Regular marked price: $23.95Discount Price: $14.37
Cost Savings: $9.58 (40%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN num: 9781596912328
ISBN number: 1596912324
Label: Bloomsbury USA
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 400
Printing Date: March 04, 2008
Publishing house: Bloomsbury USA
Release Date: March 04, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 26192
Studio: Bloomsbury USA
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Army doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso strikes out for the uncivilized borders of Roman Britain in this highly anticipated sequel to Ruth Downie’s New York Times bestselling debut.
It is spring in the year 118, and Gaius Petreius Ruso has been stationed in the Roman-occupied province of Britannia for nearly a year. After his long and reluctant investigation of the murders of a handful of local prostitutes, Ruso needs to get away. With that in mind, he has volunteered for a posting with the army in Britannia’s deepest recesses—a calmer place for a tired man.
But the edge of the Roman Empire is a volatile place; the independent tribes of the North dwell near its borders. These hinterlands are the homeland of Ruso’s slave, Tilla, who has scores of her own to settle there: Her tribespeople are fomenting a rebellion against Roman control, and her former lover is implicated in the grisly murder of a soldier. Ruso, filling in for the demented local doctor, is appalled to find that Tilla is still spending time with the prime suspect. Worse, he is honor-bound to try to prove the man innocent—and the army wrong—by finding another culprit. Soon both Ruso’s and Tilla’s lives are in
jeopardy, as is the future of their burgeoning romance.
Terra Incognita shines light on a remote corner of the ancient world, where Ruso’s luck is running short—again.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
In the enjoyable sequel to the entertaining "Medicus", Ruth Downie returns to ancient Britain circa the time of Hadrian and we are again treated to an amusing romp with her characters Gaius Petreius Ruso, doctor to the 20th legion, and his headstrong British housekeeper, Tilla. I liked this sequel and I hope Downie keeps these novels coming. Despite being good murder mysteries these books keep a light-hearted air about them and are of the special type of novel that just make you feel good while you are reading them. Downie uses the clash of culture and viewpoints, between Romans and the Britons, to create an engaging but complicated relationship between Ruso and Tilla and also to create mysteries that are more opaque than the norm because layers of cultural incomprehension baffle our sleuth Ruso. What Downie does a little differently than most writers, and which I find enjoyable, is that the murders are hard to solve, not because of means or opportunity, but because of motive. The Britons are maddeningly difficult for the Romans, and Ruso in particular, to understand because the societies are so different. Her books are a lot of fun and compare favorably to the SPQR series by John Maddox Roberts which is also a delightfully engaging series if you are looking for more reads similar to this one.
In Terra Incognita Ruso takes advantage of an opportunity to travel north with a detachment of the 20th to the village where Tilla was born. He begins to regret his indulgement of Tilla almost immediately because before they even get there a strange antered man, whom the locals believe to be an avatar of the god Cernunnos, begins harassing the column and creating fatal accidents by acts of sabotage. The local officials take a decidedly dim view of this character as he is not just commiting crimes but also inspiring the local populace to unrest and possible rebellion. After Rusa and Tilla arrive at the outpost Coria, her hometown, they learn a local soldier has been murdered in a dark alleyway, decapitated, and images of the stagman drawn on the alley wall. While the murderer seems easy enough to identify as the stagman, the situation is complicated when the doctor based at the fort, who appears to be completely deranged, claims to have done the deed. It gets even further tangled when Tilla's former boyfriend is also suspected of being the likely murderer because of a row he had with the slain soldier earlier that night. Since the local officials can't catch the stagman, and they don't want to convict their own doctor, who despite his confession seems unlikely to have been the murderer, the former beau looks to be the most likely candidate to be strung up. Upon arriving and finding the resident doctor mentally incapacitated, Ruso offers to do an autopsy and finds himself drawn into the investigation. Meanwhile we learn much of Tilla's background and she is drawn away from Ruso by family and legion orders prohibiting non-Romans from entering the fort. The plot takes many twists and turns on its way to a satisfactory conclusion and the journey is pleasantly studded with many fascinating new characters.
The complicated relationship between Ruso and Tilla reminds me of nothing so much as the old sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. The Ruso/Tilla relationship is very similar to the one in the sitcom where Ruso is not the boyfriend/husband but is the master. Tilla doesn't do magic but both because of her tempestous nature, and her cultural differences, she is constantly driving Ruso up a wall. Despite this there is a strong attraction between the pair and it makes an effective counterpoint to the main story and adds liberal doses of levity and mischief. Don't misunderstand me, this is not a romance novel, but the romantic tension is a lot of fun and Downie's deft ability to combine history, mystery and a romantic comedy of errors seamlessly together provides the lucky reader with a five-star reading experience.
Rated by buyers -
Among the many fictional Roman histories in print today, this is the only one I have read that treats history honestly but lightens it with humor. A welcome relief, especialy when the subject is life in the outer reaches of the Roman Empire, Britain during the second century AD. Ruth Downie knows human nature doesn't change much over a few thousand years, and looks at the past with tolerant, understanding eyes. We are anxiously awaiting her third book in what we hope will be a long series on the life and experiences of Medicus Gaius Petreius Ruso and his slave, Tilla.
Rated by buyers -
How fun to read a novel set in the world of ancient Rome. How much more fun to discover an unlikely, unintentional detective...a guy with too much honor for his own good.
What worries the good doctor is not even of interest to his superiors or his peers and most everyone tries to dissuade him from becoming involved in what he comes to realize are crimes.
He's a reluctant, smart guy with a certain naive charm and wit who just can't help himself from wanting to get to the bottom of what he, and a few unlikely lower class denizens, perceive as injustices.
If you happened to watch the HBO series "Rome" you can picture the setting
and the class distinctions which play a part in both of Ruth Downie's Roman mystery duo.
I read them both, I enjoyed them both, I am hopeful a third is in the offing.
Rated by buyers -
This is a worthy and enjoyable follow up to the Medicus. I enjoyed both books thoroughly. They are thinly disguised modern murder mysteries that just happen to be set in Britain during the Roman occupation. The lead characters in both books, the army doctor Ruso, and his "slave" Tilla are both endearing and very human. Even it the backdrop is not entirely accurate, it is close enough. Once again I appreciate Ms. Downie's sometimes humorous writing style. I am looking forward to a third book in the series.
Rated by buyers 
-
Ruth Downie's second book in the Medicus (Gaius Petreius Ruso) series is an interesting, if not spine-tingling, tale of mostly intercultural conflict highlighted by murder and assorted violence between British tribesmen and their Roman occupiers. Downie once again has done a great job of setting up the context for this story with much information about the modest-to-primitive state of everyday life in Northern England in the Second Century, life in the legions, Roman medecine and a host of other interesting historic details. Like its precedessor, much of this book's action is set in the legionary infirmary, local saloon or public baths. This is probably true to life at the time, but other venues could make the story more interesting in book three (if there is one).
I also enjoyed her character sketches in this book. Ruso, while still the lead character in the book, often takes a backseat in the plotline to Tilla, his "slave" and/or significant other. While the Ruso character is given the attributes of courage and integrity, he is also made out to be a bit of a doofus, clueless about women and often the butt of everyone else's humor. The guy can't get any respect. Tilla, on the other hand, has been anointed with no lack of brains and courage, and basically is the solver of the principal crime in this book and the speaker of truth to power.
So what we have here, from what I got out of the book, is a kind of historic crime story with humour and pratfalls reminiscent of Lindsay Davis' Falco series. Definitely enjoyable, but I hope still in the state of evolution.
Find other books like this one:
