Review: The Seven Wonders

Having previously read Steven Saylor's Roma and Empire, I have been looking forward to picking up his Gordianus the Finder series for a while.

My understanding is that there are two ways to read this series; one is to stick to the core books, known as the Roma Sub Rosa series, starting with Roman Blood. The other is to start with the Ancient World series, which is sort of a prequel series to the Roma Sub Rosa books, the first of which is The Seven Wonders. I decided to start there, in part because I like to follow books chronologically, but also because I was really interested in the idea of a tour of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Colossus of Rhodes,
by gravure sur bois
de Sidney Barclay, c. 1880

I loved the history here; the book is set up as a world tour by Gordianus and his teacher, Antipater of Sidon. Antipater explains the history of each wonder as they stop, which is a great way to organically fill the reader in on the history, which was often fascinating. I also felt it was a good amount of detail; enough to be immersive and set up the history of the wonder, but not so much as to bog the reader down.

I also loved the variety of settings, as it kept the whole book interesting and engaging for me. We toured not only the various wonders, but the cultures and locales in which they are set as well, and I love learning about different cultures and eras.

The only thing I wasn't crazy about with this book was the fact that it was set up almost as a series of short stories, with a climax for each section. The primary series, Roma Sub Rosa is (as I understand it) basically an ancient mystery series, with Gordianus as an ancient detective. This, as a prequel series, is intended to show us how he got his start, which makes sense. However, I think I personally would have preferred that he focus on just the overarching mystery that runs throughout the whole book; the small mysteries in each location just felt a little contrived to me.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Ferdinand Knab, c. 1886

Gordianus just happens to stumble upon a mystery at every place they stop? It just didn't feel organic to me. I think the other reason this may have not really worked for me was precisely because so far I've only read Roma and Empire, which also have a bit of a short story feel. (They are a Michner or Rutherfurd style following of Roman history through various generations of the same family, so each section is set in a different era with a different generation.) I am looking forward to seeing Saylor stick with a character and story arc more long term - through a whole novel - rather than in shorter chunks, and this book didn't entirely deliver that for me, even though we do follow Gordianus throughout. I'm curious to see if the feel is different in the second book, Raiders of the Nile.

The Great Pyramid, Alex lbh

Overall I enjoyed this book a lot, and I'm looking forward to seeing where Gordianus' journey takes him in the future. Part of me wants to skip right to Roman Blood, but I'll restrain myself. I really do like to read series in order, and Raiders of the Nile is set in Egypt, one of my favorite settings for a book.

I can recommend this book for both historical fiction fans and mystery fans. I am hoping the mystery is more mysterious and better set up in future books - this one seemed pretty easy to spot to me - but I can see how this as a good set up for a detective just starting out and how he could learn and grow from here, so I am looking forward to seeing how Gordianus grows in future books.