I really liked this book. Enough to immediately buy the next two at full price (which I hardly ever do) and be irritated at having to wait for the 4th (and last) book.
I’m going to jumble all three books together in my review and it’s just going to be snippets of thoughts, but it should give you enough info to decide if you want to read the Dominus series. The characters are interesting and the story, though drawn out, is compelling. It’s a bit like an ancient Roman Outlander or even Game of Thrones. Lots of characters, lots of politics, but still about human nature.
The “relationship” is pretty slow to develop. Not the interaction between the two MCs, but the actual personal relationship. In the first book, they don’t spend that much time together. But it’s worth the wait. The sexytimes are amazing. I loved them. The relationship is open (at least on Gaius’ part) at the beginning. But, that’s how ancient Rome was, I imagine. Masters could do whatever (and whoever) they wanted and slaves did whatever the masters wanted. But, if you’re not a fan of lots of partners, you’ll be pleased by the time the third book rolls around. Still, there are a lot of sexytimes with a lot of different characters taking part.
Kenwood does NOT hesitate to kill off some of our favorites, which made me very sad. :( I love a number of the secondary characters (there are a lot of them). I hope we don’t lose any more. It does get a bit hard at times to remember who is who (many of the names are similar), but Kenwood has provided a glossary of names at the end of each ebook.
By the third book, the Lucius mystery that the first book focused on seems almost forgotten, but I hope/assume it will be resolved in book 4.
The ghostly visitors in the second book (or maybe the third, whichever) were a bit hard to swallow as there really hadn’t been any indication I was reading a tale with supernatural/paranormal tendencies. But, I just went with it with a little bit of eye rolling. At least it was a way to get some more time with one of my favorite characters.
The oddest thing (to me) is that the ancient Romans and Greeks speak like modern day Brits. They use words like “birds” for females, and “bloody” and “dandy chap.”
Though Kenwood has clearly done a massive amount of research on ancient Rome, the dialog feels like a bit of a cop out. It’s much easier to write conversational Brit speak than a translation of BC Latin. Having said that, I’m OK with the dialog as is. It’s MUCH easier to read and I don’t have to slog through something like this for four books:
“A few days afterwards Regulus himself met me when I was paying my respects to the new praetor. He followed me thither and asked for a private conversation. He said he was afraid that something he once said in the court of the centumviri rankled in my memory, when, in replying to Satrius Rufus and myself, he remarked, "Satrius Rufus, who is quite content with the eloquence of our days, and does not seek to rival Cicero." I told him that as I had his own confession for it I could now see that the remark was a spiteful one, but that it was quite possible to put a complimentary construction upon it. "For," said I, "I do try to rival Cicero, and I am not content with the eloquence of our own time. I think it is very stupid not to take as models the very best masters. But how is it that you remember this case and forget the other one in which you asked me what I thought of the loyalty of Metius Modestus?" As you know, he is always pale, but he grew perceptibly paler at this thrust. Then he stammered out, "I put the question not to damage you but Modestus." Observe the man's malignant nature who does not mind acknowledging that he wished to do an injury to an exile. Then he went on to make this fine excuse; "He wrote in a letter which was read aloud in Domitian's presence, 'Regulus is the vilest creature that walks on two legs.'" Modestus never wrote a truer word.” (That's a letter from Pliny the Younger, by the way).
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