What do you think?
Rate this book
The Tiber Runs Red
527 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 23, 2022
160 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
R. Magnusholm
6 books28 followersRon Magnusholm is a futurist and AI researcher. His interests include Natural Language Processing, artificial emotions, and empathy emulation in software.
He is married with two children and has degrees in medicine and environmental management. In his youth, he spent some time in the military where he specialized in wilderness survival.
He believes that by mid-21 century, robots and AI would far exceed human capacity, leading to radical and unprecedented changes.
Military conflict, medical advances, human enhancement, and artificial intelligence are recurrent themes in his writing.
Magnusholm wrote House of Cain over several years in the late nineties while studying at a London university. It is a dark war novel, inspired by stories heard around the camp-fires as an officer-cadet in his youth and fuelled by an over-active imagination. House of Cain is not suitable for young readers.
Roula is suitable for all ages. The storyline explores a potential way in which a benign Artificial Intelligence can take over the world, despite any prohibitions and barriers put in its way.
His third novel, Galatea, is about Artificial Intelligence taking over the world, but it's also a love story between a geeky programmer and his creation.
His Back to the Stone Age trilogy has sold many thousands of copies worldwide.
His sixth novel, Stormshadow is out now.
He is married with two children and has degrees in medicine and environmental management. In his youth, he spent some time in the military where he specialized in wilderness survival.
He believes that by mid-21 century, robots and AI would far exceed human capacity, leading to radical and unprecedented changes.
Military conflict, medical advances, human enhancement, and artificial intelligence are recurrent themes in his writing.
Magnusholm wrote House of Cain over several years in the late nineties while studying at a London university. It is a dark war novel, inspired by stories heard around the camp-fires as an officer-cadet in his youth and fuelled by an over-active imagination. House of Cain is not suitable for young readers.
Roula is suitable for all ages. The storyline explores a potential way in which a benign Artificial Intelligence can take over the world, despite any prohibitions and barriers put in its way.
His third novel, Galatea, is about Artificial Intelligence taking over the world, but it's also a love story between a geeky programmer and his creation.
His Back to the Stone Age trilogy has sold many thousands of copies worldwide.
His sixth novel, Stormshadow is out now.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 3, 2022
What a pleasure to read another book by R. Magnusholm’s books. This one is the sequel to The Door to September, and this time there’s a single enemy: a monstrous beast who hunts John and Liz and their two little ones.
The Ra raft took them to the island where they live 3 years ago. George is now 3 years old—or is he four because of the longer years? He has a baby sister, Hazel. The days last 26 hours on this alternate world.
Not giving more than that away, but the author has a wonderful imagination!
The Tiber Runs Red: An Alternate Reality Novel: Survival in Prehistoric Wilderness
The scenes between John and the beast are thrilling and terrifying. I couldn’t put the book down. Read until the wee hours of the night, until finally I finished.
The book is pleasurably long enough to cozy into over several nights, yet thrilling enough to keep the reader clinging to the next page on a sunny afternoon at the beach. A perfect summer read.
The Ra raft took them to the island where they live 3 years ago. George is now 3 years old—or is he four because of the longer years? He has a baby sister, Hazel. The days last 26 hours on this alternate world.
Not giving more than that away, but the author has a wonderful imagination!
The Tiber Runs Red: An Alternate Reality Novel: Survival in Prehistoric Wilderness
The scenes between John and the beast are thrilling and terrifying. I couldn’t put the book down. Read until the wee hours of the night, until finally I finished.
The book is pleasurably long enough to cozy into over several nights, yet thrilling enough to keep the reader clinging to the next page on a sunny afternoon at the beach. A perfect summer read.
June 30, 2022
Liz’s dad saves the day
Good followup to book one. Just like the first book, I liked the factual bits of survival tips interspersed throughout the book.
Good followup to book one. Just like the first book, I liked the factual bits of survival tips interspersed throughout the book.
July 18, 2022
Didn't enjoy this one as much as the first one; the reason is simply that the story barely moved. There are a few ruminations about how they got there, but none of the questions raised in the first book were answered here.
It was still a good book, but I expected more. I certainly expect a great deal more forward movement to the story if there are subsequent books.
It was still a good book, but I expected more. I certainly expect a great deal more forward movement to the story if there are subsequent books.
