Dominus

A Novel of the Roman Empire

By: Steven Saylor

Narrated by: John Curless

Following his international best sellers Roma and Empire, Steven Saylor's Dominus continues his saga of the greatest, most storied empire in history from the eternal city at the very center of it all.

A.D. 165: The empire of Rome has reached its pinnacle. Universal peace - the Pax Roma - reigns from Britannia to Egypt, from Gaul to Greece. Marcus Aurelius, as much a philosopher as he is an emperor, oversees a golden age in the city of Rome. The ancient Pinarius family and their workshop of artisans embellish the richest and greatest city on earth with gilded statues and towering marble monuments. Art and reason flourish. But history does not stand still.

The years to come bring wars, plagues, fires, and famines. The best emperors in history are succeeded by some of the worst. Barbarians descend in endless waves, eventually appearing before the gates of Rome itself. The military seizes power and sells the throne to the highest bidder. Chaos engulfs the empire.

Through it all, the Pinarius family endures, thanks in no small part to the protective powers of the fascinum, a talisman older than Rome itself, a mystical heirloom handed down through countless generations.

But an even greater upheaval is yet to come. On the fringes of society, troublesome cultists disseminate dangerous and seditious ideas. They insist that everyone in the world should worship only one god, their god. They call themselves Christians. Some emperors deal with the Christians with toleration, others with bloody persecution. Then one emperor does the unthinkable. He becomes a Christian himself. His name is Constantine, and the revolution he sets in motion will change the world forever.

Spanning 160 years and seven generations, teeming with some of ancient Rome’s most vivid figures, Saylor's epic brings to vivid life some of the most tumultuous and consequential chapters of human history, events which reverberate still.

©2021 Steven Saylor (P)2021 Recorded Books

Interesting portrayal of the dying days of Rome 

I hated to have the trilogy end, but I enjoyed this book as much as I did the other two, perhaps more. Very little historical fiction is written about Rome and it’s declining years. This book ends in about 326 a D, which is roughly 150 years before the city of Rome fell to barbarians. In this book, you see the changing fortunes of the Family of Paneras. I don’t know if authors read the reviews of their books or if they do whether Steven Saylor will actually read this specific review that I am leaving but if he does, I would love to see what happens to the necklace for the last 150 years of the Roman. Empire, and perhaps beyond? 

Wow. Amazing.

Gripping story of generations of Roman’s from Marcus Aurelius to Constantine. Beautiful storytelling and able to string together a couple hundred years of family in story into a compelling story.

Good historical novel except…

This was an engaging historical novel of Ancient Rome. The author had an anti Christian bias.

I've loved this entire series. A+++

This entire series was wonderful. The narration was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Immersive historical fiction

This story takes over my thinking so completely I feel a little disoriented when I put it down - and that’s good fiction.

It’s a little too detailed in the sex descriptions though. There’s just no reason I can think of for the author to include such intimate detail - the beauty of writing is that there are so many ways to get a point across or evoke an emotion, other than over-explanation.

One of the things I really like about audiobooks is that I can listen to them in the car or while doing various things around the house. I don’t like to wear headphones all the time though, and I really don’t want other people around me to be subjected to what I would characterize as porn.

It’s only about 20% or less of the story and it’s otherwise a very enjoyable book, but I have to rate it lower than I would like to because I feel it should have a warning up front about the explicit sex scenes.

Excellent conclusion to the Trilogy

I am a big fan of Saylor ever since his Gordinanus series and this foray into historical fiction in an amazing continuation of the story of Rome. The narrator is a fine actor with a gift for voices.

Engaging, but a step down…

Loved the first two books in this series, but thought the emperors chosen to focus on here left a little to be desired. Would have loved more on Gallienus and Aurelian, for instance.