Steven Saylor & Robert Harris question..

For those who have read Saylor's books and Harris' books, where they very similar? Will I be bored or feel like I'm reading a repetition if once I finish the Saylor series I read Harris' books. Just wondering, since I am hooked on Saylor's Roman novels. I love ancient Rome. I wish I had a time machine to go back there, lol. Anyway, are the Harris books as enjoyable and intriguing as Saylors?

I don't think they are comparable. I've read 2 Harris & 1 Saylor. As the Saylor books are a series, they are rooted in the same time frame and feature a stable of characters associated with both. Harris novels are stand-alones and concentrate on a single person or event. There might be some slight overlap where historical characters are concerned, but I don't think you'll be bored.

Agreed. Also, I think Harris's books are more straight historicals than historical mysteries.

I love all the stuff out there on ancient Rome, from Saylor and Harris to Lindsey Davis's Falco mysteries to the SPQR mysteries by John Maddox Roberts and the David Wishart mysteries, to Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome straight historical series. Even if the time periods overlap, they are interpreted and the stories told by different authors in different ways. I can't get enough of the stuff.

I've read the Saylor stuff (most of it, anyway), and I loved it...and I'm more of a historical fan than mystery fan. I read them more for the historical fiction aspect rather than to enjoy the mystery part of them. I too was wondering if Harris was comparable. Thanks for starting this thread, getting some input on the subject, and answering a question that I would never have thought to ask for myself.

Thanks for the response. I might just check out a Harris book as soon as I'm done with the Saylor series (although I almost wish that the series would never end as I really love his descriptions of Rome and the mysteries of course. Can't get enough of it!) Thanks again.

yari20, I've read a couple books in the Saylor series, and loved them. The time frame is the same as some of Colleen McCullough's Roman series, and Sula features in one of the stories. He also is featured in First Man in Rome and The Grass Crown, and even tho they are not mysteries, there is suspense and murder and intrigue. You may want to try them.

I can't say I've read any of Saylor's books, but now I think I might; but, I have read Harris' two books about Cicero: Imperium and Conspirata. Also read Pompeii. He doesn't bore me at all. I think you do have to be interested in Roman history and politcs to like them, though.