Secondo romanzo del ciclo 'i signori di Roma', con la narrazione corale delle battaglie, delle congiure, dei sotterfugi che hanno lentamente portato la Repubblica a diventare Impero. Caio Mario e Lucio Cornelio Silla diventano antagonisti, ed è davvero difficile parteggiare per l'uno o per l'altro: quello che il primo guadagna in rettitudine, per il secondo è fascino.
Verso la metà mi sono incagliata nella lettura perché le guerre italiche erano un lungo elenco di formazioni, schieramenti, battaglie vinte e perse, morti irrilevanti (ai fini della trama, storicamente è un'altra cosa), e non sono proprio le cose che mi appassionano di più. Poi, con il ritorno sulla scena di Mitridate, le cose cambiano e la storia schizza verso la conclusione.

The follow up to The First Man in Rome, and the rivalry begins between Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. And in the city of Rome, a little boy is starting to grow up. Wonderful read, but you should read TFMiR first, to get the basics down. One of my favourite novels, and a desert island keeper.

For the complete review, please go here:
http://www.epinions.com/content_31498...

-Continuación de la saga que enfrenta opiniones pero que hizo mucho por el género.-

Género. Novela histórica.

Lo que nos cuenta. En la Roma del siglo I antes de Cristo, la salud y el poder de Cayo Mario empiezan a decaer mientras la estrella de Sila está en ascenso. La relación entre ambos comienza a cambiar y ciertas decisiones del Senado la complicarán todavía más. Las amenazas contra Roma y su poder están en la península itálica y también fuera de ella. Además, una serie de jóvenes romanos empiezan a destacar en el entorno social, político y militar de la república. Segundo libro de la serie Señores de Roma.

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

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

Another great historical novel. The characters came to life. I especially enjoyed the story of Livia Drusus. Which was part of the problem of the book. There were many, many people in it and many stories that should have been left out. It tried to tell too much of the history and created too many characters. It was very well written. I would have preferred multiple books with a little more focus.

In this second installment the maps were much better than the first. I think the glossary wasn't as good. I remember the first book having more historical information. Information about how the novel differed from the known history and what guesses the author had made. I liked that a lot but I didn't find it in this sequel.

I think this might be a better book than First Man in Rome, but it's hard to say. As other reviewers have mentioned, the absence of Rutilius Rufus' letters is a sad omission; on the other hand, there's a lot more dynamic conflict in this one -- Marius v Sulla, rather than Marius v. a bunch of (mostly nameless) antagonists we don't really care about.

Each of these men have strengths and weaknesses, and McCullough depicts them fantastically -- well-drawn, with complex depths that can sometimes turn up surprising results. Marius, the fading First Man who doesn't realize he's fading, and Sulla, the rising star whom you'd feel more sympathy for if it weren't for the fact that he's a (mostly) cleverly concealed sociopath (references to the "clawed creature" inside him abound).

What I found most intriguing was how relatable these people were -- when you were following each of their various perspectives, you were led step by step to understand exactly how they *thought* their actions were necessary to Save the Republic...while at the same time knowing with the wisdom of historical hindsight that in actuality they were step by step destroying everything it had meant. Marius realizes that government cannot be entrusted to a bunch of oligarchial old fuddy-duddies, so he acts to move power to the people where he thinks it belongs, demonstrating the dangerous power of demagoguery to his nephew Caesar who will make much better use of it. Sulla "restores" Rome, but at the price of marching an army into the previously-inviolable precincts of the city, setting a salutary example that others are quick (very quick) to follow.

The bloody purges of Marius are horrific -- one reads history that says, OK, pre-eminent nobles were slaughtered without distinction, but it doesn't really mean anything. This book has spent time with most of these leading figures, even if they're peripheral to the main action, so when Marius' thugs run amok and start killing them, it's a big "Holy crap I can't believe these people!" sort of moment. I do not look forward to Sulla's purges when he returns, which I recall being a lot worse.

If I had a nit to pick here, it would be that the author can sometimes get lost in describing the who's who of senators, who's marrying the other one's daughter, who's being prosecuted for treason and corruption, who's exiled, who's un-exiled, etc. But then, the Romans were themselves obsessed with this kind of litigiousness and social climbing, so perhaps all that's really saying is that McCullough is a quintessential Roman (or that I am not, in this respect). So I can't really fault her a star for that.

