Status Updates From Locusta (The Poisoned Empir...

The political & conspiracy sections of the novel are its best parts, but the gaps between them are too large. It doesn't help that Locusta hasn't been involved in any of it since she arrived in Rome & decided to poison her first owner. All agency disappeared after that, and at nearly 80% she still doesn't seem to have any apart from hiding & having sexcapades. If this is meant to be feminist, it missed the mark.

If you can't write a good sex scene (or one that stays in the established setting), just fade to black. This felt like an emotionless play-by-play of a generic porno. We have "so damn sexy" co-existing with "gods" (to keep it Roman), incorrect info about female lubrication, & the eternal misogynistic assumption that all women need thrusting penetration to climax. It felt so out of place against the rest of the book.

I think it's been long enough since I read Greco-Roman historical literature and the combination of writing and audiobook narration quality that I'm actually having a good time with this. Hannah Curtis is truly embodying the character.