Emperor: The Gods of War: A Roman Empire Novel

As I maybe mentioned before, this is the second time I read the first four books of Emperor. It was many years ago, and I read them on paper. Book four is where Caesar crosses the Rubicon and marches on Rome, sending shockwaves through history, and making Pompey flee to Greece. Caesar moves in pursuit with his legions. The pursuit takes him all the way to Egypt, and to the city of Alexander the Great, where he meets Cleopatra. This book should’ve been among the best, but sadly it isn’t formatted properly. The text does not fit the screen and looks chaotic, not justified, and the number of lines per page seems random. And as an English teacher, Iggulden should know that you don’t evacuate people, you evacuate buildings, cities, etc. Moving on from these mistakes, this is a solid book filled with dramatic stories and historic facts. I wish the book could’ve told us what happened with Pompey, his disease for example. I will be starting on book five next.

Only one possible anachronism cropped up. I don't believe slaves were used to row ships in this period. This is frequently misunderstood by modern authors.

Amazing writing that draws full colour pictures that move and talk and make you blood run cold or boil passionately at the whim of the author. They killed the Man who would be King to usher in the first Roman Emperor. The plans of men and mice....

I think this is the best series I have ever read. This is my second reading of the first four books. The story of Caesar has captured me like no other. What an amazing man he was. Iggulden could not be a better story teller. The battle scenes are heart pounding, and the romance of ancient Rome has me completely under its spell.

I have now read all 4 novels of the Emperor series, each one just as fascinating as the previous one. I hated to see the end, knowing that Iggulden was going to write next on Ghengis Khan, which he has done and which will be published later this year. I hope he returns to the scene of Caesar's murder and continues the series, so much of great Roman history happened in the years following. Of this book I can only say the story is told wonderfully, with such a fresh and unique angle on all the characters that it was easy to follow them from book to book; even meeting new characters as I went. Thank you, Conn, for a truly satisfying journey through the Via Romana and please revisit it soon.

I'm a big fan of Roman History and have studied it extensively: I've been to Rome and all over Italy more times than I can count. I type that, not to pass myself off as an expert, but in the hopes that this information will put my review in context. So...what did I think? I enjoyed the writing style and the story line a lot but really struggle with how badly mis-characterized some of the major historical figures are. Octavian is one of my favorite people in history and this books absolutely misses the boat on him and that flaw alone drives me batty to the point of distraction. With each historical character, it feels as if Igguiden didn't even attempt to tap into their writings or exploits in order to connect his story and the characters with reality. It's hard to rate, in that I've read and enjoyed these books, but in order to do so, I had to divorce myself from any knowledge or sense of who these men and women were in real life, or, more appropriately, how I envisioned them to be. In summary, my neurosis and love of this period in Roman History keeps bumping into my overt affection for it. I will read anything about this time period because I love it, but that very reading and studying caused me to hate how he drew the characters up. In the end, the rating is "like it" and I did, but, if this were presented as a fiction about characters the author created, then it would be five stars.

I like the way Iggulden stays close to historical accuracy while providing insight into the lead characters. Whether he is writing about the Roman Empire or his books about Genghis and Kublai, he brings you inside the heads of the characters and portrays their leadership, their soft spots as well as their brutality, and brings history to life.

Conn Iggulden is indeed one of the BEST storytellers out there. The Emperor series is phenomenal as well as the Genghis Khan series. A must read for anyone!

Fine book.Highly recommend

Excellent product

Ich habe den zweiten Teil dieser vierteiligen Serie zufällig in Australien auf einem Flohmarkt gekauft. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt wusste ich nicht, dass es sich hierbei um eine Serie handelt. Ich wollte einfach nur ein wenig Unterhaltung für den langen Rückflug nach Deutschland. Diese Erwartungen wurden bei weitem Übertroffen, obwohl ich mich selbst nicht als "Bücherwurm" bezeichnen würde. Binnen kürzester Zeit habe ich den zweiten Teil durchgelesen und mir sofort alle anderen Teile geholt. Ich glaube ich habe noch nie so viel in so kurzer Zeit gelesen. Die Bücher handeln von Ceasar und seinem Leben. Sie basieren größtenteils auf Fakten, weichen manchmal aber auch ein wenig von der Geschichte ab. Am Ende eines jeden Buches wird erläutert, was echt und was erfunden war (das allermeiste ist jedoch echt, außer bei dem ersten Buch, bei dem Caesar noch ein Kind / Teenager ist - hier gibt es nicht viele übermittelte Fakten). Ich finde, die Bücher haben eine gute Mischung aus Humor, geschichtlichen Fakten, interessanten Charakteren und auch großartigen Schlachten. Sie zeichnen ein schönes Bild der römischen Zeit. Ich muss schon sagen... Ceasar hatte ein sehr interessantes Leben... Ich fand das Buch leicht verständlich. Das lag evtl. daran, dass ich gerade aus Austalien kam. Ich würde meine Englischkenntnisse dennoch nicht als überragend ansehen. Ich habe die deutsche Version nicht gelesen, aber wer mit englischen Büchern zurecht kommt und das Szenario interessant findet, sollte unbedingt zugreifen!

I was initially sceptical when I first found out about this book series (of which there are four books) as I was a huge fan of the Game of Thrones books and thought that nothing could capture my imagination as they did, however I am pleased to say I was completely wrong in being as sceptical as I was. I have to say I found these books enthralling and couldn't put them down. Now remember that this is a work of fiction based around the true events of Julius Caesar's life so if you're looking for absolute facts then you will be disappointed but I have to say that the author filled in the blanks beautifully and I found myself captivated and very involved with the characters and indeed missing them when the inevitable happens. I highly recommend this entire series and you will want to read them again and again.

J adore les aventure de Jules Cesar, beaucoup de recherche historique