Expertly juggling multiple points of view, this complex, twisty novel has a gripping plot and great character development. Reminiscent of Notes From the Burning Age or The Book That Wouldn't Burn, there is some high-concept stuff mixed in with compelling drama. The only reason I'm not giving it five stars is because of the level of violence, which, while not gratuitous, was somewhat glorified. I'll be looking forward to a sequel.

An interesting alternate history in a fantastical setting. I loved the idea but couldn’t quite pull myself into the execution.

I’m giving this book 3 stars because it had all of the things I look for: interesting worldbuilding, diverse characters, a unique plot, and a nice flow of delivery. I can’t put my finger on where it fell flat for me, but I couldn’t bring myself to the level of gushing adoration I wanted to have.

Selah is fine. She and the other pov characters all have depth and were likeable and distinct, but I struggled to care.

However, because I can’t put my finger on what didn’t work for me, I can say this book will probably hit for a wide audience of readers who love history and dystopian reads. I’m hoping to give it another try in the future because it was well written, and I want to follow in the series.

I will note that I followed a previous reviewer’s advice to start with the appendix, and I’m so glad. It definitely helps you understand what is happening at first and doesn’t spoil anything. Highly recommend.


Thank you to NetGalley and Daw for the advance read of this book. All opinions here are my own.

Sargassa takes place in an alternate world where the Roman Empire never fell, following five characters navigating political intrigue and personal struggles. Selah, the new head of her family after her father’s assassination, must unravel the mystery of a powerful stone and atlas that could change everything. Alongside her, Darius, a morally complex police officer, brings a gritty perspective as they all face the consequences of their choices.

The book has some great moments, especially toward the end with surprising twists and reveals. However, the lack of world-building and inconsistent character development made it harder to connect with the story. There’s potential here, but it didn't fully land for me.

Set in a contemporary North America where the Roman Empire never fell, Sargassa follows five very different characters. Selah is 22-years-old and following the assassination of her father, she is now the head of her family and one of the most important people in Roma. Her father leaves express instructions for two items - a mysterious item known as the Iveroa Stone and an atlas which bears no resemblance to the known geography - to make their way into Selah’s hands and little does she know how much it will completely change her life. She will need the help of friends new and old to unravel the mystery.

This was one of those books that I didn’t realise was a 5 star read as I was reading it but the more that I thought about it, the more I realised just how smart and unique it was. I was utterly blown away by the attention to detail that Burnham has brought to bringing this story to life as well as crafting believable characters that don’t necessarily fit neatly into genre archetypes. I really appreciated that these characters messed-up and there was no deus ex machina that made things okay, they just had to live with the consequences of those mistakes. Selah likes to believe that she is enlightened and witnessing the injustices that her brother and her childhood crush experienced has changed her but ultimately the place that she is in the start of the book is someone who has a lot of privilege and sees a truth that is convenient and comfortable for her.
As much as I hated Darius, I recognised how authentic he was in his outlook to the world. Beyond being necessary to the plot as his actions had a direct impact upon the other four POVs, he perspective provided much-needed insight into the thought processes of a pleb who is doing what they can to have the best life for themselves within the restraints of society. Darius is somewhat holier-than-thou and he holds some really disgusting views but he was a fascinating perspective.

My jaw was on the floor as we got to the end of the book and the reveals occurred. I was actually astounded at the sleight of hand that Burnham carried-out.

I am so excited to see where this story goes.

My main complaint for this story is the lack of worldbuilding. There is an entire timeline for Roma that exists that isn't ever explained. There are terms and peoples that also aren't explained. It is hard to place Sargassa in the greater world. It isn't near Roma. Is it supposed to be England? North America? Africa? The Holy Roman Empire held sway over Asia, Africa, Europe, and Great Britain. Not North America. There is reference to some kind of athlete, but no indication of what exactly the sport was (football? soccer? rugby? Who knows). So I spent over half the book trying to figure things out. Where and how things fit. I actually thought I'd misread and this was the second book in the series, not the first.

And then things start to fall into place a small bit at a time, and some of that lack of worldbuilding starts to make a kind of sense. The ending is very compelling and definitely makes me want to read as the story continues.

DNF. I kept dutifully reading Sargassa because the prose is perfectly good and the worldbuilding is excellent, and it was exploring themes I care about – but recently I hit 68% and woke up to the fact that I didn’t know where this was going and did not care.

