Customer Reviews

Terra Incognita: A Novel of the Roman Empire

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the first venture in this series, Medicus (2006), and was delighted to get this second entry in the series. There is nothing but good news for those who enjoy well-plotted Roman mysteries, although I do have a suggestion or two for the author as she continues in what I hope will become an established and popular foray into the ancient Roman army and murder mysteries. She has fine characters, an extremely likeable protagonist, a good sense of historical place, and a good sense of plotting. I must admit, I haven't been close to guessing "whodunnit" and I usually can. She also has none of that "how on earth did she pick HIM for the killer" syndrome, which drives me nuts when the killer turns out to be someone totally unlikely.

This is a fun read; the author was a wonderful dry sense of the ridiculous that will keep you laughing aloud more than once. I had only two small concerns after its enjoyable and satisfying conclusion. Our hero, Gaius Petreius Ruso, a doctor to the legions, is in this novel so overwhelmed with difficulties in the far north of Britain that at points I got a tad impatient with him. Ruso is a great character, ironic, self-effacing, modest, likeable and decent, and the characters that surround him have an almost Dickenesque eccentricity: their personal pecadilloes are not only funny but firmly contrast to our hero's. The dialogue is rapid fire and a rather modern sense of wry angst adds its own flavor to the brew. One certainly feels that bureaucrats in 2008 and AD 128 were largely similar. However, I wanted poor Ruso do to a little better SOMEWHERE . . . he appeared confused to the point of ineptness at several places in the plot, and we need to retain both our affection for him, and our respect. He began to seem like a well-meaning dweeb. I also got occasionally impatient with Tilla, the native Briton/ex-slave/current girlfriend, and found her frequent disappearances during the novel (to visit friends, family, enemies, graves, old boyfriends) to be a tad peculiar. Surely even an open-minded, tolerant and affectionate Roman might ask, after 72 hours or so, where his slave girlfriend had disappeared to? Again, these are very tiny criticisms in the body of a fun and well-plotted novel, I just hope that, in Volume 3, Ruso could be a little more Roman and Tilla could be a little less attitutudinal.

Otherwise, I enjoyed this and can heartily recommend it for those who enjoy careful history with their murderous intrigues.

Gaius Petreius Ruso, doctor of the Roman 20th Legion, reprises his role as a part-time decidedly amateur criminal investigator (after the surprise hit Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire). Set in 2nd century Britain, Ruso has moved farther north with Tilla, who is either his slave (legally), his housekeeper (not too often), or his lover depending on the situation and their respective moods.

Ruso has volunteered to go north so that Tilla can visit the area where she grew up on the very edge of the Roman Empire (Hadrian's Wall would later be built in this area). Some Britons are straining under Roman rule, a mysterious Stag Man is trying to lead a rebellion of sorts. A worker had been injured in what appears at least to have been an accident. A Roman soldier has died in a clearly non-accidental murder - and his head is literally lost in the taking. A Roman doctor has gone off his head. Ruso tries to get to the bottom of it all.

The story is an enjoyable, mostly light tale, but Downie puts too many moving parts in play that merely serve to confuse the reader rather than entice them into solving the mystery. The developing relationship between Ruso and Tilla is central to the enjoyment of the story. Terra Incognita has less detail about the Roman army and almost anything written about the native tribes is pure speculation. Recommended.

Sounds familiar. It's a wild border tale, like the ones I read growing up out on the high plains of Texas.

All is well. The natives are happy, tranquil--almost. Okay, sometimes they fight among themselves, but overall it's the good, unspoiled life--until the intruders appear. Their army takes over, builds a wooden fort, messes with the local girls, skirmishes with the guys.

Sounds familiar, yes, except that the border is in Britannia and the time is almost 2,000 years ago when Emperor Hadrian was just coming to power. (Hadrian ruled the Roman Empire from 117 to 138.)

The medico Doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso leaves the relative safety of the more established South to travel with the army alleviating pain, sawing off limbs, and doing what he can. They are headed to Coria where a few years later Hardrian's Wall will rise in a Roman attempt to exclude the unwanted Northerners from Rome's civilized ways. (Talk about contemporary parallels!)

