Hadrian's Wall by William Dietrich is a tale of love, betrayal, and freedom. Frankly, it was a little mushy for my taste. The story begins when an ambitious Roman senator marries off his daughter to a wealthy tribune. The wedding is an alliance, not of love. Set in A.D. 368 it describes what life must have been like for the Roman guards keeping the barbarians to the north out of the Empire.While the book is a bit on the mushy side it is enjoyable. A book like this reads like a sitcom television show. It does not take a lot of brain-power, is at times fun, but is mostly just unoffensive. The quality of the writing is solid so you aren't caught up in bad language.I think when I purchased this book I was expecting a book where the Roman legions were battling it out with the northern tribes. Instead it really is a period romance piece focused on a four way love dynamic. To put it in the terms of a percentage, the book is about 5% battle and 95% love story. Not exactly what I was expecting.As I mentioned above though, it is well written. If historical romance is your thing, this very well could be the perfect book for you. If you are looking for a true to form historical fiction, it is probably best to pass this one by.
I was interested in this novel because I have always found Hadrian’s Wall in England very intriguing. He was the same Roman emperor that built Hadrian’s Villa outside Rome that I visited when I was 17. He was a very ambitious emperor and builder. This book gives insight into England in the first century. There is discussion of Christianity, Paganism, and other religious influences. Politics are also a huge part of the book. Understanding of the culture, particularly of Calendonia (now Scotland) is very useful. There are ficticious characters that are Roman and Celt to help in understanding the era. This book does have more sexuality than I would like to read or recommend to someone else. For that reason, I probably wouldn’t reread it.PLOT SPOILER ALERT:The Roman aristocrat Valeria is brought to the wall to marry the Roman aristocratic military leader Marcus. Theirs' is a short and unloving relationship. She is kidnapped by the Celts, with Arden Caraticus as their leader. Galba is the villain, as is Marcus in a way. The approach to telling the story is also interesting, a Roman investigator is trying to unravel the mystery of the missing woman and the attack on the wall.
What do You think about Hadrian's Wall (2005)?
-El muro se construyó con sillares de piedra, porque no tenían ladrillos en esos tiempos. Ahora sí que los tenemos-. Género. Novela histórica.Lo que nos cuenta. Algo más de 260 años después de su construcción, el muro de Adriano sigue dividiendo las realidades de un imperio en decadencia y de unos celtas cada vez más activos y organizados. La llegada de Valeria, hija de un senador, para casarse con el prefecto, coincide con otros cambios en la rutina de la zona que parecen indicar que algo se está tramando.¿Quiere saber más del libro, sin spoilers? Visite:http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
—Olethros
First time reading a book by this author. Really enjoyed his writing. He did a great job on portraying what Roman Britain, and the Roman Empire might have been like - and brought it alive for me. His descriptions of the surroundings, the character's motivations, and the battles were very vivid and not rambling. I also loved the device of using a Roman inspector to ferret out the story. The novel's strongest points for me was the portrayal of the lives of Roman centurions/commanders and their motivations, I also liked how he talked about some of their customs and beliefs. The weakest part was probably the idealism of the underlying love story - but it read like it would make a good movie because of it.SPOILERIdealistic because the heroine just didn't seem to focus enough on what she'd be losing by eventually going "barbaric". Sure doing your own housework might seem novel initially, but I can't see someone from that background not missing the benefits of having someone pour a nice hot bath for her etc. Nevermind the fact she'd never get to talk to or see her parents or family ever again either. Anyhow I will definitely check out more by this author.
—Mandeep
This is a book of historical fiction and I love to get my history this way. This is about the wall the Roman Emperor Hadrian (about 150 AD)had built to separate the part of the British Isles he had conquered from the wild Celts (Scotland). The Celts were relentlessly fierce and independent and their land not worth bothering with, but the Romans needed to protect themselves from them and their sporatic raids into Roman territory. This is also a story about a young Roman wife that gets taken by the Celts and becomes aquainted with their culture and their dynamic and, of course, attractive leader.
—Julia