Like Blood of the Old Kings, I don’t think it’s bad. But besides all the MCs being some flavour of queer, Sargassa doesn’t seem to be doing or saying anything new – empire is bad, institutionalised oppression is EXTREMELY bad, cops are the fists of the ruling class, privilege is a thing which exists and we can do a lot of harm with it. I think Sargassa could be a helpful wake-up call for readers who’ve never thought about these things before, but there wasn’t much for me to sink my teeth into. The characters and their storylines weren’t interesting to me; the various injustices they face were rage-inducing because those things are inherently rage-inducing, not because I cared that they were happening to these characters in particular.

And I can’t put my finger on why, but wow this book felt slow. I think it might be that so many little (or relatively little) things were happening, they slowed down any progress on the bigger plot, bogged us down in stuff I didn’t care about. At 68% no progress at all had been made on who murdered the previous Historian, for example; the characters were all distracted by other things. Some of which mattered to the development of those characters, sure, but didn’t matter to me.

From what I’ve seen of other early reviews, if you’re into Ancient Rome you’ll be delighted by the detailed worldbuilding and how well-thought-out the timeline of this alternate history is. Or if you’re here for examinations of class privilege and seeing oppressed people slow-burn turn on the system out to keep them down, you might have a good time with Sargassa.

If neither of those things interests you, I’m not sure you should bother. It's not bad; it's fine. But why waste your time reading a book that's just fine, when there are so many greats out there?

This is the kind of world-building I love to see in fantasy stories. The level of detail spent to build the history of this world and map out how the world got to where it is in the present time is extraordinary. This will be your new Roman Empire.

I love all of the POVs that we get in this story and can appreciate how all of their individual plot lines weave together. The amount of dramatic irony is so impressive, but I don’t think it reaches the excessive of the wealthy Roma elites. The story between Saleh and Tair is so beautiful and painful to watch and I am heavily rooting for them in future installments of the Ex Romana series!

There were so many poignant quotes and such great commentary on society, history, and memory of the people in the society.

“We’re…doomed to repeat the mistakes we don’t remember.”

“There’s no such thing as good people and bad, just the circumstances you’re given and what you choose to do with them.”

If you loved the world of The Will of the Many, you’re going to devour Sargassa. This is a very bingeable read that you may want to purposefully sit with longer to soak up the emotion, the message, and the vibes. I know I did and I loved it so much more for that.

Thank you to @DAWBooks and the author for this ARC! All thoughts are my own.

Unfortunately, this book just never clicked for me. I love the alt!Rome premise, and there are some interesting tidbits in the world-building (the author, to her credit, was willing to engage with the realities of what how classist such a society would have been), but I never warmed to any of the characters. There’s also quite a few debut author tells, such as hinting that something happened in the past… and then immediately jumping to a flashback of said thing, rather than letting the story evolve organically.

I’d happily check out a later book by Burnham because I can see a lot of promise, but this one wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

Not gonna lie, the beginning is pretty rough. The first 20% introduces brand new PoV chapters one after the other, with each PoV character being in a different place doing different things, plus time jumps, which made it hard to understand who's who and what's going on. I seriously considered DNFing, but I am so glad I decided to push through.

Once all the main characters have been established, the book kicks into gear. The plot is fast-paced and engaging, the story beats are on point and the build-up leading to the reveal at the end was so well-executed, I couldn't put it down. Speaking of the big reveal, looking back, there are elements that make so much more sense in hindsight, which shows how the author really thought everything through.

One part that was kind of lackluster for me was the characters. There isn't anything wrong with them, and objectively, the character work is great! But I just couldn't connect with any of them. The romance sub-plots are also kind of meh. I didn't dislike them, but I also didn't root for them.

At its heart, though, this book is about classism and injustice. The author does an excellent job of tackling these themes with the portrayal how the caste system works, as well as how the system is built to discriminate against the lower class while protecting the upper class. I find this especially timely, with everything going on in the world right now. This book is brimming with visceral rage, from rage against the system of oppression, to rage against personal injustices.

Besides the rough beginning, this book is fantastic, with a brilliant plot and well-developed world-building and themes. I cannot wait to read the sequel!

I had a good time with this speculative, queer, alternate history book.

It did take me a bit to really get into it, although the premise was interesting, it came together slowly. A little info-dumpy and a lot to parse out with all the characters and the world early on. Once things really began moving along, I didn't want to put it down. There are a lot of POVs, and I liked viewing the way this world is set up, the oppression, and politics through each character's eyes, which given their different stations and situations, were quite varying.

While I knew something was going on that most of the characters didn't know about, I had no true inclination as to what it was, and I appreciated the reveal all the more for it. The world was really interesting, the exact time period setting is ambiguous, and I enjoyed trying to clue it together with little pieces.

The romantic relationships were a little too convenient and we could have done with getting rid of one of them maybe? Or keeping it more casual, as it felt a little like insta-love (keeping it vague to avoid spoilers).