The good doctor does not travel alone, although sometimes he wishes he were. Tilla, his native slave-turned-companion (in her language her name is Darlugdacha) seems to seek out trouble. By being in the wrong place at the wrong time (or was she?) she leads Ruso into this adventure.

Felix the trumpeter has been brutally murdered. Who did it? Tilla's former intended, Rianorix the baker, or was it Thesssalus, the fort medico who has taken leave of his senses and is confessing? Confusion abounds.

An impending visit from the Governor of Britannia looms over all decisions. "We've got to look good" is a truth through all ages. Ruso is persuaded to take over the infirmary from the ailing Tessalus (and to tend to him). That's a challenge itself, but still, there is plenty of time for the good doctor to immerse himself in the communities both inside the fort and in the nearby village, and to have a go at solving the mystery and setting things straight. He has his own brush with death--not exactly a burning-at-the-stake, but the outcome would have been the same.

Who will enjoy this adventure? Anyone who took Latin in high school or college, anyone who has visited northern England (for real or vicariously), anyone who enjoys a good American western novel or merely a good yarn--just about everyone.

Don't let the strange names and terrain stand in your way. A map (a must) and a cleverly anotated cast of characters both appear at the book's beginning. For even more information about the geography and history of the times visit the Hadrians Wall Country website. The author also provides a brief but complete bibliography in her "Afterward."

by Patricia Nordyke Pando
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

I found this book rather disappointing. I am getting rather sick of Tilla and wish she would get written out of the book. She is a distraction. While she was fun in the first volume, she is a dead bore in this one. I find her dialog and behaviour terrible and wish she would be treated more like a typical Roman slave. The mystery is good and Ruso is execellent and I like him as a character, but I find Tilla a useless adjunct as a love interest and fail to see why Ruso even cares about her. Her presence it what makes me only give this 3 stars. I fear the author will not write her out which is unfortunate for the series.

In the enjoyable sequel to the entertaining "Medicus", Ruth Downie returns to ancient Britain circa the time of Hadrian and we are again treated to an amusing romp with her characters Gaius Petreius Ruso, doctor to the 20th legion, and his headstrong British housekeeper, Tilla. I liked this sequel and I hope Downie keeps these novels coming. Despite being good murder mysteries these books keep a light-hearted air about them and are of the special type of novel that just make you feel good while you are reading them. Downie uses the clash of culture and viewpoints, between Romans and the Britons, to create an engaging but complicated relationship between Ruso and Tilla and also to create mysteries that are more opaque than the norm because layers of cultural incomprehension baffle our sleuth Ruso. What Downie does a little differently than most writers, and which I find enjoyable, is that the murders are hard to solve, not because of means or opportunity, but because of motive. The Britons are maddeningly difficult for the Romans, and Ruso in particular, to understand because the societies are so different. Her books are a lot of fun and compare favorably to the SPQR series by John Maddox Roberts which is also a delightfully engaging series if you are looking for more reads similar to this one.

In Terra Incognita Ruso takes advantage of an opportunity to travel north with a detachment of the 20th to the village where Tilla was born. He begins to regret his indulgement of Tilla almost immediately because before they even get there a strange antered man, whom the locals believe to be an avatar of the god Cernunnos, begins harassing the column and creating fatal accidents by acts of sabotage. The local officials take a decidedly dim view of this character as he is not just commiting crimes but also inspiring the local populace to unrest and possible rebellion. After Rusa and Tilla arrive at the outpost Coria, her hometown, they learn a local soldier has been murdered in a dark alleyway, decapitated, and images of the stagman drawn on the alley wall. While the murderer seems easy enough to identify as the stagman, the situation is complicated when the doctor based at the fort, who appears to be completely deranged, claims to have done the deed. It gets even further tangled when Tilla's former boyfriend is also suspected of being the likely murderer because of a row he had with the slain soldier earlier that night. Since the local officials can't catch the stagman, and they don't want to convict their own doctor, who despite his confession seems unlikely to have been the murderer, the former beau looks to be the most likely candidate to be strung up. Upon arriving and finding the resident doctor mentally incapacitated, Ruso offers to do an autopsy and finds himself drawn into the investigation. Meanwhile we learn much of Tilla's background and she is drawn away from Ruso by family and legion orders prohibiting non-Romans from entering the fort. The plot takes many twists and turns on its way to a satisfactory conclusion and the journey is pleasantly studded with many fascinating new characters.

