This is a novel about the world’s first serial killer. The premise sounded interesting. However, it felt drawn out, and I did not feel anything for the main character. Still, the book is very well-written. The best part of the book was the setting. The author does an excellent job in making Ancient Rome come alive! I recommend this novel for fans of I Am Livia!

i found Locusta really interesting and I felt after reading I had to look her up. I really enjoyed reading this book and found the author's writing style very relaxing and easy to read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

This book brought Rome back to life and told the story of a different time. I loved the entire book.

I had no prior knowledge of Locusta of Gaul, allegedly the world's first female serial killer, though now feel inspired to learn more about her. Autumn Bardot's writing really brought Rome to life for me. I loved reading her descriptions of the city of opposites. I would really like to read more of Bardot's work and thought "The Emperor's Assassin" was first class.

Bardot provides us with an entertaining story that more than adequately fits in with what I call the "rehabilitation genre" - whereby - mostly - historical women with a less than pristine pasts are given a dusting off and are having their stories told from a slightly different perspective (history being written by the victors, etc etc). It is an enthralling tale, and the reader certainly finds empathy with the character of Locusta, which is the ultimate aim of the author. It is also a tale of the cesspit that was ancient Rome - the salacious scandals, the sex and violence, the notoriety of its citizens, murder, greed, envy, social position.

If you are looking for a "new" historical heroine, then you have found her in Locusta.

I have been a fan of books on Ancient Rome since reading Kate Quinn’s Rome series. I have been disappointed in the last few books that.I have read. This book however did not disappoint, I loved the story of Locusta and the machinations of Ancient Rome. I always though if I could time travel, this would be an era that I would love to visit.

The story is about Locusta a young girl raised in Gaul by her father. She takes care of her family and expects to live a mundane life as a wife and mother, only life does not turn out quite that way. Due to some pretty horrific and shocking circumstances, she ends up becoming a poisoner for none other than Emperor Nero himself.. As an herbalist she is quite adept at cures and murder. Ancient Rome Imperial politics make the Hunger Games look like Sesame Street. Be warned there are some violent scenes of sexual and domestic violence, but it is not gratuitous and is used to further the storyline.

If you like a book that has murder, politics, herb lore and a conflicted protagonist, this book could be right up your alley. This is the 1st book I have read by Autumn Bardot and I will be looking for more from her in the future,

Thank you to Netgalley, BooksGoSocial and the author for the chance to review this book.

Content warning: This story does have several descriptive scenes of rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence, so if you are sensitive to these topics, please read with care. It's been a long time since I've read a book with which I've not grown impatient, always checking to see how many pages remain and how much longer I have to wait to find out what happens at the end. I've never read anything from Bardot before, but she had me so invested in this story and I couldn't put the book down. Even though the novel takes place in ancient Rome, the story reads as very modern with characters who are realistic and dialogue that is smart and interesting. I adored Locusta, our protagonist, and I was able to relate to her at various stages in her life. She is intelligent, caring, and strong in a world where women are seen as nothing more than sexual conquests or heir-bearers. I also enjoyed reading about the other characters, some of which are horrible people but meeting them in this context brought to life all those people from the history books that before, seemed fictitious. While this book is marketed as historical fiction, Bardot throws a few curveballs in with the style of her writing. There are quite a few erotic scenes (I later read that this is Bardot's specialty) and early into the book, a Biblical character is introduced, so I wasn't sure where we were going with that until she tied it all in at the end. Basically, it's Fifty Shades meets The Odyssey meets The Hunger Games, but it's done so well that it all makes sense and feels cohesive. I will note that the violent sexual scenes I mentioned in the content warning are tough to read, but they are necessary to bring context to what the women of this time were subjected to in their daily lives. If the book sounds intriguing to you but you are worried that this content would be more than you wish to read, I'd recommend that you give the book a try anyway. You can sense when these scenes are approaching and they are fairly short, so it would be easy to skim past them, knowing that gritty details are not as important as the occurrences themselves. *Advance copy provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Nice to read Roman historical fiction from the point of view of a fairly ordinary character. The protagonist is female, and as such has to endure unwanted male attention and the assumption of her relative inferiority to men. But... She has a gift as a healer...and this story is her 'rise to power'.

Many of these books revel in their sex scenes and ultra violent battle scenes. This has less of those and is much more character-driven, and for that I recommend it.

Because I did not finish this book, I will not review it on my blog. I couldn’t buy into the protagonist. I couldn’t believe in her as a character. This just wasn’t for me.

This historical fiction book portrays the life of Locusta, who was Nero's poisoner. It imagines her upbringing in Gaul and the circumstances that lead her becomes embroiled in the subterfuge of Rome's high society. Along the way it chronicles her loves and losses, and .how circumstances could escalate so that she could do the things she did. I had not previously heard of Locusta, so it was a good introduction to a new historical character. That said, I found it hard to relate to her as I was uncomfortable with the change in her morality over time, even given the things that had happened to her.

I reviewed the Dragon Lady by Autumn Bardot, which is an excellent historical novel based in the South-China Sea. This is a novel you should get, and it is a pleasure for me to be reviewing another novel of hers again. Buy this book NOW! This novel contains sexual violence.

Ultimately, this novel is about silent violence, sexual violence, the murky and misery of Roman politics. But it is also about the loss and misery of goodness. Corruption has become the ultimate winner in this novel under Nero’s reign. Corruption of power in a ruthless empire causes people with good nature to turn into the worst monsters unimaginable.

This novel had me seeing how a young innocent girl from Gaul was tainted by the corrupted politics of Rome. No one ever sees themselves as the villain. The villain isn’t someone you want to be. Where in any story does the villain benefit? The villain may be rich, but happiness is fleeting. Even if you are a hero, there is not much you can do. Too much good and too much bad is neither welcome, for a balance is needed. This novel showed the maturity of Locusta.

Some minor nitpicks that I found was more telling than showing, but that’s one nitpick of mine. I would have wanted to be seen more scenes displaying Locusta’s development from turning from a humble girl into the madness that depicts her as she carries out the murky depths of her infamous secret. More scenes would have helped. When I compare this to Dragon Lady, the Pirate Queen had a lot more development as we saw everything and how as she became Queen began to dismiss the feelings of others. That being said, Lucius was an absolute bastard of the highest kind. No words of happiness for him.

You cannot help but feel sadness as Locusta loses herself, her soul, and the ones she values the most. The amount of loss is unimaginable on the scale before. I have covered Nero before in one of my book reviews, though I understand the author’s intentions of going for a more volatile approach. Nero was insane by the time of his rule, but that didn’t rule out his competence. The problem was, many of these rumors were written when he was removed from power. So we will never get a true picture of what the politicians thought of him, but to say his sexual scandals were off the rooftop is no understatement. His wives suffered a lot, especially because it reminded me of Henry VIII of England who was smart and ambitious at the start, but then ended up removing his wives one by one. Nero had some competence in administration because Henry didn’t.

Marcus is also a great character, but I would have wanted to see more of him. How he kept in touch with Locusta more often. Their attraction is clear from the start to each other. I thought this was great chemistry! We also saw that Locusta leaped into the murky depths of her dark secret, Nero became madder. I guess when you’re the Emperor of the world, and you hold dominion over everyone, it is hard to resist the tentacles of corruption.

The Prose? Check

The Writing Style? Check

The dialogue? Check

My rating: 5.5

It’s a spellbinding novel that’ll have you disagreeing with the character, holding your tears back, and make you feel both love and loss together.