An amazing end to a fantastic series, spanning Marius, Sulla, Pompei, Caesar and eventually young Octavian (Augustus) and Mark Anthony. Tremendously well researched and well written, this final book of the series sees the heights of Caesars powers, taming the Gauls, crossing the Rubicon, coupling with Cleopatra, and becoming dictator of Rome. All along this journey he is frustrated by the 'Republicans' headed by Cato and Bibulus, and finally supported by the envious and shallow Pompei, leading to civil war. Whilst they are ultimately defeated, human nature in the form of greed, envy, pride, ambition, dignity emerge amongst even his closest friends, family and allies. Was Caesar, right to become Dictator, was he right to continue to lead Rome and forsake the constitution, was he right to offer clemency to those he vanquished? Caesar, like so many leaders throughout history, felt that he and only he alone could solve the problems facing Rome, a town which had become a super-power. Only he would be able to enact the necessary laws to ensure the Republic could survive, providing checks and balances to power, and ridding the state of corruption and unscrupulous leaders of the 1st class, and finally deal with the East. Probably he was right, his intellect, abilities as a politician and a military leader, his self confidence, his following from ordinary Romans, his determination, discipline, work ethic, and example clearly surpassed all others in his generation. Yet, that was the problem. He was superior and more able than anyone else, be it Cicero, Brutus, Mark Anthony or his generals Trebonius, Decimus Brutus etc. He was more gifted, and yes they knew it, resented it, resented being bettered and resented being subservient or indebted to him. These feelings led to his assassination, in the name of preserving the Republic, in 'Liberating Rome', and yet the reality was deep seated resentment and jealousy of an man none of them could match, let alone compete with. A tragic ending, leading to the emergence of young Octavian his heir, another uncanny move on the part of Caesar, who would be less flexible, less forgiving and more ruthless in years to come. The story is a case study in the weakness of human nature, the disloyalty, treachery which is repeated time and time again, whether it be Thatcher or Blair, Cameron with Johnson.....men will pursue their ambitions at all costs! What if Caesar had survived and enacted his reforms and re-building? Would he have stepped aside to allow new consuls to be elected? Would he have trusted others to take hold of the reins of power? Would he have retired like a Mandela and provide an example to all future leaders? Or would he have 'gone on and on and on', holding onto power like a Stalin, or Putin or Xi? Sadly we will never know....great man, great history, great novels!!

I am going to review this book as the final book of the Masters of Rome series - i know there's Antony and Cleopatra, but that was prompted by fans of the series and McCullough, thankfully gave us one more to fully wrap up this amazing series about the decline and fall of the Roman Republic. So for all intensive purposes lets go along the idea that this was how she was going to end her series.

I gave myself 25 pages to read per day - for such a large book, it's easy to not read and lose momentum and then it becomes a slog to get through. I found myself readying so much per sitting. finished ahead of schedule and it really is true that if you want to know more about this time period read McCullough's MOR Series. With a pinch of salt - you come away knowing something you never did before, with a need to learn more. Is there any better epitaph then to inspire in readers the need to go and find out more. McCullough knew her stuff. Was never afraid to disagree with the experts and add her own interpretation to evens - she did not come to the novel with facts and figures - she came with an understanding of human nature and conditions. She really has brought this period to life.

I read a lot of reviews of other people saying that the story after the Assassination of Caesar, the final 250 odd pages don't have the same allure and in many ways that is true, but not for the decline style. i felt that it was because there are now, no characters from the beginning of the series that make the familial connection with. Caesar was the final character mentioned in The First Man in Rome. He had a great supporting cast - his mother,his family, his enemies, friends and foes and now they all are really gone. he was built up as the main character not a protagonist or an antagonist but he was very centre of the stage. So this series, if continued would have had an immensely different feel as the Republic became a 1 man show under Augustus.

McCullough said it perfectly in her authors notes and i'm paraphrasing here - that at no other time has there been a period where so many of the greats walked the earth in the same geological location at the same time. Caesar, Cato, Brutus, Cicero, Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Antony, Octavian...

The big moment of the novel, the one i'm sure any fan of the series was whipping through the pages to get to, because of its truly epic ramifications on history - the Assassination of Caesar.
McCullough does not hold back in the description of the violence- this shocked me. I know it would have been a bloody affair but i guess in my head i have romanticised the event. The great man brought down by lesser men. (I'm a fan of Caesar both in reality and the novel) almost clean in its application. I have to admit i was overwhelmed by the shock of the violence and underwhelmed with how there was no epic-ness to it. Caesar dies like any other man. There's not ET TU BRUTE (i know there wasn't) he dies like a normal man. He suffered in his final years like any man of his age. He Was not a superhero - he was not a hero or villain he was a man and all the shades of grey that comes with it and in his sudden death- he was gone. Overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time...

I think that this novel could never have been the final story - i see why fans begged for more. I guess because we need to see the tale really come to an end with Antony and Octavian squaring up. Thank heavens there's one more to come.

Like all of the MOR series there's a vast array of characters and supporting characters. There isn't much to say about any of them. They were i believe portrayed very life like with all the quirks and faults of the human condition. But, this was not their story. In many ways they were overshadowed by Caesar and then put back into the background with Antony and Octavian.

El cierre de la República con la muerte de César, de sus asesinos y de la propia República.
Fabuloso.

A fitting finale.
The End? Phillipi - a battle or rather non-battle where the two main assassins prefer death to a republic that's no longer a republic.
Anyone who knows their Roman history knows about Octavian/Augustus and his propaganda machine, the first successful and overwhelmingly world-altering machine of it's kind ever. A man never replicated before or since. This is who Caesar left his vast influence, fortune, political clout and military might to. This is what we owe our world now to - the first of the 'what ifs' I know of that, if it had been different, would have affected not only the European world, the African and Near East, but the rest of the world by extension.
A fitting end to the series of amazingly written, detailed and interestingly fictionalised books McCullough wrote on this era. I don't see she should have gone further - so many others have written about the Empire, we don't need any further. If she had, she wouldn't have managed to capture quite such a unique period of history, or grab such a climactic ending.
I loved the whole series, from the first to the sixth of these epics: this is my second reading, and I'll probably read them again some time - they've been worth drowning again!
Definitely recommended to anyone who wants to know more about the Roman world and how it became what it ended in.

Andy's Review

Downloaded this as I'd already downloaded the first 5 novels in the series. Enjoyed it immensely - the plotting of Caesar's assassination, the battles between Mark Antony and Octavian & the apparent unity of the 'Liberators' were all fascinating. Can't wait to read the final novel in the series.

This is the greatest series ever written of Ancient Rome. Every book is unbelievable! The October Horse is no exception. The book takes you through Caesar's tenure as dictator, through his assassination and the Civil Wars of Octavian and Marc Antony. I am only saddened is that there is the last book of the series left. I have tried to stretch out in between the novels to stretch out the series as long as possible but finally I come to the last which of course is "Antony and Cleopatra"....BUT I am sure I will re-read the series many times before I am laid in the ground!!!!!!

I have yet to read any of the books that come before this one but if they are anything like The October Horse, I know I'll be enjoying them just as much.

I can highly reccommend this book. It's well written, doesn't take too great a leap with the history that is known but gives it just that little more content. It deals with the end of Caesar, his assassination, his animosity with Marcus Antonius, his affair with Cleopatra. It also shows what leads to his assassination and follows those involved, and introduces us to Octavianus who will eventually become the great Emperor Augustus (though not described in this book -- for those who studied history or got Roman history in school, you would definitely have touched upon his era).

An excellent finale to McCullough’s tour through the lives of the great movers and shakers of late Republican Rome. Rarely have so many momentous individuals so overlapped temporally and geographically as around this time, and so many of their stories are incredibly dramatic. McCullough had plenty of rich source material to work with, and this final volume gives us a lot of great stories with her novelist’s touch: Caesar’s affair Cleopatra, the conspiracy and assassination, the ensuing power struggle in his absence, Cato’s March to Africa Province and ultimately his dramatic suicide there, the unexpected and meteoric rise of Octavian (soon to be Augustus), the defeat and deaths of a Brutus and Cassius, and the strange tale of the fate of Brutus’s head…Anyways, as in the prior volumes, McCullough’s Caesar worship is a little much at times here. He can do no wrong and his enemies don’t get much charity. But while that gets frustrating it’s a small price to pay.

Como fan de la acción este libro es más político que bélico pero aún así un gran importante texto para comprender las relaciones entre los grandes personajes de la historia universal. Magnífico como siempre el sumergirte en la Roma de Colleen McCullough.

I have enjoyed reading all of the Masters of Rome series. Rereading this 6th in the series was no different. If you enjoy historical fiction this a series for you.

Even though these books are enormous, I still really enjoy reading them. This was a part of history tha was slightly more familiar, but not in this much detail and richness as it's described here. I would love to read more, but I can imagine why it finished here.

This is the point where this series starts to pall for me. I’ve thought in previous reads that it was because I was tired of the series by this point, and as a consequence rushed through this book and the last one. The reality is that Rome is tired, Caesar is tired, Brutus is tired, Cassius is tired, maybe the only one who isn’t is Marcus Antonius (yep, Mark Antony).

Caesar is more impatient, more tired, and more oblivious to how he and his actions appear - and the inevitable consequences of that. He has been opposed unreasonably for so long that he becomes the thing he claims he is not, creeping up on becoming the King of Rome. He has and does too much - there is too much of him and nothing for others.

When he is killed by his detractors (hard to call them rivals as they are so completely eclipsed), things don’t magically go back to the Republic of old. Some interest creeps back in as Octavian becomes Caesar’s heir and shows that he might well have been perfectly designed to arise to power in this moment, which will eventually put the final nail in the coffin of the Republic. We don’t reach that point by the end of the book, but you can see it written on the walls in the blood of the Liberators (Caesar’s murderers) and their soldiers, another Roman civil war to drain the blood, talent, and finances of the Republic.

I’m going to take a break before I read the last book - but even though this book isn’t as good as the earlier ones, I’m still glad I read it again. The overall arc of this story always fascinates, and McCullough’s characters seem truly alive... and all too human.