800+ pages flew by remarkably quickly!

The Grass Crown (Masters of Rome, #2) is just as good as the first book in this series.


Colleen invites us to unravel its intricacies layer by layer. It challenges us to confront the history within the story, suggesting that those who venture into this world may emerge with a changed perspective.

A book that delves deep into the darkness of humanity, the hardships, the greed and, occasionally, the benevolence. A glorious - truly glorious! - book. You can come away with many life lessons by the termination of the book. Lessons gained by the deeds of the characters within the book.

For instance, Sulla, who suffered depression - 'why am I always unhappy' he remarks often - was a man many men envied, aspired to be like, he was 'cool' but he was also cruel, rather evil. And yet he wondered why he was miserable? From this book I actually learned that to be 'happy' or at 'peace' you have to be a gentle. peaceful person. So what would you rather be? a truly happy person who is known as 'boring' or 'unexciting' but be at peace, or a cruel and wicked person who is known as 'sexy' or 'cool' but be miserably unhappy? makes me wonder if there is some unseen force in life which dishes out the emotions best served to the deeds committed by the human.

Edit 9/12/14: I'm kind of doing a quick run through of this again before tackling Fortune's Favorites to refresh myself on the billion people, places and events and I have to admit I was probably being a bad-moody, picky little bitch when I gave this four stars originally. Shameful! It certainly deserves five stars. When you have a book that veers from vicious, sprawling oratorial battles in the Senate to profound psychological portraits of truly legendary people to scenes like the one in which Mithridates beshits himself on his royal barge because one of his other boats bumped into it you have something special. I'm just sad this series has to eventually end when the Republic dies and it doesn't continue on with the Emperors.

Original Review:
McCullough's utterly fucking magisterial series continues with this moody entry. Sulla continues his amoral, body-piling struggle up the cursus honorum, Marius struggles to remain in power to fulfill the prophecy of his seventh consuslship while also battling with his own sanity, Marcus Livius Drusus launches his plan of seriously controversial and potentially dangerous reform in the aim of repairing relations between Rome and the Italian Allies, and little Caesar continues to be creepily precocious or precociously creepy, I still can't decide. Also, Aurelia stays firmly in her Aurelia mold, which is...indescribable. In the far east, King Mithridates VI of Pontus is about to start some serious shit. Obviously the history and people here are eternally fascinating, and McCullough has the brains, prose and research to render the definitive fictional account of the most fascinating and tumultuous period of this legendary city's existence. Wow, I got worked up pretty quick there didn't I? It's this old Australian lady, man...or it could be that I'm listening to Prince's "Do Me Baby" as I write this. The man messes with brain chemicals, and no question.

These books are a serious literary feast. They're stuffed with just...everything. Politics, war, architecture, tradition, sex, complex interpersonal relationships and dramatic events great and small are on every page. No one could question McCullough's research and you're gonna learn every possible thing about this era of Rome that you can imagine and a ton you can't. The political system of Republican Rome was seriously complex and this woman has allowed even a clueless pleb such as myself an understanding of how it worked. I probably mentioned this in my review of the first book, but her liberal use of maps, diagrams and portraits (all created by the author herself) will also help your understanding and mental recreation of this fascinating, dead world. I do have to say her portraits can be a bit hinky-looking (excepting the obviously author-revered Sulla)...I looked ahead at the portrait of Vercingetorix from Caesar and almost fucking threw up. In that particular instance, hewing so closely to the historical portrait (from a coin) was probably not a good idea. This is of course from another book though, and the worst offenses such as Mithridates are excusable. The author is obviously gifted and clearly loves her chosen subject, and it shows even in these amateur portraits.

The characters are vividly drawn and even complex. Even when I find them repulsive, the Romans are constantly entertaining to read about. Constantly conquering shit, scheming and gossiping and stealing, murdering each other...it's clear why the Roman world has so fascinated us and been so prevalent in our fiction. That said, you probably aren't gonna get very close emotionally with these people as you may have in other historical novels. Take Sulla, for instance. He's a joy to read, and my love for the underdog certainly wants to see him succeed despite all the snobbish two-faced haters in the Senate, but the dude is honestly fucking abhorrent. He's clearly a sociopath and remorseless murderer, as well as a pretty heavy misogynist (despite being loved by women, and I'm confident in including the author as one of these women.) It's a mixed experience and often an uncomfortable one, but one gets the sense that this is really how it was in this world. None of these traits were necessarily even considered particularly reprehensible. So morbidly gripping.