September 22, 2022
Alternate Reality
I read book one and found it very entertaining. Throughout all their trials and tribulations, they managed to secure a reasonably safe home. Considering that no modern tools were available, John and Liz fashioned tools that were adequate for their needs.
Having accepted that there was no chance of getting back to their own world, they embraced the new world with some trepidation.
It was really a shame that they were forced to escape their stockade because of cannibalistic natives.
The first book was a really good read and a precursor of what was to come in book two. However, and speaking personally, I was very disappointed with book two.
Whatever possessed the author to focus the whole book on a vengeful sabretooth tiger, left me in no doubt that he struggled with a sensible and viable storyline.
I struggled with reading this second book, and ended up skipping pages because it was boring. This second book just had no credibility and no real plot.
Perhaps the author could address the shortfall with a third book, and expand the horizons to include more adventure and exploration.
I read book one and found it very entertaining. Throughout all their trials and tribulations, they managed to secure a reasonably safe home. Considering that no modern tools were available, John and Liz fashioned tools that were adequate for their needs.
Having accepted that there was no chance of getting back to their own world, they embraced the new world with some trepidation.
It was really a shame that they were forced to escape their stockade because of cannibalistic natives.
The first book was a really good read and a precursor of what was to come in book two. However, and speaking personally, I was very disappointed with book two.
Whatever possessed the author to focus the whole book on a vengeful sabretooth tiger, left me in no doubt that he struggled with a sensible and viable storyline.
I struggled with reading this second book, and ended up skipping pages because it was boring. This second book just had no credibility and no real plot.
Perhaps the author could address the shortfall with a third book, and expand the horizons to include more adventure and exploration.
July 29, 2023
Better than expected
Alternate universe, stone-age survival, adult situations
John and Liz are back in this story set four years after the first tale. While I was scathing of the first novel, especially the insertion of political biases, this story is thankfully free of any; it's adventure survival against an apex predator, and for a twist, believably shows the predator in interesting ways.
Their small island is fascinating, but as it's east of the Thames as they knew it, it has to be Doggerland, a location dependent on glaciation. Not a critique, mind you, but if their world is warming, the island will gradually submerge and their descendents will be force to immigrate back to Britain, or try the longer sea journey to mainland Europe.
Well done. If there is a sequel, I will buy it.
Alternate universe, stone-age survival, adult situations
John and Liz are back in this story set four years after the first tale. While I was scathing of the first novel, especially the insertion of political biases, this story is thankfully free of any; it's adventure survival against an apex predator, and for a twist, believably shows the predator in interesting ways.
Their small island is fascinating, but as it's east of the Thames as they knew it, it has to be Doggerland, a location dependent on glaciation. Not a critique, mind you, but if their world is warming, the island will gradually submerge and their descendents will be force to immigrate back to Britain, or try the longer sea journey to mainland Europe.
Well done. If there is a sequel, I will buy it.
September 8, 2023
Book two. John and Liz, who hardly knew each other, were previously transported back to the Pleistocene era. No other humans. Here, they've escaped the dangers of the mainland and settled safely on an island. They also now have four year old George, and baby Hazel. They've built a mud and clay home and have used untapped ingenuity to make a life for themselves with no tech or automation. It's a difficult but satisfying existence. A vicious, angry predator has found its way to the island though, and now threatens to eat them all. An eye opening insight into human survival, using nothing but our wits and instinct.
July 15, 2022
Wonderfully immersive
Magnusholm has written two books in this series, and they are truly top-notch. I lost myself in these tales of two modern humans (and their growing family) surviving and thriving in a primitive world against all odds. I hope that he writes more in this series.
Magnusholm has written two books in this series, and they are truly top-notch. I lost myself in these tales of two modern humans (and their growing family) surviving and thriving in a primitive world against all odds. I hope that he writes more in this series.
September 9, 2022
Cat vs family
I thoroughly enjoyed this tale. The hero has a few flaws which required. The saber tooth also has flaws. Superb!
I thoroughly enjoyed this tale. The hero has a few flaws which required. The saber tooth also has flaws. Superb!
June 30, 2023
Started and ended well. Even the middle was good, but the pacing and overall episodic slow pace dragged this book down.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews