Romans on the Silk Road
Inspired by the theory that a group of 145 soldiers, captured by the Chinese in 36 BC during their campaign against the nomads of the steppes, were Romans, this novel follows the career of Marcus, a young centurion: from Caesar’s victory over the Veneti in Gaul; through Crassus’ disastrous defeat by Surena at the Battle of Carrhae; slavery as a captive among the Parthian victors; escape eastward, where he and his companions take service as mercenaries with the Xiongnu nomads; and to their capture again when a Chinese army defeats the Xiongnu at Zhizhi.
The authors provide extensive background information on the political and cultural context to these events and peoples, and while interesting, it does disrupt and slow down the narrative. As history, it is informative, as a novel labored. This is partly because, like its hero, it covers so much ground, but there are other problems too. Marcus is an idealized figure, and since he is often dwarfed on a sprawling canvas, the reader feels distanced from him. Nor do the frequent digressions help. Prior to his captivity, he is little more than a spectator to historical events which are reported at length, and even his brief romance with Rebecca is used to provide information on the role of Jewish merchants in Alexandria and the East.
The number of grammar mistakes is surprising. Occasional errors that escape proofreading in a long book are one thing, but the consistent use of “lead” instead of “led” is another. Most disturbing, however, is the faulty sentence structure: the comma splice and use of conjunctive adverbs like ‘however’ as coordinating conjunctions occur frequently.
Interesting historical material; disappointing treatment.
