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Ready, Steady, Dig
When you have spent the last sixteen hundred years faithfully guarding a precious hoard of gold and silver buried in the foundations of a Roman villa, the arrival of a bunch of TV archaeologists is seriously bad news.But the little household gods of the Villa Corvo have ways of deterring intruders that the makers of the popular programme "Ready,Steady,Dig!" could never have dreamed of ...
236 pages, Paperback
First published December 8, 2008
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36 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 15, 2017
This was a highly entertaining novel with a great pace throughout. The characters, major and minor, are all colourful and well rounded with the lares being personified to a high degree. I really enjoyed the contrasts between some of these, Petro being so responsible and Stillaria being so…well, Drippy!
The whole plot is centred on the Television concept of a fast action archaeological dig, which is not necessarily the way a traditional dig might be conducted. The reader who is familiar with TV archaeology will appreciate the TV characters created by the author. And for those who don’t watch much TV, Dr. Horton seems more typical of the pedantic archaeologists of the last fifty years.
There is a lot of well researched history and archaeology within this very readable, highly imaginative and enjoyable ‘historical fantasy’ contemporary novel.
by Rosalind Winter.
The whole plot is centred on the Television concept of a fast action archaeological dig, which is not necessarily the way a traditional dig might be conducted. The reader who is familiar with TV archaeology will appreciate the TV characters created by the author. And for those who don’t watch much TV, Dr. Horton seems more typical of the pedantic archaeologists of the last fifty years.
There is a lot of well researched history and archaeology within this very readable, highly imaginative and enjoyable ‘historical fantasy’ contemporary novel.
by Rosalind Winter.
May 4, 2017
Very entertaining
A charming fantasy, with much humour......stock characters such as greedy but incompetent petty thieves, arrogant but ignorant television executives and presenters, all based around a rather unusual archaeological dig. Rather attractive descriptions of Cotswold landscape as well.
A charming fantasy, with much humour......stock characters such as greedy but incompetent petty thieves, arrogant but ignorant television executives and presenters, all based around a rather unusual archaeological dig. Rather attractive descriptions of Cotswold landscape as well.
July 22, 2017
Sorry, no, didn't work for me. A good idea to use the Roman household gods, but underdeveloped and not as funny as I'd hoped.
Think I got it via Kindle Unlimited.
Think I got it via Kindle Unlimited.
April 21, 2018
Delightful! Light-hearted and clever. Interesting characters, and just the right amount of magical content. I enjoyed the sequel, too, and wish there were more in the series.
July 29, 2012
This is one of a bunch of cheap ebooks I picked up early in my Kindle days, and they’ve turned out to be a rather mixed bunch, some brilliant, some meh, and some... well, at least they were cheap. This is more ‘meh’ than anything else, but that’s partly because it’s really a children’s book, which limits the options. The plot revolves around a collection of Roman household gods, or Lares, essentially little stone people imbued with magical powers, who’ve been left behind by their family at their Roman villa in Britain to guard the household treasure. There’s also a nymph, a dryad and a Genius Loci (a spirit of place), as well as a lot of humans, including a troop of TV archaeologists bent on digging up said villa for the cameras. Oh, and some descendents of the original Roman family.
Now, all this leads to a lot of fun moments, some sly digs at real TV archaeology (ie Time Team), and a smattering of Latin and other historical information, as the TV guys try to tear the site apart in two days flat, the various locals try to stop them, and everybody tries to get their hands on the treasure. Unfortunately it tips over the edge into outright silliness more often than I would have liked, but it’s still a moderately entertaining read. Three stars.
Now, all this leads to a lot of fun moments, some sly digs at real TV archaeology (ie Time Team), and a smattering of Latin and other historical information, as the TV guys try to tear the site apart in two days flat, the various locals try to stop them, and everybody tries to get their hands on the treasure. Unfortunately it tips over the edge into outright silliness more often than I would have liked, but it’s still a moderately entertaining read. Three stars.
August 22, 2013
Meh. I finished this and an hour later I couldn't really care or tell you what happened in the end. I don't know why I bothered finishing it.
Some nice ideas but written for 8 year olds, and not Tolkein's eight year olds (the Hobbit was written for eight year olds) but 21stC kids who watch too much tv. I did like the idea of the little Lares coming to life and protecting the Family, but the snobbery of the author towards the current tv trend of amateur archaeology and practises was a little annoying. I can see her points, but on the whole, the adults were all horrible people and only one child with a good heart in the whole book with which we were supposed to relate to? The much too subtle and unnessecary outing of the town archaeologist was a bit bizarre, but it did add a few wry chuckles.
Some nice ideas but written for 8 year olds, and not Tolkein's eight year olds (the Hobbit was written for eight year olds) but 21stC kids who watch too much tv. I did like the idea of the little Lares coming to life and protecting the Family, but the snobbery of the author towards the current tv trend of amateur archaeology and practises was a little annoying. I can see her points, but on the whole, the adults were all horrible people and only one child with a good heart in the whole book with which we were supposed to relate to? The much too subtle and unnessecary outing of the town archaeologist was a bit bizarre, but it did add a few wry chuckles.
August 21, 2014
Meh is right - certainly did not live up to its blurb. I also thought that it handled the concept of sexuality very distastefully, bordering on homophobic in the very unspoken way that middle class England has. One character was portrayed as gay through the observations and innuendo of others, and through him not being attracted to a female character. From then on multiple characters regarded him with "I'm sure he'll meet someone soon" sympathy. Very patronising and frankly unnecessary for any of the characters.
Conversely, there was a child (8 year old?) who knew Latin and ran around town at all hours with no concerned parents watching out for her.
The narrative jumped from character to character, so none of them were very fleshed out at all.
Conversely, there was a child (8 year old?) who knew Latin and ran around town at all hours with no concerned parents watching out for her.
The narrative jumped from character to character, so none of them were very fleshed out at all.
February 10, 2013
this book was an eBook recommendation when finishing another fantasy book. But I really wondered why. I like the idea of the Lares protecting the Home and Hearth but overall, bearing in mind this is basically a story about a 13 year old girl and her ancestry, I was not sure why it was recommended to me.
I think this is a young readers book and as such would be interesting and quite informative. That is, assuming that the stuff about Rome was accurate, or at least rather more accurate than calling the archaeologist 'Dr' when he only had a masters degree!
I think this is a young readers book and as such would be interesting and quite informative. That is, assuming that the stuff about Rome was accurate, or at least rather more accurate than calling the archaeologist 'Dr' when he only had a masters degree!
September 24, 2016
Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous, and very different. I really enjoyed it, but I am studying Humanities for my degree and there has been an awful lot of roman influence in the last couple of modules. A piece of me has even left thinking I might like to study Latin.
Engaging characters, nice paced plot, with a few tiny errors in the text that will be added to my blog post as usual www.toodlesbookclub.blogspot.co.uk.
Engaging characters, nice paced plot, with a few tiny errors in the text that will be added to my blog post as usual www.toodlesbookclub.blogspot.co.uk.
February 25, 2012
didn't finish it
November 22, 2013
A lovely book, easy to get into and a light read.
May 19, 2016
Delightful. Will read more!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews