05-22-2010, 02:28 AM
*Sigh* I'd promised myself I wasn't going to waste people's time by posting here, but this is bothering me so much I've just got to talk about it to somebody who'll likely understand. I'm venting, more or less.
David Drake's new fantasy, The Legions of Fire, is in the bookstores. OK, I generally like Drake's work, so I eagerly looked into this book. The introduction states that the setting is not the Roman Empire at about the time of Tiberius, but is rather the empire of Carce (Eddison readers rejoice, I suppose). Not three pages into it, I'm jarred to discover that Carce speaks Latin, has troops in Germany and Gaul and Batavia -- in short, it seems to be Rome in everything except the name of the capital city, and none of the other placenames are changed. A bit further on, I find a reference to Publius Atilius Regulus, hero of the war against Carthage -- yes, even those historical figures I've seen mentioned have the same names.
I haven't gotten deep enough into the story yet to know if I'm going to enjoy the plot, but the characterizations seem interesting, so far. The Carce/Rome thing, though, is driving me clottin' crackers, because it seems so pointless to change only that one name from the background.
*Sigh* Shutting up now.
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Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
David Drake's new fantasy, The Legions of Fire, is in the bookstores. OK, I generally like Drake's work, so I eagerly looked into this book. The introduction states that the setting is not the Roman Empire at about the time of Tiberius, but is rather the empire of Carce (Eddison readers rejoice, I suppose). Not three pages into it, I'm jarred to discover that Carce speaks Latin, has troops in Germany and Gaul and Batavia -- in short, it seems to be Rome in everything except the name of the capital city, and none of the other placenames are changed. A bit further on, I find a reference to Publius Atilius Regulus, hero of the war against Carthage -- yes, even those historical figures I've seen mentioned have the same names.
I haven't gotten deep enough into the story yet to know if I'm going to enjoy the plot, but the characterizations seem interesting, so far. The Carce/Rome thing, though, is driving me clottin' crackers, because it seems so pointless to change only that one name from the background.
*Sigh* Shutting up now.
-----
Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.