4 stars

Lovely writing. An interesting engaging read, mostly.
The best bits are Julia Agrippina’s Secret Family Bestiary(1st) and The Patrician(3rd).

The first story is interesting and serves as an introduction of sorts. It's heavy on names and, well, it IS a family history, but with emphasis on supernatural and importance of Julias.

The Patrician is by far the best of the lot. A full-fledged story. Top marks for the whole thing. Would shamelessly recommend.

Other stories did not leave much in way of impression.
2nd story felt somewhat detached from reality. Not much actually happens.
4th story is frustrating. There is a lot of talking. And a whole whooping lot of dithering on part of the protagonist. ( )

A very enjoyable little book. I know very little about Roman history and mythology, but that didn't stop me from being entertained and engaged. ( )

These four short and interrelated romps through an Ancient-Roman-what-if concept are just a tremendous amount of fun. From Rome to Romantic to modern Australia, we encounter throughlines of lamia and manticores, and a Julian legacy with real teeth, and it's all thoroughly entertaining. While Roberts most assuredly knows her Stuff, I found the historical references and allusions easy to access with general knowledge, good will, and the occasional wikipedia article when my curiosity grew too big to manage.

(This is a tiny volume, but I figure if you average it with Grace of Kings, you get two regular-sized books, so it all evens out.) ( )

This collection of loosely linked short stories is fantastic. It starts with Julia Agrippina recording a history of her family, and, most importantly and specifically, of the Julias in her family. Each story follows another Julia throughout history, and where Julias go monsters follow. ( )

A slender volume, put out by small press Twelve Planets Press, which the author describes as "...the literary equivalent of spraying offensive graffiti tags all over their area of expertise...". Roberts has taken the material from her Classics PhD and created four captivating pieces of interleaved short fiction that start with the assumption that the descendants of Julius Caesar were monsters in more than just name.

The initial piece, "Julia Agrippina's Secret Family Bestiary", introduces a range of beasts -- both fantastic and mundane -- that the family involve in their attempts to acquire and maintain power. In particular, the lamia gets some airtime, particularly in comparison to later vampire myths.

Each of the following stories then comes forward a bit more in time, but takes one or more details from the initial story. 'Lamia Victoriana' follows the seduction of Mary and Fanny by the unnamed Poet and his equally unnamed sister. 'The Patrician' follows multiple visits of an odd stranger to Nova Ostia -- a recreated Roman town in the Australian outback -- each time resulting in the death of another monster.

The final story, "Last of the Romanpunks' investigates what can happen when someone lets their obsession with the past interfere with what good sense they might have had, and investigates that weakness of villains, the idea that some of their decisions are made from emotional rather than rational bases. Reflecting the first story, with the traditions passed through a family at its core, the protagonist (and his assistants) in this last story is the grandson of the young woman who befriended the monster hunter in the previous story.

The first two stories in this book are perfect examples of historical fantasy with both strong women and historical appropriate gender roles. Sometimes, as with Mary in the second story, this is by flouting the mores of the time, but even here it is contrasted with her sister Fanny, who is only where she is because she is trying to redeem the family name. Strength is separated from power, allowing for explorations of other strengths. And sometimes it is by looking at women who truly had power, simply because of how high up the hierarchy they were, even if they were answerable to men higher up said hierarchy.

I love this collection wholeheartedly. I reread it every few years, and it has never failed to disappoint, nor have I remembered its many twisty details so well as to be unsurprised by some of the delicious details Roberts peppers her stories with. Highly recommended.