I would highly recommend this book to fans of The Endsong Trilogy by Sascha Stronach, which I know is a niche comp but a fitting one all the same.

Thank you so much DAW and NetGalley for the ARC! Review and feature will be posted on my Bookstagram and linked here closer to pub date!

This is a fantasy dystopian novel that takes place in a country where the Roman Empire never really fell and everyone still lives by the caste systems and rules of the Romans.
The Imperial Historian is a prestigious position in this world and is in charge of keeping track of their history including a mysterious period of time that no one remembers and no one knows what happened during this time.
The historian is mysteriously unalived and his daughter has to step up and take his place in society. She and her half brother are thrust into political intrigue, resistance movements and a murder mystery.
Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for my honest review. I am giving this book 3 stars.
While this book started ok I had an issue with one of the POV characters, Darius. He is a young policeman involved in the investigation of the death of the historian and he starts out as an ok character and slowly evolves into a gross misogynist. I understand making him a villian type or adversary but don’t feel like that was the way it should have been done.
The reveal at the end of the book about this unexplainable mysterious missing time period was ok although not completely original but made the book feel like a Roman rehash of the Divergent books.
I will not be continuing with this book series and can only recommend it as a get it from your library book not for purchase.

Very boring and confusing. The opening prologue was promising, but then you drop the reader right into heavily descriptive prose with no set up. There are only like 3 lines of dialogue in the first 10 or so pages? I want to experience the story, not have it laid out for me. It feels like when you're playing as a kid and spend the whole time explaining the make-believe that your going to play instead of actually playing it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reader's copy of the book. I will admit this took me a little bit to get into as the chapters were written from different character viewpoints and every chapter switched characters. However, once all the players were introduced and the world building started to unfold and the story progressed, I was hooked. This book is riveting and the setting is unique as it is a post apocalyptic world where a new Roman empire has taken over almost every where. I have so many questions about the history of this world that I hope are answered in the next book. I loved this book, and I cannot wait for the next one.

Sargassa is a science fiction novel; its vivid alternate-history worldbuilding is rooted in rigorous thought experiment, as opposed to fantasy’s invocation of the mythic or magical. But like many great science fiction novels, it nonetheless invokes something of the feeling of a great fantasy novel—a world simultaneously ancient and new, a journey into the unknown that is really a circling back to the beginning.

The novel is gloriously political. It bears the obvious imprint of contemporary academic thought. Burnham is interested in systemic injustice, history as political currency, knowledge and power and knowledge as power, the terrifying potential of revolutionary change, the intertwining of the personal and political (colored, perhaps, by the foolish insistence of some young people that having sex can itself be somehow a revolutionary act). In other words, a novel of thorny questions and horny teenagers. Also secret rituals, mysterious maps, stolen books, ancient cities, kidnapping, murder, sex in crypts. I will definitely be reading the sequels!

“Sargassa” follows a group of young adults in an alternate universe in which the Roman Empire never fell. Selah, still reeling from her father’s murder, takes his place as the Imperial Historian. While adjusting to her new role, she is targeted by a group working to take down the empire as a figure they can get close to, use for information, and possibly turn to their cause. The ensuing plot of intrigue and interpersonal drama makes up the story. However, I found all the elements of the plot fairly disjointed and the characters difficult to relate to. A cool concept, but not a particularly enjoyable read.

The first book in a series by Sophie Burnham entitled EX ROMANA, Sargassa is, not unsurprisingly given that series name, set in a world where the Roman Empire seemingly never fell, at last not permanently, though there was a mysterious “Great Quiet” in which most of the prior knowledge and technology was lost before the Empire was reestablished. More specifically, the novel is set in Sargassa, long ago colonized by the Roman Imperium and now home to the Imperial Archives, the repository of all the Empire’s knowledge and lore. Sargassa is heavily divided by class and rights, with the population made up of true citizens and plebs (themselves heavily divided by class), slaves (servae), and children of slaves who have gained quasi-citizenry as “vernae.” Adding to the tensions in the state are those who believe Sargassa should have self-rule or out and out independence, with a group of freedom fighters/terrorists (depending on who is doing the naming) called the Revenants actively engaged in resistance, including via violence.

