Extrapolation of possible events that the world would have known if the Roman Empire had not collapsed is fine and very well thought out. I read this novel as a nice mental game where one likes to imagine the interaction between religion, politics, demography, geography, sociology, etc. in a world where only a few different key elements to the beginning of the creation of the Roman Empire. A bit like the famous butterfly effect applied in the field of history. Amateur and Ancient History I drank whey ...
Also, I really liked the fact that each chapter is the opportunity to meet a new narrator, offering an entirely different view (Roman scribe, British tourist, Venetian concubine Teutonic children, etc.)
Of course, there are, here and there a few mistakes, and cumbersome:
- The cultural and technical evolution of the Imperium follows almost exactly the same route as that of Christian Europe; which is highly unlikely.
- The final chapter falls a bit like a hair in the soup, and I frankly ruined the end of the novel (I take off 1 point for this). What a pity!
But overall, it is very well done. We can go there with closed eyes.