I do have a couple of relatively minor complaints; the dialogue can be a bit stiff and exposition-heavy. Also, McCullough clearly doesn't have much of an interest in Roman military matters; the marches and battles of the constant warring are certainly referenced and depicted, but too often it's in the form of secondhand relation or a quick glossing over. I am an unrepentant nerd when it comes to ancient military and these episodes could certainly have been depicted with more detail and depth. I get that not everyone is interested in these things but there is absolutely no way to get around the fact that Rome's military and its wars were an absolutely crucial factor in its rise to such heights of power. In a book where a gossipy letter can take up five to six pages we should not be blasting through fucking MAJOR BATTLES in a couple sentences! It's just not good enough to say "and then Marius and his army ran really quick up the Via Appia and slaughtered the shit out of the Samnites and everyone was stoked." When I look at the whole of this epic story, though, these complaints can seem kind of nitpicky, though. If the rest of the series continues with this kind of epic quality I really don't see the reason for me to read another fictional account of the era. Which is closeminded and dumb, but this lady is good.

Sulla my friend Sulla…. This book would be 5 stars but McCullough’s crush on Caesar (and the foreboding sense it’s going to get much worse) really rather takes me out of it (I’m sorry I just don’t like him that much)

In this second book in the Masters Of Rome series the characters that were introduced in 'First Man In Rome' continue to move the narrative forward. The aging Gaius Marius declines and his legate Sulla, an impoverished patrician who gained money and power through marriage and murder rises to prominence as the Italian states revolt in what is called the Social War. Mithradates of Pontus schemes against Rome in the eastern Mediterranean. The conflict between the aristocrats and the equestrians intensifies and Sulla and Marius, former allies, find themselves on opposite sides. The young Julius Caesar, nephew to both, appears in the narrative. Sulla tries to check the chaos by entering the City with his army but then leaves for the East to fight a war with Mithradates. The now old and mad Marius seizes Rome with an army of slaves and creates a bloodbath in the streets. Because of a prophecy that Young Caesar will be the greatest Roman Marius takes steps to ensure that Caesar can never become a politician or a soldier by forcing him into a lifetime priesthood. Again the rich panoply of McCollough's characters bring a complex and distant sector of history to life.

Great historical fiction. The research here is unbelievable. The story is fast-paced, filled with intrigues and all sorts of interesting people. The beginning of The Grass Crown didn't take long to get into and I thought she did a wonderful job of tying The First Man in Rome into the setting of this second novel. Early on McCullough spent quite a bit of time focused on this history of Mithridates VI of Pontus. I was lost as to why and had to hang on feeling lost but she didn't let the reader down. He was a complex character and reading about his background was important to understand his choices I think. As with the first book there was A LOT of politics and that had me a bit lost but I didn't get distracted noting it is still just as ridiculous today. Some things never change! I wish she had spent more time expounding on Sulla's decision to lead his army on Rome as I imagine this was a huge deal historically but we didn't get much of that except it happened. I did enjoy how she developed Sulla even more in this book as he's such a complex, creepy, fascinating character. Really, all her characters are great!! The fall of Marius in this book was a little bit of a letdown but you can't change history in that sense. Great men fall. I enjoyed the introduction of the very young Julius Caesar and very much look forward to reading more about him in the books to come. This is why we love Historical Fiction.

I got this book on a whim at a raffle, it came without the cover and I knew nothing about it. What followed was one of the greatest stories I've ever read. This book is wild. At the start, you think it's a serious book. Then throughout the book you start to realize this thing is GOOFY. The serious mask slips off on page 633 and, for one page, McCullough is just straight up silly and I loved it. The plot at first was confusing for me, but by the end of it I was enthralled and could hardly put down the book. Mind you, I didn't even read the first book in this series! I was placed right in the middle of the plot and was somehow able to understand it. The relationship between Marius and Sulla throughout the book was amazing, and I had a lot of fun piecing together what they thought of each other.
All in all, this book is probably one of my favorites now. I am so excited to read the next book in the series! I made a goodreads account just to make a review for this thing.