I like her books since it gives broad brush stroke about the Roman Republic. So if you aren't into the Roman Empire history, this will probably offer some frustration. The book can stand on its own, but there are references to events that happened in some of her previous "Master of Rome" novels. Obviously, if you want a precise history of the Roman Republic, you should definitely not rely on her book. The book is accurate enough, but as she says in her conclusion she does take some license with all the events happening and might combine several events into one representative event and of course all the conversations are fictional. But, still, it is accurate enough that if you read her book you do get a feel for the history. As you are reading you can see how well her version corroborates with the historical record by visiting web sites, such as Wikipedia.

The most frustrating part of the book is keeping track of the people interacting with Caesar. It is very confusing since the same person may be referred by three different names, and one of those three names may refer to a different character. If the book is on an e-reader, this may not be such a hardship since one could do a search for that name, but on a physical book this becomes a little more difficult. However, having these historical characters have fictional conversations with each other does bring a certain level of understanding.

The book has some illustrations and maps. The maps are informative when tracking Caesar and others on their marches. The geography of the action shows the distances the armies had to travel before they found themselves in battles. I'm glad that I am reading about that age instead of living it. Her fiction, though, gives a certain atmosphere of the relationship between the officers of that army and the generals. When one reads the historical account there is no credit given to the individual soldiers and the lowly officers. The history of Caesar usually only focuses on the man and not on the incidental relationship with others. McCullough fixes that by including the relationship Caesar has with his family, his wife, other women, his soldiers, his generals, his enemies and his friends.

Before I read this book (and supportive historical articles), I didn't really know who Caesar was. When I thought of the Roman Empire, Caesar came to mind as this one person who was the Roman Empire (which is totally false). I didn't realize that he had huge debts, that he was conqueror, that many powerful contemporaries thought him a traitor even though he expanded the size of the Republic and were afraid that he would become a dictator and destroy the Republic (they were probably right). When I thought of the Roman Empire I thought of Robert Graves' fictional history, "I Claudius". What came before the empire was somewhat nebulous and McCullough does a nice job of telling the tale of Rome before it became an empire.

The first half of this book (over 300 pages) felt like a homework assignment. I probably shouldn't have waited 10 years after finishing the prior book in the series to tackle this one. All that said, the second half of the book was great and I am looking forward to starting October Horse.

The thing that amazes me more and more about this lovely series of books is the lengths to which Mccullough went for historical accuracy. Unlike many other books on Rome and Ceasar (with the 'Emperor' series being the biggest culprit, never read the second one after I was done with the first), she not only strives to be extremely authentic in her use of language, the depth of each characters and of course, the setting which is, to me, the heart and soul of any of Colleen's books.

A word on the depth of characters thing. I've read of quite a few great men in my life. And in the life and career of a great man, there seems to be a fly desperate to ride on his coat tails. Few manage to hold a legacy if they are a fanatic adherent of the great man, but stringent opposers, a few of them anyway, in the guise of being "Principled" manage to hang on in history. Not because of who they are, but because of who they attached themselves to. Cato the censor to Scipio Africanus; the younger Cato to of course, Julius Ceasar and in modern times, Newt Gingrich to Bill Clinton. My point being, only Colleen could give an additional layers to flies like these who otherwise had no dynamism, no purpose, and nothing to contribute. Her portrayal of men like Cato and Bibulus are absolutely, gorgeously, hauntingly beautiful.
The only thing that bothers me a bit is that every character who we know has a special place in history, whether it's Ceasar himself or Augustus, is conceived as absolutely flawlessly intelligent from his childhood. This doesn't seem right to me. Many who have been thoroughly undistinguished as children have gone on to achieve great things in the future.

It makes me sad to have only two books left to go for this series. I'm dreading finishing the last one. If I was a patient man, I would wait a year before opening the next one, but I can't. I have already placed "The october horse" on hold, and I can't say I'm sorry.

