Terra Incognita: A Novel of the Roman Empire

by Ruth Downie

Book Overview

It is spring in the year of 118, and Hadrian has been Emperor of Rome for less than a year. After getting involved with the murders of local prostitutes in the town of Deva, Doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596912324
• ISBN13: 9781596912328
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Roman Britain...back in time

Thoroughly enjoyed this trip to Roman Britain...and the adventures of a Medicus...a doctor in the Roman Army, stationed in Britain...This is the second novel by Ruth Downie...and I am looking forward to the next adventures...I even got a reply from her, when I wrote to tell her I enjoyed her books!!!! Let's have MORE!!!

The Antlered God Leads a Merry Chase

In the enjoyable sequel to the entertaining "Medicus", Ruth Downie returns to ancient Britain circa the time of Hadrian and we are again treated to an amusing romp with her characters Gaius Petreius Ruso, doctor to the 20th legion, and his headstrong British housekeeper, Tilla. I liked this sequel and I hope Downie keeps these novels coming. Despite being good murder mysteries these books keep a light-hearted air about them and are of the special type of novel that just make you feel good while you are reading them. Downie uses the clash of culture and viewpoints, between Romans and the Britons, to create an engaging but complicated relationship between Ruso and Tilla and also to create mysteries that are more opaque than the norm because layers of cultural incomprehension baffle our sleuth Ruso. What Downie does a little differently than most writers, and which I find enjoyable, is that the murders are hard to solve, not because of means or opportunity, but because of motive. The Britons are maddeningly difficult for the Romans, and Ruso in particular, to understand because the societies are so different. Her books are a lot of fun and compare favorably to the SPQR series by John Maddox Roberts which is also a delightfully engaging series if you are looking for more reads similar to this one. In Terra Incognita Ruso takes advantage of an opportunity to travel north with a detachment of the 20th to the village where Tilla was born. He begins to regret his indulgement of Tilla almost immediately because before they even get there a strange antered man, whom the locals believe to be an avatar of the god Cernunnos, begins harassing the column and creating fatal accidents by acts of sabotage. The local officials take a decidedly dim view of this character as he is not just commiting crimes but also inspiring the local populace to unrest and possible rebellion. After Rusa and Tilla arrive at the outpost Coria, her hometown, they learn a local soldier has been murdered in a dark alleyway, decapitated, and images of the stagman drawn on the alley wall. While the murderer seems easy enough to identify as the stagman, the situation is complicated when the doctor based at the fort, who appears to be completely deranged, claims to have done the deed. It gets even further tangled when Tilla's former boyfriend is also suspected of being the likely murderer because of a row he had with the slain soldier earlier that night. Since the local officials can't catch the stagman, and they don't want to convict their own doctor, who despite his confession seems unlikely to have been the murderer, the former beau looks to be the most likely candidate to be strung up. Upon arriving and finding the resident doctor mentally incapacitated, Ruso offers to do an autopsy and finds himself drawn into the investigation. Meanwhile we learn much of Tilla's background and she is drawn away from Ruso by family and legion orders prohibiting non-Romans from entering the fort. The p

Roman History Easy to Enjoy

Among the many fictional Roman histories in print today, this is the only one I have read that treats history honestly but lightens it with humor. A welcome relief, especialy when the subject is life in the outer reaches of the Roman Empire, Britain during the second century AD. Ruth Downie knows human nature doesn't change much over a few thousand years, and looks at the past with tolerant, understanding eyes. We are anxiously awaiting her third book in what we hope will be a long series on the life and experiences of Medicus Gaius Petreius Ruso and his slave, Tilla.

An unintentional detective

How fun to read a novel set in the world of ancient Rome. How much more fun to discover an unlikely, unintentional detective...a guy with too much honor for his own good. What worries the good doctor is not even of interest to his superiors or his peers and most everyone tries to dissuade him from becoming involved in what he comes to realize are crimes. He's a reluctant, smart guy with a certain naive charm and wit who just can't help himself from wanting to get to the bottom of what he, and a few unlikely lower class denizens, perceive as injustices. If you happened to watch the HBO series "Rome" you can picture the setting and the class distinctions which play a part in both of Ruth Downie's Roman mystery duo. I read them both, I enjoyed them both, I am hopeful a third is in the offing.

A worthy follow up

This is a worthy and enjoyable follow up to the Medicus. I enjoyed both books thoroughly. They are thinly disguised modern murder mysteries that just happen to be set in Britain during the Roman occupation. The lead characters in both books, the army doctor Ruso, and his "slave" Tilla are both endearing and very human. Even it the backdrop is not entirely accurate, it is close enough. Once again I appreciate Ms. Downie's sometimes humorous writing style. I am looking forward to a third book in the series.