The novel kicks off with a bang, as the current Imperial Historian is murdered. By whom and for what reason are two mysteries that run throughout the story. Caught up in that mystery (directly or indirectly) and/or in the political confrontations are:

• Selah Kleios: the 22-year-old daughter of the murdered Imperial Historian who now inherits his role
• Arran Kleios: Selah’s half-brother, born of her father and a slave, making him a vernae with citizenship rights but still relegated to being a “client” of Selah’s
• Theo: a member of the Revenants
• Tair: Selah’s former best friend before being forced out of the household to live on the streets where she gets involved with several groups, including the Revenants
• Darius: a member of the Intelligence wing of the Cohort, the police of Sargassa, and a true believer in the Imperium’s traditions

The story is told from their alternating viewpoints and moves back and forth in time, which makes the early parts of the book somewhat disjointed, though this smooths out as the story goes on. In general, the early sections are the weakest, with some clunky exposition and world-building, and some pacing issues. Once the main characters are directly interacting, the pace picks up, as does the reader’s engagement with the story. There’s a lot of internal tension amongst the group — romantic/sexual tension, sibling tension, betrayed friendship tension, political disagreement tension, and more. Burnham generally does a good job in manipulating that tension and balancing it, even if the romances are a bit too “insta-romance” for me.

The characters are interesting in their backgrounds and interactions, but I found myself wishing for more development, more delving into their character, such that it felt that the potential there wasn’t being fully mined. This was true as well for Darius, who thanks to his job is not part of the “group”, but we get little hints of complexity there that are never really brought forward which seemed a missed opportunity. The same was true for Selah’s mother, a Senator, who makes a few early appearances that disappears entirely, again I’d say to the story’s detriment.

The middle section is the strongest, as the characters negotiate around their internal tensions and also try to solve the mystery of the Historian’s murder, as well as figure out a piece of old pre-Quiet technology left to Selah by her father. Things take a turn downward in the latter part though. The book gets very talky, with characters explaining things to one another. One scene in particular, with a character under the influence of truth serum, is too long, too convenient, and too expository. It seems having the characters discover much of what they’re told in that scene rather than just get it recited at them would have been a better way to go. Another issue is the ending relies on a series of revelations, though given the number of people involved, it’s hard to believe how any of the supposed secrets could have remained secret to the main characters (especially when servants are literally directing people to places where the secret activities are occurring). The revelation (and use of) the old technology was also a disappointment, though I won’t go into details to avoid spoilers.

As for the world-building, while the world of the novel feels real and inhabited, I can’t say it felt particularly “Roman” outside of some vocabulary and some surface connections. The Empire Never Died felt like a thin veneer, a bit betwixt and between in that it seemed it either should have gone more fully “Roman” or just leave the Rome part out and have it be a divided society. To be fair, though, this is the first book in the series, so it’s quite possible we’ll see more Roman Empire connection later.

The themes are thoughtfully (and sadly at times all too relevant) handled as they delve into issue surrounding imperialism/colonialism, propaganda, surveillance states, class, gender, identity.

Sargassa definitely had its flaws, but the characters and general storyline were strong enough that I’ll pick up book two in hopeful anticipation of those issues being ironed out. Recommended with the above caveats.

This was a case of a good book that was just not for me. While I liked the overall plot and themes, it ultimately read a little too light and young for my personal taste.

"[He] is not a bad person because he is an evil one, a sadist who relishes in the pain and misery of others. [He] is a bad person because he has been taught to use his talents for the sake of bad works." Sargassa was an interesting read which presented a future in which the Roman empire had conquered the world and gave us insight into the lives of several people of different social standings. While one man believes himself to be the hero because of his upbringing, others seen him as the villain. It was full of tension, romance, and criticism of many issues we have today in the modern world.

While I quite enjoyed Sargassa, it did contain very heavy themes of colonialism, police brutality, systemic inequality, indentured servitude, and political corruption. While these themes are to be expected in a Roman story, I would suggest that readers consider whether they are in the right headspace to read this right now. I don't know if it was intentional but there was a situation which paralleled the Indigenous residential schools that happened in North America in real life, and someone who has been affected by that may want to know that going into the book. expecially considering that <spoiler> the "reeducated native" turned out to be a murderer who was secretly working for the colonisers </spoiler> as well as the fact that the main characters regularily refer to the natives as savage and violent because of the propaganda they have been fed.

Overall, great book, 5 stars. The big reveal at the end explains all the inconsistancies and historical innacuracy, and sets up the next book quite nicely. I hope to read the next one when it comes out.

I recieved an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts are my own.

Thank you to Net Galley and DAW books for the ARC. Unfortunately, this was not the book for me as I found it difficult to care about the characters or the plot.

This was a book I was given the opportunity to read via netgalley.

It was a thrilling ride, that surprised me and had me on the edge of my seat.

It was a superb alternative history, with interesting world building, intriguing characters and surprising plot twist.

I truely fell in love the characters and the world, absolutely adored it! I do not impress lightly this is only my third 5 star book out of around 70 so far this year!

I have also left a review on storygraph

As soon as it comes out I will need to own a copy!