Caesar

Gallic wars and the Civil War. Engrossing and well written. Excellent maps. It’s important to have this in print because you can’t read the maps on an ebook reader.

I don't think there is a single paragraph in this 850 page book that didn't have at least one sentence fragment in it, so a trigger warning to language purists.

Other than that I though McCullough did a much better job getting inside Caesar's head in this book than she did the last one in the series, and the fact that most of it took place in the battlefield meant that the book wasn't weighed down with long passages of boring Sentatorial proceedings, rhetoric, and oratory solos (of which I'm currently getting enough of in real life). The action moved pretty quickly for such a long book and maintained a good tempo for most of it.

Two more books in the series before I can put this epic to bed.

A book I have read countless times. A beautiful command of language, a wonderful eye for fascinating historical detail, and characters that truly feel alive.

The fifth in this epic series and I can't recommend it enough! I do love a little war and politics, though there's no romance really in these pages, I can see the finale is going to be amazing - in walk Cleopatra for no. 6!
For anyone interested in short books, this is definitely not for you - the writing is crisp and interesting, but obviously there's a lot to cover, with the politics and the crossing of the Rubicon, something we all use the phrase of without actually knowing all it was at the time, probably still is, was a little stream. So not much of a crossing, a step over basically. The political ramifications of doing that are something the phrase has emerged from. And it's a watershed.
We're introduced to a very young Octavious (you know, the first emperor of Rome), and we see a lot of action we didn't even register with or don't when we read the stuffy texts - the politics is boring until you actually see the characters in 3d!
Can't wait to complete this wonderful series!

Como todos los de la saga muy interesante y sorprendente.
La primera parte sobre la Guerra de las Galias se me ha hecho complicado... Muchos nombres de pueblos, sus respectivos líderes y localizaciones, con los nombres que tenían en la antigüedad, a cada cual más complejo e imposibles de retener en la memoria.
Menos mal que existe google para ir buscando... porque los mapas del libro y mi presbicia no se llevan bien.

Caesar, the fifth book in McCullough's Masters of Rome series (be sure to begin with The First Man in Rome), covers the time period from when Roman general Julius Caesar led the Gallic Wars through the culmination of his Civil War against Pompey's faction. I cannot recommend this series highly enough; they are huge, highly readable even if you have no previous knowledge of ancient Rome, and full of savory detail. Colleen McCullough is genius at bringing to life the figures, culture and everyday goings-on in ancient Rome. My one regret is that I allowed 7 years to pass between reading books four and five, and so had to become newly reacquainted with many of the characters. I shall now wait only two months before commencing the sixth book, The October Horse.

I'll cut right to the chase: This book - indeed, this series; this is the pivotal fifth volume of the seven volume "Masters of Rome" - reads like "hero worship". So the question for you is simple: hero worship - virtue or vice?

Now, the modern, "accepted" answer is vice. We supposedly like our characters flawed and troubled; grey and nuanced; rising and falling and generally having a rough time of it.

And there are plenty of characters that are flawed - indeed, memorably flawed - in "Caesar". From Brutus, pimply-faced and pathetically under his mother's thumb; to Cato, a stubborn, abrasive alcoholic plagued by a tunnel vision which will ensure his beloved republic's destruction; to - most impactfully - Pompey the Great, still despite all his accomplishments living with a chip on his shoulder because of his unassuming birth, well past his glorious prime, and now in way over his head dealing with the noble politicos of his era and an unassailably "greater" man. So if you want troubled, marred characters, don't worry: you'll get them in spades.

But our titular character, Gaius Julius Caesar, is at this point in his tale - for this "Masters of Rome" series is undeniably his tale, though he doesn't take center stage until at least the third book - a kind of demigod. He bestrides his world like a colossus, sees further, acts quicker, and casts all those other "great men" around him in his shade. That doesn't mean he doesn't make any mistakes, nor face any genuine challenges (Dyrrachium) - but time and again we're confronted in Caesar with a character who is up and more than up to any and all trials put before him. He is exemplary at virtually everything he does - war, sex, rhetoric, friendship: *everything*.

So do you like heroes or not? Do you like excellence? Can you bear to be confronted with a human being who is better than all those around him - and certainly better than you and I - in almost every particular, and who does not waste his time on this earth but squeezes glory out of every day? I suspect this question prompts a binary set of responses. Either you'll find this off-putting, childish, and maybe something darker (fascist?!). Or you'll find it admirable, commendable, *desirable* - and if nothing else, badass. Count me in that latter camp.

This is the story of Julius Caesar's most important years - from his conquest of Gaul to his principal victories in the civil war to determine the fate of the Roman "Republic". The events of this period are in the running for the "greatest story ever told" in human affairs. Unless you simply do not like history, you cannot but find the telling of the Roman Republic's galloping descent into chaos and autocracy fascinating. And McCullough, as she has in all the books in this series, brought what is intrinsically interesting to life with such flavor, such tactility, such learning, that you the reader are utterly transported, if only you'll let yourself be.

So if the notion of a truly, inescapably Great Man, rather than turning you off, inspires and excites you - well, you will find few in history greater than Caesar. And you will find no book that brings him and his world to life in a way more apt to keep you turning pages than this.

El libro queda cortado al final. Después del asesinato de Pompeyo, no se habla más de César. No se describe su vuelta a Roma ni su asesinato.