I enjoyed reading Pompeii, one of Harris’ other novels, in the way that one enjoys somewhat fluffy summertime novels. I purchased Imperium thinking it would be more of the same, but it was quite different, and markedly better.

Imperium tracks the rise of Cicero’s political star, but more than just fostering interest in Cicero himself (for me, someone badly battered in my interest-zone by eons of Victorian deification), the novel also probes the deeper theme of the dynamics and machineries of power. Read against the backdrop of the 2008 US presidential elections, this theme becomes fascinating and eerily accessible.

I can’t help but think that Harris also saw the parallels between the Rome of Cicero’s time and the United States of today, both republics straining to contain themselves and their ideals in times of degraded public virtue and burdened world power. (His scene where the Roman statesman utters the “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” line comes to mind). As such, Imperium takes on a much deeper tone than Pompeii, and is consequently more rewarding.

Suggested read.