Robert Silverberg
***
The story of Roma is told through a series of short stories, the first of which, found in the Prologue, makes our own history seem ridiculously unlikely, any one of these is good in its own right, which detail the many stages of the Empire, display the many faces, enlighten the many dark caverns of the underworld of Urbs Roma. The variations of style are brilliant, the stories may have grown stale quickly were it not for Silverbergs apparent ability to don any writing style he chooses. With Caeser in the Underworld feels entirely different from A Hero of the Empire, which in turn is an entirely different style from, say, Tales from the Venia Woods. However despite this diversity of style a few characters are recurrent, sharing not their names but merely formed from the same clay.
With Caeser in the Underworld has won a Sidewise aword as a Short story, a well earned one as it is certainly the best in this series of excellent stories. It has won this award, however, not out of this novel but out of another, already published, version. Many of these short stories have been published in the past, in assorted sets of short stories dedicated to counterfactual history, so the novel might seem familiar at times. The summary that the publisher provides is misleading, it cites the Hebrews as central to the story and while there are references to them and several supporting characters are noted to be Hebrews the story of the Hebrews is largely left alone until the final short story. The summary adequately describes the final story, but it ignores the other ten stories which are undoubtably of superior quality to the final. The summary also refrences a few events that, try though I did, I could not find in the stories.
The basis of the counterfactual is the failure of the Hebrew Exodus, which in turn brought no Messiah, which in turn brought no Christianity, which's absence provided for the Eternal victory of Roma.
The book is, however, sloppy with the development of Roma. Were the Short stories a bit more intertwined perhaps it would not have come as a surprise when we learn that Roma has had cannons for several hundred years, but he has neglected to tell us this. As of Latin, he is careful to speak vaugly of its descent in the later chapters. Slavery he is silent on. Religion he neglects, though he tells us that the Romans likewise neglect it. Provincial governments are ignored, excepting the periodic failed revolts. This book tells the story of the Emperors, nothing more, though it dallies a while to tell the somewhat mediocre tale that the summary speaks of.
A profoundly enjoyable set to people uninterested in the mechanics of counterfactual history, if one is interested in seeing an entirely different world produced by an entirely seperate history then you shouldn't purchase this book, which, just as Turtledove does in his Great War/American Empire Serieses, merely transposes standing history into his own world.
Purchase: Cautioned Reccomendation, Paperback
Price (Amazon)
Hardback: $18.17
Paperback: $7.99