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The Venus Throw

Author: Steven Saylor
Publisher: Robinson Publishing
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

9 reviews
Sales Rank: 31853

Media: Paperback
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.3

ISBN: 1845292456
EAN: 9781845292454
ASIN: 1845292456

Publication Date: August 25, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new book delivered in the UK in 2-3 days. Over 1 million sold to Amazon customers!

Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - The Venus Throw: A Novel of Ancient Rome
•	Mass Market Paperback - The Venus Throw
•	Audio Cassette - The Venus Throw
•	Paperback - The Venus Throw
•	Paperback - The Venus Throw (G.K. Hall Large Print Core Collection)

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•	Catilina's Riddle
•	Arms of Nemesis (Gordianus the Finder)
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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk Review
Steven Saylor's series of thrillers about Gordianus the Finder play cleverly with what we think we know about the last days of the Roman Republic. Gordianus does the legwork for prosecutors and defenders in a system of trials which have become increasingly politicised; even his former patron Cicero has become less interested in justice than in winning and Gordianus is, almost notoriously, the last honest man in Rome. Most of his cases deal with murder trials in which Cicero appeared--part of the fun of reading Saylor is his attentive reading of the great advocate's brilliantly partisan rhetoric. And for those less interested in such intellectual games, the books are attractively atmospheric, showing a Rome still small enough for everyone to know each other's business. Here Gordianus finds himself investigating the murder of a former mentor, Dio, a philosopher and leader of an embassy from Egypt; the triumvirs, Pompey, Caesar and Crassus, are contemplating annexing Egypt and its exiled king is only too prepared to act as their catspaw. And Gordianus finds himself the ally of Clodius and Clodia, the two most notoriously dissolute siblings ...There is nothing so deceptive as what we think we know and Gordianus is as often tricked here as is the reader. --Roz Kaveney

Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

As great as ever July 26, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Another absorbing and brilliantly written whodunnit from Saylor's pen. This is a bit more straightforward than the preceding Catalina's Riddle, but still has plenty of twists, colourful characters, spellbinding oratory and dialogue and some horrific moments. Splendid stuff.

5 out of 5 stars

One of the best in the series April 13, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

The review above is very harsh. For me this is one of the best, particularly for brilliant evocation of late-Republican life and society.

As to Cicero, yes of course the main parts of the speech are lifted from the original - but so what! The speech is compelling and Saylor makes it available outside the world of classical scholarship to thousands of people.

5 out of 5 stars

The Fourth Story in the Sub Rosa Series March 8, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Steven Saylor's fascination with Ancient Rome began at an early age. A history graduate and former newspaper and magazine editor, he lives in Berkeley, California. His series of books about Ancient Rome and featuring Gordianus the Finder are extremely popular both here in England and also in America. Anyone who is a fan of Lindsey Davis will love these books too. Steven Saylor brings Ancient Rome to life, so much so that the reader can lose himself in the sights and sounds of the ancient city.

Gordianus the Finder, the investigator of crimes, a man whose skill and integrity have made him much sought after by some of the most important men in Rome. Men who may need a secret to be kept, men who need to know that when Gordianus is working for them he will be discreet and not susceptible to bribery.

The Sub Rosa series is very quickly growing in popularity and it is easy to see why. The main character Gordianus the Finder is both a likeable and believable character and the author's descriptive talents bring the sights and sounds of Ancient Rome leaping off the pages. In this novel set in the period 50 BC Gordianus is hired to investigate a murder and he must follow a trail of intrigue to places that no one in their right mind would go, into the realms of political power. Nobody is more devious than the men who rule Rome. Men who, on the surface are the height of respectability, but rub the surface . . .

5 out of 5 stars

Fourth Book in an Excellent Series December 21, 2006
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

Steven Saylor's fascination with Ancient Rome began at an early age. A history graduate and former newspaper and magazine editor, he lives in Berkeley, California. His series of books about Ancient Rome and featuring Gordianus the Finder are extremely popular both here in England and also in America. Anyone who is a fan of Lindsey Davis will love these books too. Steven Saylor brings Ancient Rome to life, so much so that the reader can lose himself in the sights and sounds of the ancient city.

Gordianus the Finder, the investigator of crimes, a man whose skill and integrity have made him much sought after by some of the most important men in Rome. Men who may need a secret to be kept, men who need to know that when Gordianus is working for them he will be discreet and not susceptible to bribery.

The Sub Rosa series is very quickly growing in popularity and it is easy to see why. The main character Gordianus the Finder is both a likeable and believable character and the author's descriptive talents bring the sights and sounds of Ancient Rome leaping off the pages. In this novel set in the period 50 BC Gordianus is hired to investigate a murder and he must follow a trail of intrigue to places that no one in their right mind would go, into the realms of political power. Nobody is more devious than the men who rule Rome. Men who, on the surface are the height of respectability, but rub the surface . . .

2 out of 5 stars

A travesty of a book... and of a woman July 8, 2006
6 out of 12 found this review helpful

I'm not a great fan of Steven Saylor and find his books very mixed, but this was one of the worst. Clodia Metelli, like Helen of Troy, has been much maligned, and usually by men. All Saylor does is take the male fantasy version of the femme fatale and try to turn her into a real character - and, as far as I'm concerned, failed dismally. What real woman, Roman or not, wanders around the city constantly in a see-through dress, stroking her own breasts and rubbing her thighs up against every strange man she meets? Especially one who has been abused as a child and can talk about it in a mature, selfconscious and self-reflexive way? Maybe some men would like to believe in this rather over-worked cliche but I'm disappointed to find it here. This isn't any kind of 'feminist' polemic, but just a comment on what I find to be bad fiction.
The other major gripe I have with this book is the pages and pages lifted from Cicero's oration 'Pro Caelio', which is given in the 1st person narrative of Gordianus. If we want to read Cicero, surely we'd read the real thing (admirally translated in the Penguin Classics series) not have to read Gordianus' clumbsy re-telling.
Altogether the worst of a not-very-good series.