Peter Salway

I didn’t find this short account of Roman Britain as interesting as expected. This is partly owing to the lack of solid information available, partly through the absence of any famous personages - not counting well-known Romans - of the times, but mainly because I didn’t take to the writing style.

Regarding my first point, I realise that much of Britain’s early history lies in obscurity, thus the information covered in this account is bound to be scanty. With little written documentation from the fifth century and earlier, historians rely heavily on archaeological finds to help build pictures of these bygone times.

Regarding the absence of any famous personages, we do have Boudicca, but she’s pretty much glanced over here. It’s unfortunate that such a lack of written records prevents us knowing more about specific Britons during the first five centuries AD, as even in non-fiction a hero and heroine makes the narrative more engaging.

As for the writing style, I found it lacking vibrancy. It didn’t draw me in. Many sentences were long-winded, bogged-down with commas, semi-colons, colons, dashes, and brackets. Take this 43-word sentence for an example:

>Other trades, working in more perishable materials, perhaps operated in similar fashion—for example fresco-painters (of whose work just enough survives to demonstrate its importance and the quality it could reach); furniture-makers; and other suppliers of major items for the well-to-do household.… (mer)