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Romanitas Paperback – April 12, 2011

by Sophia McDougall (Author)
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 82 ratings
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In a parallel modern world, the Roman Empire stretches from India in the East to the Great Wall of Terranova in the West. A runaway slave girl with a strange gift sets out to rescue her brother and seize her freedom, while the young heir to the Imperial throne discovers a plot against his life.
For all three, the only way to survive may shake the Empire to its roots.

A fast-moving, compelling story, brilliantly imagined - CONN IGGULDEN

[A] hugely imaginative debut - DAILY MIRROR

A thoroughly good read ... vividly imagined ... elegant, lively writing - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

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  1. Book 1 of 3
    Romanitas
  2. Print length
    544 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Gollancz
  5. Publication date
    April 12, 2011
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. Dimensions
    5.75 x 1.5 x 8.25 inches
  8. ISBN-10
    0575096926
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0575096929
  10. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Perfectly fuses the hope and horror of ancient Rome with that of the modern world―Daniel Godfrey, author of New Pompeii

This is a magnificent series―Adrian Tchaikovsky

Epic in undertaking, Romanitas creates a fascinating world that is both contemporary in tone, and yet about as far removed from the world we live in as it is possible to imagine. McDougall's writing style is fresh and light, and the involving story ensures you'll gobble up the 400 pages in no time, staying eager to find out how the remainder of the trilogy unfolds―Dreamwatch

Wonderful alt history, beautiful, heart-breaking, sweeping, surprising―Lauren Beukes

Compulsively readable . . . grips like a vice―SFX

An enjoyable smart yarn with some real sense of human pain―Time Out

About the Author

Sophia McDougall lives in Hastings, East Sussex and studied English at Oxford. This was her first novel.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gollancz; 0 edition (April 12, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 544 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0575096926
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0575096929
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1.5 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 82 ratings

About the author

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Sophia McDougall

Sophia McDougall

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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Sophia McDougall is a British author, born in London.

She is best known for the alternate history trilogy ROMANITAS, in which a modern Roman Empire still dominates the world. She is also the author of MARS EVACUEES and SPACE HOSTAGES, sci-fi adventures for children (and everyone else who likes spaceships.)

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
82 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

J. DAVIDSON
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb character-driven alternate history
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2018
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I loved this almost more than I can say! Was idly looking for Rome-inspired alternate histories (alternate history is a genre I admire - I wrote a couple YA ones myself - and immersed currently in a nonfiction project about Gibbon's Decline a nd Fall, I'm toying with the idea of writing a Roman alternate history of my own) and couldn't believe how perfectly this book matched all my criteria. It's well-written, the storytelling is excellent, the world is thoughtfully imagined, there's a small and well-integrated fantasy element but the dominant mode is realist, the characters are amazing. It's sophisticated enough for adult readers but there's a slight YA feel (teenage characters - and a vague hint of John Christopher's Tripod books unless I am much mistaken). I was captivated from start to finish, and am exciting to read vols. 2 and 3 now. My one bit o f grumpiness: how come I didn't hear about this book right away when it came out? It's so good!
4 people found this helpful
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Diogenes
3.0 out of 5 stars Not as Roman as I expected.
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2014
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I bought this book because the idea of a Roman Empire that continues to present day and encompasses a lot of the world may serve as a good stage for very interesting stories. However, as I was reading the book I could not but feel I was reading soap opera material. I kept on reading hoping it would improve, but it never did. In fact, the author could have used an Egyptian Empire, a Green Empire, an Aztec Empire or even an imaginary country and world where to set this story, and all she needed to change were the names and the places...there is hardly any Roman essence to the story that could not have been changed by that of another Empire-bound civilization where members of the royal family fight for the crown and change death in the cross by an equivalent slow death sentence. The second book, Rome Burning, was more of the same. This writer has potential, but for my taste she is not quite there just yet.
7 people found this helpful
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Asuka Langley
4.0 out of 5 stars Rich langauge, strong story, issues with logic, not enough detail
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2005
Set in an alternate reality where the Roman Empire never fell, Romanitas is the first in an upcoming trilogy which criss-crosses across the planet, telling the story of a time of great upheaval within the Empire.

