Rating: 2 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Marius is a soldier in Rome. He’s a little older, and he’s quite tired. However, he’s been invited to be a guest at a upper level politician’s home and attend a few events before he returns to his country estate.
Decimus is a young, up and coming politician and is introduced to Marius at a party. Right away, Decimus decides to try to befriend Marius because he’d be good to have on his side. He thinks Marius would go a long way to helping him with his career.
The two men do hit it off, somewhat, and Marius accompanies Decimus to a few places like the Colosseum and the Forum, and it’s there things start to blur a bit. After a particularly animated session at the Forum, Decimus is a bit…wound up? He’s out of control, and the only way Marius can think of to get him to relax is to get on his knees, lift Decimus’ toga, and…well…you know. Decimus doesn’t know what the hell’s going on, only he enjoyed it and would like to (perhaps?) have more.
I’m just not really sure what happened next. It’s mentioned Decimus and Marius have more sex, and they do spend more time together, but then all of a sudden, they weren’t. Marius overhears Decimus tell his “uncle” Porcius he was only using him to further his career. Porcius set that up, though. He’s a real ass.
Fast forward a bit, and Decimus’ sister convinces him to go after Marius and tell him he loves him. Marius goes along, and finds himself outside of Marius’ country estate ready to kiss him and fall into his arms. Only…he can’t because a woman appears next to Marius and introduces herself as MARIUS’ WIFE! That was it for me. Stick a fork in me because I was DONE. I was having trouble with the story already because it felt choppy and like I was missing something, but I cannot, cannot abide by adultery. I don’t care if that was done back in ancient times (because we all know politicians and soldiers often kept lovers, especially young men), I will not have any part of it from any MC in a book I’m reading for pleasure. I would have put it down right then and there, but I’d made a commitment, and there were only a few pages left. I should also say it’s lucky I love my Kindle, or she’d have been in a heap on the floor after I threw her against the wall.
I chose this story for this week’s Genre challenge because I’m not a historical reader at all. I don’t know why, I just find them to be boring. I must need a contemporary atmosphere, and I know I need contemporary language. However, I figured if I was going to go, I may as well go big. Maybe I should have just stuck with a nice Regency.
All in all, I wasn’t going to rate Cursus Honorum very highly anyway because, as I said, I thought the story was choppy, and I had a hard time following it, but the second the adultery was brought in, that was it. I’ve never given a rating this low in my life, but my conscience won’t let me go any higher. I’m sorry I can’t make myself recommend this book to anyone.
This review is part of our September Reading Challenge Month for Genre Week! Leave a relevant comment below and you will be entered to win a fabulous prize from Less Than Three Press. Three lucky winners will each receive a selection of print books. Commenters will also be entered to win our amazing grand prize sponsored by Dreamspinner Press (a loaded Kindle fire filled with DSP books!). You can get more information on our Challenge Month here, and more details on Genre Week here. And be sure to check out our prize post for more about the awesome prizes!
I think it’s rather unfair that you would ding a historical book for being historically accurate. The vehemence with which you oppose a historically accurate depiction of how relationships worked at the time is unjust. Especially because that is the crux of the review. You mentioned it was choppy and confusing and those are valid reasons for marking down a book. For that reason alone, I’ll be passing on this story.
It’s fine if you don’t read historicals, but then you shouldn’t be reviewing them since you have no understanding of MM historical fiction. I expected better of this review site.
Thanks for your comments Lucy. In this case Kenna chose to read a historical for our Genre Week Challenge and picked it specifically because it is outside of her comfort zone. I try to make clear all the Reading Challenge Month posts with tags and badges so there is no confusion about how/why a given book was selected and readers can factor that in when considering the review. Unfortunately the story didn’t work for Kenna and I think she explained clearly why.
I know for a lot of readers, cheating is a deal breaker in terms of their enjoyment of the book. For many others (again, myself included) it doesn’t bother them at all. So hopefully readers for whom this isn’t a concern can evaluate the book based on Kenna’s other feedback and make the decision about whether the story will work for them. And for those who do not like to read this type of theme, they will know what to expect.
Again, I always appreciate your comments and thanks for taking the time to read the blog.
I think I’ll be passing on this book due to the lack of continuity. Thanks for the review, Kenna.
Thanks for the review, Kenna. Not sure that I will be approaching book with cheating as well…
I do like historicals and the cheating aspect really depends on why and how it is handled…but the continuity issues and choppiness of storyline are certainly issues I would not like. So, appreciate the review and this is not a book I will add to the TBR list (which is way to big anyway).
I’m sorry it did not work for you, Kenna. It does sound choppy. It is a pity, because Ancient Rome is one of my favourite historical tropes, and this was in my TBR list. So bad. Thank you for the review!
I read this one shortly after reading A Song of Achilles, which was grossly unfair to any book set in a similar time because nothing was going to stand up to that comparison. Still, I can judge it almost fairly and say that it was an okay story. It’s not one I recommended because it didn’t have anything special to it, but it wasn’t a big hot mess that I’d want to warn people away from. There was just enough to keep me interested to see what the author would do with these guys. I don’t have a problem with cheating, though I don’t tend to think of it that way with this book because of how/why he was married, and his wife may have wanted something when they were first married, but that was so long before the time of this book that it wasn’t really a blip for me. I wish this could have been a better read for both of us (though I do love historicals) because there aren’t enough set in Ancient Rome from my point of view. Thanks for trying out a historical, Kenna. I would love it if you found one that worked for you.
I guess my feelings the cheating aspect depends on how much I care about the characters in the first place…not getting a super-sympathetic vibe about this story’s couple.
This doesn’t sound like it would work for me based on your review. It’s a shame though because there should be more books set in ancient Rome. Thanks for your honest review.
I really like some historicals but for some reason the “ancient” ones just don’t sound good to me. I should probably give one a try but so far there have been so many other books to choose from that I’ve just let it slide. I don’t really have a problem with “fictional” cheating but I think I’ll wait for a different book to use as a test subject. 🙂
I don’t like cheating I found if it’s presented in a certain way and the characters seem likable enough I’m lenient and tolerant towards the book. Just from hearing about these characters I don’t think I’ll be able to stomach them. The choppiness and your confusion with the story seems an issue for me too. Thank you for the review and giving the genre a try.
Kenna, the fact he was married and maybe they ‘lead different lives’ should have really been presented near the beginning or at least mentioned. I hate ending shockers like that too, and like you, would have probably thrown the book across the room. That’s just bad writing on the fact of the author, and really, you said it all at choppy and confusing.
Sometimes, reading a genre one doesn’t normally read, makes things stand out clearer, if it was a contemporary, you might as not been as aware of the choppyness – or drawn in enough that it didn’t stand out as much.
Thank you for the review , really.
Thank you for your review. I do enjoy historicals and the setting sounds interesting but the choppiness might put me off. Not sure about the marriage. That would really depend on the story.
This doesn’t sound very promising, maybe it was not a good introduction to the genre of historical romances. But there are really great historicals out there 🙂
Although I’m a bit fan of historicals, “ancient” historical settings just don’t appeal to me either. If you want to try something else from a different historical genre, I would recommend K.J. Charles’s “Think of England” or Joanna Chambers’s “Enlightenment” series as a perfect starting point.
*big* fan ??
Sorry that this book didn’t work for you but thanks for your honest review, i don’t think i would enjoy this one either. I do like historical m/m and i hope you will try again because there are really some great historical m/m books.
Eep I think I’ll pass on this one. I’m sorry you didn’t like this one but thanks for the review!