Susan in NC's Reviews > Silver Pigs
Silver Pigs (Marcus Didius Falco, #1)
by
by
Susan in NC's review
bookshelves: currently-re-reading, audiobook, library-book, tbr-with-gr-groups
Oct 11, 2013
bookshelves: currently-re-reading, audiobook, library-book, tbr-with-gr-groups
Read 2 times. Last read April 21, 2022 to April 24, 2022.
4/2022 - Listened to audiobook, very entertaining narrator, to refresh my memory for upcoming read with Reading the Detectives group. Still 3.5-4 stars for adventure, humor, characters, promising start to a long series. I’d definitely like to read on, see how characters develop. The plot made more sense this time, but I still found it hard to grasp what Falco and Helena were trying to say in several scenes as their romance developed - I think it’s just Davis’s writing style. The next book will be interesting, to see how she carries on.
2016: 3.5 stars - I enjoyed Helena, Falco, his mother and Publius and several other characters in this Ancient Roman mystery, but I've never been much into the period and had a hard time getting into it - but I'd been hearing about the series for so long I wanted to give it a try.
The characters were definitely a strong point and I plan to look for the next book in this long and popular series; while there was plenty of dry humor and excellent research into the period, the mystery itself was very complex and had a lot of parts and potential bad guys - I had a hard time telling them apart (I think it's the Roman names!).
Also, I honestly lost track whether Falco was looking for the murderer of a young girl with her family as his clients, or working for the emperor trying to solve a case involving theft from the silver mines of Britain, or both...I look forward to trying the next in the series to see if the pacing evens out and if I have an easier time following the characters' motivations. I can see why Didius Falco has such a following - even his daughter now has a spin-off series! - but I'm just not sure this series is for me. I look forward to further reading to find out.
2016: 3.5 stars - I enjoyed Helena, Falco, his mother and Publius and several other characters in this Ancient Roman mystery, but I've never been much into the period and had a hard time getting into it - but I'd been hearing about the series for so long I wanted to give it a try.
The characters were definitely a strong point and I plan to look for the next book in this long and popular series; while there was plenty of dry humor and excellent research into the period, the mystery itself was very complex and had a lot of parts and potential bad guys - I had a hard time telling them apart (I think it's the Roman names!).
Also, I honestly lost track whether Falco was looking for the murderer of a young girl with her family as his clients, or working for the emperor trying to solve a case involving theft from the silver mines of Britain, or both...I look forward to trying the next in the series to see if the pacing evens out and if I have an easier time following the characters' motivations. I can see why Didius Falco has such a following - even his daughter now has a spin-off series! - but I'm just not sure this series is for me. I look forward to further reading to find out.
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Reading Progress
October 11, 2013
– Shelved as:
to-read
October 11, 2013
– Shelved
July 13, 2016
–
Started Reading
July 17, 2016
–
Finished Reading
April 21, 2022
–
Started Reading
April 21, 2022
– Shelved as:
currently-re-reading
April 21, 2022
– Shelved as:
audiobook
April 21, 2022
– Shelved as:
library-book
April 21, 2022
– Shelved as:
tbr-with-gr-groups
April 21, 2022
–
19.42%
"This is where I start getting lost; Falco recovered and hid the silver pig, is trying to figure out what’s going on, and interviews praetorian guards and others. Actually, Falco seems to know, just not sure who’s behind it; I assume it’s stealing, I just don’t know who are the bad guys - and the praetorian guard who’s an old friend of Falco’s dead war hero brother seems to imply there might be a coup?"
page
47
April 23, 2022
–
41.32%
"Falco’s time in the mines - ugh! Very evocative writing, has really stayed with me since my first read years ago…"
page
100
April 23, 2022
–
59.5%
"the writing in the travel scenes between F and H isn’t terribly clear about what’s actually passing between them - for me, anyway! I find them both very likable, though, but I see a criticism in a review I read, that it turned from mystery halfway through into a romance! Don’t know if I’d go that far, definitely want to read on, see how they go on."
page
144
April 24, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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I do have it, but I left it at home and we are still in Illinois so I'll have to wait to get to it. Besides, I honestly haven't had the heart for it with just losing my mom and now my mother-in-law struggling with Alzheimer's - I love the PCU but I'm looking for perkier reads right now! Im sure it'll be very good, but we know the direction Bryant's illness is going in and I know it will be well done but affecting and sad. I need to be in the right mood.
As for Silver Pigs, I read several reviews when I was done and realized I wasn't the only one who had a problem following the rather choppy plot and dialogue, and the fact that Davis didn't really make clear what the urgency of the silver mine scam was, and how it could hurt Vespasian. It kind of got bogged down so as a reader I wasn't sure who was chasing Falco and why and what was at stake - the characters are very promising though. I imagine the series improves as you go along, I just don't know if I'll rush back to it. I've also read a few Rosemary Rowe mysteries and know it can be done well - maybe I'll give wishart a look too. One reviewer compared Falco to Jim Rockford so I know he's supposed to be a grizzled PI-type and Davis was going for a kind of Roman noir vibe, I'm just not really into that kind of hero I guess.
Should you decide to continue, be assured that the series does improve, in both the flow of the story and the plotting of the actual mystery.
Judy (above) mentioned that she had several Roman series to choose from--not so in the way-back of 1989. Davis (and Falco) pre-date John Maddox Roberts 'SPQR' (1990), Saylor's Gordianus (1991), Wishart' Marcus Corvinus (1995) and Rowe's Libertus (1999), with Ruth Downie's Ruso (2006) being one of the newer ones. I tried them all and stuck with Davis. My husband, read (and enjoyed )all of Saylor and Roberts and has kept up with Davis, Rowe and Downie.
Thanks, Julie, that could be entertaining- I’m not terribly familiar with Ancient Rome, but Davis really brings it alive, and Falco was fun during the road trip (well, the mines were decidedly unpleasant, but he definitely encountered interesting characters).
While I really enjoyed the series as I read it, I didn't keep buying it beyond the first three books. Other than re-reading the previous book right before the new one came out, I never did a series re-read. (I would like to, as I would like to re-read any number of books that I've read in the past. Alas, reading time is finite, not infinite.)
*I noticed that my comments on your first review are from 6 years ago. Seems like only yesterday.
While I really enjoyed the series as I read it, I didn't keep buying it beyond the first three books..."
I know, time has flown by - yesterday was the fifth anniversary of my first brain surgery! I’ve come a long way, baby…agree, though, not enough time to reread all the books I’ve enjoyed, although I did quite a lot of reread/comfort reads during recovery (hard to concentrate on new stuff then).
Wanted to reread Falco’s first with an eye to reading on in the series, I never have, but could see the potential in the characters. I’ll be curious to see if the Detective group decides to read on - if not, I’ll probably try the second, at least.
Judy
Judy"
Thanks so much, dear Judy!
Although now that I think about it, Rosemary Rowe writes for this period also and I like her books a lot.
Roman names can be the dickens to keep up with.
By the way, Strange Tides came up on NetGalley but not as a "request", only as a "wish for". Who knows if anybody will get that one. I have it on Kindle pre-order anyway. Didn't you tell me you have that book? Did you write a review for it?
Judy