is she Helena Justina, more the pity. I love the Falco books and here the author does a good job again with Vespasian in his younger days but thats about it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lindsey Davis novel, November 16, 2009

By 

R. Larson (Oak Park IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Course of Honour (Paperback)

This is a fairly gripping non-Falco historical novel. The characters are gripping and the action moves along... It's interesting that it's described as a novel about the relation between Vespasian and a slave who's described as 'a bad-tempered slavey' and who eventually becomes the prosperous freedwoman Caenis [...]; although they spend fairly little time together there is a constant emotional connection.