The novel opens in a time roughly parallel with our own. The Roman Empire has expanded to encompass half the globe, reaching as far east as India and as far west as the centre of the North American continent. The slave-society still exists and crucifixions still take place (albeit with more advanced crosses).

We follow the stories of several characters as they deal with life in this alternate world, including the 16 year old Emperor-to-be Marcus Novia and Una, a young slave girl with telepathic powers.

I found the storytelling to be nicely worded, with some great imagery and concepts. (The descriptions of Una's abilities were especially potent) The narrative was interesting and compelling, with very little points of stagnation or lag.

My only two concerns were; a certain lack of logic in certain portions of this world and a deficiany in details that I craved. Why do slaves still exist when they would no longer be economically viable?

The detail wasn't nearly enough for me, I wanted to know more about the military of the Roman Empire, how did society work, and more elaboration on the history of this alternate world.

Overall the story was good, the writing effective and the characters interesting. I look forward to the next novel.
11 people found this helpful
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detroitjack
5.0 out of 5 stars just received - haven't read yet - in great shape
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2014
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just received - haven't read yet - in great shape - I can't tell you if it is a good read because I haven't read it yet
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TammyJo Eckhart
3.0 out of 5 stars Needs Clarity
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2022
I began this book with high hopes. It had everything I wanted -- alternative history that begins in ancient Rome and turns into a tale of what a Rome never fallen world might be today. Several ideas of the culture and politics were good, if a bit old fashioned about gender and sexaulity.

I was enjoying it for the the first 20% I think, then it became as slog as the number of viewpoint characters increased every few chapters. That can be okay to do when you taking readers through a complex world, but you have to clearly lay out which character you are focused on at any given time. That care just was not here and I found myself having to reread sections to figure out why suddenly we were invested in a different character's feelings or background. I was hoping this could be a series I'd enjoy, but the slog proved too much for that.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Kunde
4.0 out of 5 stars Interessante Geschichte
Reviewed in Germany on May 14, 2020
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Das alte Rom ist niemals untergegangen und beherrscht heute fast die ganze Welt außer China und Japan. Vor diesem Hintergrund muss der junge Thronerbe vor Verschwörern fliehen und tut sich mit ebenfalls entlaufenen Sklaven zusammen, was zu einer Flucht quer durch das Imperium führt. Allerdings lässt etwa die Technologie einige Fragen offen, so gibt es Magnetschwebebahnen aber Flugzeuge etc. werden nicht erwähnt, außerdem glaube ich, Rom wäre längst Christlich geworden.
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J. Shurin
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, character-driven SF
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2011
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Romanitas takes place in a world where the Roman Empire never fell. The Romans don't quite span the entire world (damn Nionians), but they're certainly doing their very best, and it makes for an entertaining sort of background - North America is pretty much a continent-wide DMZ!

While there's been an impressive amount of scientific progress (zippy trains, helicopters ("spiras"), television, a sort of telegraph/video-phone) a few of the familiar Roman institutions are still in place. That is, it is an Empire, complete with Emperor, and slavery is still thriving. Gladiatorial combat, crucifixition, togas, olives... all your standard Roman fare, but with the niceties of the 21st century. Imagine a world with both orgies and dental care.

The reader troops through the world from both the top and the bottom of the social hierarchy. Sulien and Una, two of the protagonists, are both slaves. They are siblings - abaonded by their mother and passed through a succession of miserable owners. Una disappears from the picture for most of her youth, a nice trick, as the reader's imagination can probably insert all the awful dangers that would an attractive young slave girl has to face while growing up.

Sulien has more ups and downs - he evidences a rare (supernatural) healing talent which earns the attention of Rome's leading physician. He's swept up from poverty and treated almost as a son - boundaries that become painfully obvious when he shacks up with the boss's daughter and soon finds himself accused (and convicted) of rape. Una reappears to save him, and the two hit the road. Escaped slaves (and convicted felons) have a short lifespan in the Empire, so they need to find safety and keep a low profile.

Marcus Novius, the book's other protagonist, also craves a low profile. Marcus is the Emperor's nephew, and the de facto heir to the Imperial Throne. At the start of Romanitas, Marcus is attending his parents' funeral. They've both died in an accident (a mysterious one) and the shell-shocked Marcus is thrown into the deep end of Imperial politics. The Emperor himself is more Claudian than Augustan - he's adamantly turning a blind eye to the shenanigans of his family. He has bigger and better things to ignore. Marcus soon realises that his life is at risk as well and he also runs away.

It doesn't take long for the three fugitives to unite in an uneasy alliance. Marcus is out for justice, Una for freedom and Sulien for comfort. If Marcus regains his stature and defeats his shadowy enemies, he can pardon Una and Sulien and maybe even do something about slavery as an institution. Sulien's had a taste of the good life and would like it back (plus, he's not so keen on being crucified). Una is more skeptical, but as jaded as she is, she's secretly optimistic enough to give it a shot. Plus, the inevitable romantic frisson begins to sparkle.

Normally, a fantasy is about the stableboy falling for the high princess and spending a trilogy proving himself worthy. In Romanitas, Marcus is the slightly-useless high princess and Una is the stableboy. Any hereditary nobility in her is purely the result of owners fiddling with possessions over the years. Impressively, they both know their romance is doomed and they act like real people. Marcus and Una do a bit of stealthy leering, a bit of agonizing and a lot of concentrating-on-the-fact-that-the-entire-Roman-Empire-is-out-to-kill-them. I applaud their priorities.

Romanitas' other strong point is an broader extension of the first. This is a character-driven novel. We learn a lot about our three heroes - not biographically, but emotionally. The bulk of Romanitas isn't solving the mystery (Ms. McDougall isn't shy about saying whoddunnit) or slaying enemies (rather charmingly, our protagonists lose every fight), it is about three lost people trying to come to terms with with world around them. They all know what they're running from, but they're not sure where they're going. Ostensibly, all three of them have a goal in mind - be it "far away", "home" or "anywhere but here", but as the panic wears off and they get a chance to think, they each begin to question themselves and and what they stand for. There are no sudden epiphanies, just three very real, very flawed people wrestling with their own values.

Ms. McDougall has clearly spent a huge amount of time imagining a lavish alternate history, and then she doesn't actually talk about it. In the six years since its first publication, this is the bit of Romanitas that has driven some readers completely batty. The setting is just that - the background for the story. Alt-Rome is plenty intriguing, but it isn't actually the point of the book. The characters aren't the only ones that need to be congratulated on their priorities.

Anyone that picks up Romanitas purely for the joy of quibbling with another person's speculatively historical "what ifs" will be disappointed - they'd be better off playing Civilization. Romanitas is character-driven sf. Despite the wildly-imaginative setting, this is the simple story of three very different people all trying to work out their problems like real human beings (that is, clumsily). There's the occasional murder and crucifixion, but that's almost beside the point. And the sequel is even better.
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James
3.0 out of 5 stars Better off living in the Roman Empire than facing real world wars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2019
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What if we still live in the Roman Empire today, we would never heard of great wars, communism, Christians in power killing more than Rome and apartheid.

I have been wondering if Rome import potatoes, tomatoes and tobacco from Terra Nova. Where is the medical invention such as penicillin and other vaccines? I can see they do not have some appliances such as PC but longvisions (televisions).

I would live without terrors from Abraham's descendants. Thank you, Sophia McDougall

Caesar XIII

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Helga Abendroth
2.0 out of 5 stars Leider nicht so spannend wie erhofft
Reviewed in Germany on September 20, 2015
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Diese Besprechung bezieht sich auf die Kindle Version. Das Buch ist auf Englisch, aber wurde bei Amazon.de erworben.

Ich war auf der Suche nach einem spanenden "Alternative History" Roman, in dem das Römische Imperium bis heute existiert, und stieß dabei auf McDougalls Roman-Trilogie, ndie bei Wikipedia und auf Amazon.com rcht gut besprochen wird. Leider ist der erste Band nicht so gut, wie ich dachte. Das geht mit der Sprache los: das Englisch wirkt auf mich irritierend, nicht sehr flüssig, zum Teil fast unbeholfen. Die Figuren sind recht interessant: Una und Sulien als entkommene Sklaven treffen auf Marcus, den Neffen und Erben des Imperators, dessen Eltern gerade ermordet wurden und der selbst nur knapp einem Attentat entgangen ist und fliehen musste. Wie die drei sich zusammen durchschlagen, ist spannend geschildert, auch und insbesondere, wie eine Flucht durch ein modernes Gallien erfolgt, in dem es immer noch eine Sklavengesellschaft gibt.
Soweit, so spannend... aber leider kommt auch die Erzählung selbst zum Teil nur langsam voran; es gibt Seitenweise inner-action, Überlegungen der Figuren, Selbstwahrnehmung... das soll den Lesern die Annäherung der drei Figuren aneinander näher bringen, aber es bringt auch die Handlung zum Stocken und verführt zum Überspringen von Passagen.

Beim World-Building dagegen hätte man sich oft mehr Hintergrund gewünscht: es gibt offenbar Fernsehen ("Longvision") und Telefon ("Longdiktor"), Papiere (Pässe) für die verschiedenen Stände (Blau: Freie Bürger, Gelb: Freigelassene), und Eisenbahn zum Güterverkehr und Autos, aber sehr viel mehr über die wirtschaftlichen Errungenschaften wird nicht klar. Gibt es Satteliten? Gibt es Flugzeuge? Im Plot geht es um eine Sklavenklinik, offenbar die erste seit zweitausend Jahren? Hat es nire zuvor Bemühungen gegeben, die Situation der Sklaven zu verbessern? Hierzu hätte man sich mehr gewünscht.
Wir erfahren, dass die Welt offenbar in ein Römisches Imperium und in ein "Nihonian Empire" (einen Japanisch beherrschten Teil) zerfallen ist, aber auch hier wären mehr Einzelheiten wünschenswert gewesen. Zudem wirken einige Plotlinien zu der Verschwörung, die den Ausgangspunkt des Buches bildet, eher unglaubwürdig, wenig überzeugend.
Fazit: Insgesamt ist das Buch zwar kein kompletter Fehlkauf, aber nach den Besprechungen auf Amazon.Com hatte ich mir mehr erhofft.
Leider keine Empfehlung.
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A. Wealleans
4.0 out of 5 stars Great plot, shame about the scenery
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 13, 2013
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Romanitas follows (mainly) the story of Marcus, the Emperor's nephew, after his parents and friend are killed in a murderous and secret coup, and the siblings Una and Sulien, escaped British slaves. The three meet and end up travelling together, with Una and Marcus providing the obligatory romance. There are other characters who have a big impact on the story, and whose POV occasionally hijacks the narrative - a device I enjoyed, unlike some of the other reviewers.

The premise - a modern day Roman empire - was too intriguing to resist, especially having enjoyed  Roma Eterna  in the past. That was a collection of stories exploring how/if Rome could have survived. From what I understand, this version of Rome has just one change - the plot to assassinate an Emperor was foiled. Really, as other reviewers suggest, the backdrop of eternal Rome in this book is just that - a backdrop. Other than giving a different name to the phone and TV, this is a modern day setting with slaves and Roman place names.

Romanitas is well written, enjoyable, and easy to read. It's just a shame that more wasn't made of the setting.
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