⋙ Download Medicus A Novel of the Roman Empire The Medicus Series Ruth Downie 9781596912311 Books

Medicus A Novel of the Roman Empire The Medicus Series Ruth Downie 9781596912311 Books

Download As PDF : Medicus A Novel of the Roman Empire The Medicus Series Ruth Downie 9781596912311 Books

Medicus A Novel of the Roman Empire The Medicus Series Ruth Downie 9781596912311 Books

Medicus is a story I've been meaning to read for a long time. I'm just glad I finally got around to this well written depiction of a Roman doctor of the Twentieth Legion who seems to have a gift for walking straight into trouble on the streets of Deva - modern day Chester. Gaius Petreius Ruso should know better than to get involved in anything going on in the streets of this outpost of the Roman army. Now he's saddled with a slave with a broken arm and she will most likely die before he can even attend to her injury. Since Tilla didn't die, Ruso needs to get her well enough to serve as his housekeeper until he can sell her. He certainly doesn't need a slave to worry about when his credit is so thinly stretch and his brother needs his financial contributions to keep the farm going back home. The best place Ruso can find for Tilla to recuperate is a bar/brothel. The problem with this place is that slave girls seem to keep disappearing from there. Did they run away or is the truth darker than that?

I love mystery novels of all types but Roman Britain especially appeals to me. Ruth Downie has given the character of Ruso just enough of everything I like: intelligence, morality, inquisitiveness, kindness and humor. I liked Tilla too, but I'm going to need to read more books in the series in order to have her personality unfold more for me. Ruso's roommate, Valens, another doctor, is a wonderful character who helps get Ruso in and out of trouble while keeping any of the damage from sticking to his reputation. Together the three of them promise to provide me with many hours of entertaining reading. I'm off to put the second book on my e-reader.


Tags : Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire (The Medicus Series) [Ruth Downie] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Gaius Petrius Ruso is a divorced and down-on his luck army doctor who has made the rash decision to seek his fortune in an inclement outpost of the Roman Empire,Ruth Downie,Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire (The Medicus Series),Bloomsbury USA,1596912316,Historical - General,Historical fiction.,Mystery fiction.,Rome;History;Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.;Fiction.,ENGLISH HISTORICAL FICTION,Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.,FICTION General,FICTION Historical General,Fiction,Fiction - Mystery Detective,Fiction-Coming of Age,Fiction-Historical,GENERAL,General Adult,Great BritainBritish Isles,Historical fiction,History,Mystery & Detective - Historical,Mystery fiction,Rome,United States

Medicus A Novel of the Roman Empire The Medicus Series Ruth Downie 9781596912311 Books Reviews

This is the first book in Ruth Downie's historical mystery series set in Britain during the Roman occupation. The protagonist, Gaius Petrus Russo, is a physician with the 20th Roman Legion who has taken the job after divorcing his first wife. While trying to do his job, he becomes involved in investigating the disappearance of a local lady of the evening, who is then found murdered. Gaius is an interesting character, and the setting in Roman Britain was very interesting to me after reading all of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon books where those characters marvel at what the Romans were able to build and left behind. The plot is well done and I have continued on with the series. If you like historical fiction, this is a good read.
Deceptively understated writing that follows the daily comings and goings of the title character, a Roman Legionnaire who happens to be a medical doctor in a Brittanica outpost in the far-reaching Roman Empire. He is a solemn man, whose life is totally filled by his job. His more easy going room-mate, the handsome one, Valens is always urging him to live it up a bit and find himself some distractions. Rusa, however, is divorced from the ambitious Claudia, whom he has left behind in Africa and is anxious to rise within the ranks to become CMO of the hospital, a position also sought by Valens.
Rusa is in financial straits, primarily the result of poor money management by his now deceased father and his spend-thrift step mother. He is attempting to write a Concise Medical Handbook that he hopes will also help strengthen his pocketbook. He is, you see, almost to end of the last pay period and his brother and other family are attempting to hang onto the family vineyards in Gaul. He must send them money for their living expenses as well as support himself.
While walking through the streets of Deva on his way back to the hospital, contemplating his position and also the mystery of the suspicious death of a woman pulled from the river and deposited in his infirmary, he comes upon a slave dealer and an almost dead female slave who is bloodied and appears to have a broken arm. Though he tries to avoid becoming involved in the workings of the town and its native inhabitants he finds himself using the last of his money to purchase this slave and take her to the hospital where he sets her arm.
So begins a series of seemingly unrelated events with which he becomes involved, not the least of which is this new unanticipated responsibility, the young blonde slave he calls Tilla.
The short chapters, interesting history of Legion life, the medicine of the times, the interaction between Romans and Britons all keep the story moving until its final revelations, which are not entirely surprising though more complex than expected. This is the first in a series of novels telling the story of Rome and its occupation of Britain. It promises to continue interesting and unusual and worth reading.
Ruso is a divorced Roman army doctor in financial straits who has just taken a posting in Roman Britain. He buys a slave with a broken arm more because he feels sorry for her than he can afford it. Dead girls and a whorehouse keep converging and his administrator is a ill natured penny pincher. The slave girl turns out to be quite an enigma for Ruso to deal with. This book took forever and a day to really get started and I am not sure it ever really picked up speed but eventually pieces started coming together. I liked Ruso and Tilla so I will try book 2 but not sure I can handle another book at such a glacial pace. Less of ancient setting than other series have offered but maybe that is because it is out in the boonies of the empire rather than in the heart of Rome.
Medicus is a story I've been meaning to read for a long time. I'm just glad I finally got around to this well written depiction of a Roman doctor of the Twentieth Legion who seems to have a gift for walking straight into trouble on the streets of Deva - modern day Chester. Gaius Petreius Ruso should know better than to get involved in anything going on in the streets of this outpost of the Roman army. Now he's saddled with a slave with a broken arm and she will most likely die before he can even attend to her injury. Since Tilla didn't die, Ruso needs to get her well enough to serve as his housekeeper until he can sell her. He certainly doesn't need a slave to worry about when his credit is so thinly stretch and his brother needs his financial contributions to keep the farm going back home. The best place Ruso can find for Tilla to recuperate is a bar/brothel. The problem with this place is that slave girls seem to keep disappearing from there. Did they run away or is the truth darker than that?

I love mystery novels of all types but Roman Britain especially appeals to me. Ruth Downie has given the character of Ruso just enough of everything I like intelligence, morality, inquisitiveness, kindness and humor. I liked Tilla too, but I'm going to need to read more books in the series in order to have her personality unfold more for me. Ruso's roommate, Valens, another doctor, is a wonderful character who helps get Ruso in and out of trouble while keeping any of the damage from sticking to his reputation. Together the three of them promise to provide me with many hours of entertaining reading. I'm off to put the second book on my e-reader.