Terra Incognita

Terra Incognita: A Novel of the Roman Empire. By Ruth Downie.
New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2008. Paperback ISBN: 1-59691-518-8
Pp. 382. $15.00 (paperback).

This book is the second installment in a series. Terra Incognita picks up several months after the first book ended. The main character, Gaius Petreius Ruso, is a medicus or a doctor who works for the Roman army and who has a knack for getting involved in murder cases. It’s all set in the time right after the Roman Empire started to take over Britain. In the first book he saved a slave girl, whom we will come to know as Tilla, from being killed in public by her master. After this he becomes her new master and she helps him solve the murders that he doesn’t even really want to be a part of. In this second book, the two travel together to what Ruso calls the very edge of the empire with the army. This is the area of Britain that Rome has been able to conquer so far. Not only this, but it’s the same village that Tilla was born in and taken from 3 years prior. While there, tensions become even more strained with the murder of the local supplier; the medicus who was in charge in the area claimed that it was he who committed the murder when the officers are convinced that it was one of the locals. Ruso then volunteers to help out in any way that he can, which includes finding out anything that can help lead them to who the real murderer is.
Since this book is a novel, it is a lot more focused on the characters themselves and the development of the plot. That being said I also believe it to be quite a good representation of what people during these times of the Roman Empire might have actually had to go through. I am not sure how historically accurate it is but then again there wasn’t a lot of historical information that was given. The cultural aspect of it though was very good. The author incorporated a lot of day to day activities that we know the Romans participated in. She was also good with some of the minor details like clothing, money, cultural customs, ways that people talked to each other, or even the way that they wrote.
I believe that anyone who reads this book will be able to benefit from it. It’s a well written story and if you pay enough attention you can learn a lot about Roman culture. I would definitely recommend this book and the two other books in the series to everyone I know.

Victoria Zimmerman
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