johnny dangerously’s Reviews > Fulvia > Status Update

first novelitus-- the pacing is way too fast. every scene is The Big Scene, and it makes characters feel like puppets pulled up to yawp, punch judy, and disappear. less like a movie, more like a video game with only cut scenes. everything else is good to fine, tho i dont like the bona dea scandal being reframed around clodius' curiosity, rather than him fucking other women, just bc the mc is his wife.

tentatively optimistic for this one. i have been disappointed by a lot (almost all) retellings, esp if they have the style of cover this book does. luckily this novel so far avoids many of the pitfalls in the 'feminist retelling' thread. it isnt hard to do that with fulvia, rome's most forgotten & most ambitious woman in the late repub. era. some quibbles but v minor & all make sense for what the book is trying to do