Right this is a difficult one...
For the last 10 years I have been a dedicated reader who loves to pick up any book from any genre and read; I've never found a genre that I truly dislike nor have I found a book that literally drains my will to read from my very core... until today.
Throne of Ceasars: Iron and Rust by Harry Sidebottom is a truly deep history novel based on real events which I have always found extremely interesting. However this novel sucks my greatest love from my core in a vampire-like way; its written in an extremely heavy and sometimes extremely confusing way.
Harry has tried to mimic the texts of old in his layout and language but has done this in an extremely confusing manner; so instead of throwing in one or two words that are truly archaic; every other word you are laboriously flicking to the translator at the back of the book. This already feels like a book designed to seasoned students who have spent years studying ancient Greek language and culture and not the everyday person who just wanted a good read.
On to a separate point; if the language had been translated properly and written in a way that doesn't feel like your sitting the entrance exam to a 'study of ancient Greece' degree there were still huge problems.
Firstly I read the first 10 chapters in which nearly every character introduced is either murdered or is the murderer; each chapter is set in a different time and place and there is no fluidity between any of it. For example the first chapter introduces the Emperor and his mother; you learn next to nothing about these people other than the Emperor is a sadist who likes to force people to eat wood and his mother is heartless and cares more for the throne than her own son. In the same chapter both of these characters are brutally murdered and a soldier is named Emperor. However over the next 8 chapter there is nothing that links back to this in anyway other than brief statements or conversations; random people who have no connection to the main plot are literally just thrown into the story with no proper introduction or meaning; they spend 10 pages doing small and insignificant tasks.
Overall this book had deep character, plot and understanding flaws;i beg to question how this got published other than on the merit of the authors previous success?
Has anyone else read this novel or one that would fall into this category?
Helen x
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