The complicated relationship between Ruso and Tilla reminds me of nothing so much as the old sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. The Ruso/Tilla relationship is very similar to the one in the sitcom where Ruso is not the boyfriend/husband but is the master. Tilla doesn't do magic but both because of her tempestous nature, and her cultural differences, she is constantly driving Ruso up a wall. Despite this there is a strong attraction between the pair and it makes an effective counterpoint to the main story and adds liberal doses of levity and mischief. Don't misunderstand me, this is not a romance novel, but the romantic tension is a lot of fun and Downie's deft ability to combine history, mystery and a romantic comedy of errors seamlessly together provides the lucky reader with a five-star reading experience.

TERRA INCOGNITA is a historical mystery set in 2nd century Roman Britain. G.P. Ruso is a Roman army doctor turned accidental detective when an apparently ritual murder occurs during his brief visit to an army post in the outer reaches of Brittania. He takes it upon himself to find the murderer when he becomes convinced that an innocent man stands accused. His slave, Tilla, provides the requisite romantic interest and is a cunning foil to the somewhat bumbling Ruso. A crowd of Roman and Briton characters completes the cast and, for the reader, serve to muddy the waters as to the real identity of the murderer.

This is the second in a series set in Roman Britain. I have not read the first book, MEDICUS, but it isn't necessary to have read the prior book to understand what's going on in TERRA INCOGNITA. It's strong enough to stand alone without the support of the earlier story. The writing itself is above average, though my opinion may be a bit skewed thanks to having read several poorly written books just prior to reading TERRA INCOGNITA. I am no expert on Roman Britain, but the author does seem to have done the necessary research to render a believable setting. I found no glaring anachronisms to smack the reader in the face. On the other hand, the rendering of the native British tribes seemed thin and somewhat dependent on the modern New Age romanticizing found in Wicca and pseudo-Celtic spiritualism. But I can forgive some of that since so little is truly known about the early tribal life of native Britons.

The solution to the murder mystery is entertaining and the author provides enough red herrings to keep the reader guessing, at least for a while. I'd read about 2/3 of the book before I was fairly certain I'd solved it; I read a lot of mysteries, so 2/3 is pretty good. Two issues I had with the book keep this from being a 4 star review. First, the profuse use of English slang on the lips of Roman legionaries was highly annoying. "Sorry, pal...little bugger...matey on the horse...answer the bloody door...these doctor fellers...driven him crackers...", I found myself waiting for a Roman soldier to call someone a `wanker'. Roman slang is easily found; an internet search turns up reams of it, and its use in context would certainly provide all the definition needed.

Secondly, the situation between Ruso and his slave Tilla stretched the bounds of credulity. While it is true that in some cases trusted slaves in the Roman empire enjoyed a remarkable amount of freedom, it is clear in the story that Tilla is anything but trusted. To think that a Roman slaveowner would allow a slave of whom he's suspicious to disappear for days on end (in her own rebellious homeland yet), or look the other way when he learns said slave was found in bed with her ex, cuddled "like kittens", is simply unbelievable.

Despite these caveats, TERRA INCOGNITA, still rates an "OK" rating; maybe not worth $11, but OK at a couple bucks for a used copy, or free from the library. It's a light read, no profound themes or explorations here, but it is perfectly adequate to while away some time. A waiting room in a doctor's office, or queued up to retrieve the kids from school come to mind.

Sarai

Not so good as Medicus. A bit thick in the middle. Needs a stronger wrapup.

This is the second book in the Ruso series. Ruso has accepted a volunteer post up in the Northern reaches of Brittania, near modern day Scotland. During the trek north, they are plagued by an Antlered Man who is rallying the northern tribes against the Romans. Ruso arrives to find that the chief doctor appears to be mad and has confessed to the murder of a soldier. The staff seem to be hiding something and Tilla is involved with a young man who is also implicated in the murder. Ruso must untangle what is going on in order to provide some sanity to this posting, while Tilla looks into what happened to her family and who was responsible for their deaths and her being sold into slavery. There are some moments of comic relief but I did not find this one to be as clever or amusing as the prior book, although the mystery was probably more complex. I hope her third book returns to some of the humor and characterization.

Gaius Petreius Ruso, a medic assigned to the Roman Empire's Twentieth Legion, returns in this second installment of Ruth Downie's mystery series, which follows the grumpy doctor-cum-detective on his crime-solving trek through Roman-occupied Britannia.

This time out, Ruso, his British housekeeper, Tilla, and the legion head north to the border separating Roman turf from the territory of the "unconquered barbarians."

A suspicious accident along the way involving a runaway cart laden with lead cripples a Roman soldier, temporarily diverting attention from a mysterious horned horseman who has been tracking the legion's progress from a distance.

Roman officers see the elusive rider, who sports antlers, as nothing more than a troublemaking Briton. But Tilla insists he is something far more potent - a native god named Cernunnos, or a messenger sent by the god of that name.

Arriving at a small, shabby Roman outpost staffed by Batavian soldiers, Ruso tries to care for the soldier whose leg he had to amputate after the accident. But he also finds himself forced to investigate the recent murder of Felix, a now-headless soldier from the Batavian unit.

Officials insist Felix was killed by a native shortly before Ruso arrived on the scene. Yet the fort's resident army doctor, a Greek named Thessalus, has confessed to the crime and is under guard, supposedly as a result of having gone insane.

To make matters worse, Ruso eventually discovers that Tilla has close ties to the Briton whom Roman officials view as the prime suspect in Felix's murder. And when Ruso goes roaming through the countryside looking for Tilla, who periodically disappears, he finds himself imprisoned by angry rebels who plan to kill him.

Downie's dry wit is on display once again in "Terra Incognita." Unlike the "proper rain" that cascades from the heavens in Gaul, she writes, a British rain "simply hung around in the air like a wife waiting for you to notice she was sulking."

Ruso's character - a jaded but skilled medic and reluctant detective - already was well-developed in the initial book of the series. Tilla finally comes into her own in "Terra Incognita." An independent-minded midwife who speaks both her native tongue and Latin, she is strong-willed and assertive, but loyal to Ruso, despite her distrust of the Roman invaders.

Not only do we finally discover key facts about Tilla's past and her people, but her sense of humor blossoms in Terra Incognita as well, especially when she takes aim at Rome and its minions. After the centurion Postumus roughs her up a bit while questioning her about the wagon accident, for example, Ruso gets wind of the interrogation and asks Tilla about it.

"That man," Tilla says of Postumus, "is not as funny as his nose." Later, Tilla disdainfully describes someone from her past as "a man without honor" who has the body of a bear, the brain of a frog and the lovemaking skills of "a dying donkey with the hiccups."

In the course of detailing Ruso's efforts to unravel the facts surrounding Felix's murder, Downie explores not only the complex relationship between Roman rulers and their British subjects, but also the Britons' conflicted attitudes toward the occupiers.

Some natives plot rebellion against Rome. Others, such as Tilla, also remain true to their ancestral roots, while grudgingly making the concessions that are needed to live in both worlds. And some are fully "Romanized," preferring Latin over their own language and giving themselves Roman names.

Terra Incognita: A Novel of the Roman Empire is a great tale written by Suzanne Cross. A great mystery novel that is a sequel to the first in what I hope will become a series or at least a trilogy. Set in my favorite era, 2nd century Britain, the story follows Ruso and Tilla whose relationship is oddly defined. Set amidst the rule of Hadrian over the Roman Empire, the story is more character driven than about the empire itself. Cleverly told, it will have you guessing.