At this point in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, it's all about the title character. The Gallic Wars take up the bulk of the story, with the Civil War creeping in at the end and concluding with Pompey's death. I found this entry a bit disappointing. Most of the events McCullough describes are a matter of historical record. Yet right when her gift for imagining new dimensions for her characters would be of greatest supplement to well-trodden narrative territory, she starts sticking to the tale many readers already know. The result is an essential part of the set. It just isn't as entertaining as the earlier novels where she had to invent more to fill in the gaps.

This was a LONG SLOW burn of a read for me. Colleen does such tremendous research for these books which I love, but it makes for slow reading sometimes. Also rather than chapters she has what I would call sections within parts and some a long which require a good chunk of time to read. Having said all that this book was WELL worth the wait. I find Julius Caesar absolutely fascinating and this book did not disappoint at all.

McCullough's "Master of Rome" series with this fifth book in the series, a massive novel that covers Julius Caesar's time in Gaul, his ongoing political battles, which culminate in his crossing the Rubicon and assuming the dictatorship. The last part of the book describes the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey and Pompey's defeat at the Battle of Pharsalus. (If you don't already know Pompey's fate, I won't spoil it by describing here what happens to him).

McCullough doesn't at all disappoint in the fifth outing in Rome. She's been building up to this book since starting her narrative with Gaius Marius and introducing us to a young precocious Caesar. Caesar comes into his own in this book, finally becoming the military genius that history knows him as. But given how far we've come with the character, through McCullough's other novels, he's also very much a three-dimensional person for the reader.

In short, McCullough's Masters of Rome series is a tour de force and each book is a must read for anyone remotely interested in Roman history.

There's a 5 year gap between the end of the last novel (Caesar's Women) in this 7 book series and this one: Caesar is now in Gaul and finds his ties in Rome being cut. Instead he throws himself into the Gallic campaigns which are described in minute and enthralling detail, based on Caesar's own commentaries (The Gallic War).

McCullough manages to render the minutiae of military campaigns, including legions' rebellions, absolutely fascinating. This isn't by any means an objective look at either Caesar or Roman imperialism, and she is unashamedly on Caesar's side, but somehow it works fabulously.

Back in Rome the Senate led by the vacillating Cicero and neurotic Cato are undermining Caesar, and the book leads inevitably and inexorably to Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon.

Interesting study of Caesar that perhaps makes him less ruthless than he was, particularly with the treatment of the gauls. A little 'prosaic' at times.

Fascinating comparison between the nature of democracy and autocracy that comes to a clash in the battle between Pompey and Caesar. Pompey, who is burdened with the boni senate of Rome as part of his camp has to give leeway to this and that, ultimately resulting at the end where he doesn't even care if he wins or not just to get away from the politics of his own camp. It is an illustration of the reverse momentum so prevalent in large, democratic organizations. In contrast, Caesar Dictator is swift and decisive.

Various defining events that built and solidified Caesars military reputation. Caesar effectively uses this reputation to maintain control in his own camp as well as to bluff his opponents.

Muy bien escrito

Cada libro de esta saga tiene su identidad y su representación pero este a mi juicio ha sido el que mas me ha motivado y entretenido además relata lo más conocido y venerado de los que consideramos a Cayo Julio Cesar el mejor General y polìtico romano.

-Trepidante y compacta idolatría.-

Género. Novela histórica.

Lo que nos cuenta. La legendaria buena suerte de César parece extinguirse cada vez que intenta conquistar Britania, y las noticias de la muerte de su hija afectan al líder romano, pero debe ocultar sus sentimientos. En la Galia debe consolidar sus conquistas y además pone los ojos en nuevas tierras que añadir a los dominios de Roma y a su propia leyenda, aunque tanto los galos supuestamente bajo control romano como los que no lo están, incluidos germanos y otras tribus al este de los dominios romanos, tienen sus propios planes. Quinto libro de la serie Señores de Roma.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

I am a sucker for Historical Fiction. Ancient Rome is my favourite time period. This book, although fictional, followed history very accurately and it was a helluva fun read! I am on to my next Colleen McCullogh Rome book!