Lustrum by Robert Harris Review

I tried reading Lustrum a while ago but gave up early on, sensing that it wasn’t anywhere near as good as its preceding book, Imperium. Except I really want to read Dictator, the final book in Robert Harris’ Cicero trilogy, which I’m hoping will be awesome, and I’ve been on a Harris kick lately, so I powered through Lustrum – and I was right the first time because unfortunately it ain’t all that and a bag of potatoes!

The novel is divided into two halves: Consul, about Cicero’s year as leader of the Senate and de facto ruler of Rome, and Pater Patriae, that details his severe fall from such mighty heights. The story centres around arch rival Catilina’s conspiracy to assassinate Cicero and its aftermath, spanning roughly five years in total (hence the title Lustrum, which is a period of five years, and the US/Italian title of this book, Conspirata).

Which sounds interesting – and yet… nah. What made Imperium so compelling was the wonderfully viperous Caesar clashing with Cicero throughout (which is why I want to read Dictator as I think that book is going to be full of that) whereas Caesar, though his shadow looms over everything, is largely absent in Lustrum. Instead, there’s a lot of tedious politicking between way too many unmemorable characters – too much talking, not enough action - which just isn’t very engaging or compelling to read.

Some scenes are interesting – the fate of the conspirators, pretty much every scene Cato was in and when Cicero goes to see Caesar at the end – but it’s precious few in a book nearly 450 pages long. Still, Harris’ portrait of Cicero remains captivating and convincing and he brings Ancient Rome to life very skilfully. As always, Harris writes well and things end in a tantalising way that makes me look forward to Dictator all the more.

I suppose given how things change for Cicero by the end, you probably need to have read Lustrum if you’re planning on reading Dictator, and maybe you’ll get more out of this one than I did, but it’s definitely a weak point in the series, so don’t expect much from it.