Roman Fiction at its best.
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As someone who has studied this period of Roman history extensively, I found myself correcting Iggulden's inaccuracies. AT FIRST.
By the third chapter I was completely engrossed; the story (however inaccurate) is captivating. If you are someone who spends their time correcting others mistakes and fretting over every little detail, then avoid this book.
I can honestly say that of all the fiction books I have read about this period, the Emperor series is the best. And I have read many, both fictional and factual.
Iggulden apologises at the back of each book for the historical inaccuracies and provides the correct details as well as explaining why he changed some of the facts.
For the sake of storytelling he did alter quite a bit of the history, but the finished story is well worth the alterations. Conn Iggulden writes with fluency and skill, holding the reader's attention throughout with the exciting, gripping and downright addictive narrative.
The superb story alone was enough to distract me from the inaccuracies (which aren't as bad as some might lead you to believe) and I couldn't put this book down, or any of the others for that matter.
Definitely worth reading.
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What a brilliant series of books!
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I love historical fiction - Bernard Cornwell, the Flashman books, Sharon Penman, etc, and was very happy to discover Conn Iggulden's books. I sped through all 4 of the Emperor series, the exciiting life of Julius Caesar and then the 2 Genghis Khan books too!
I found all of them well written, very exciting, with some of the best battle scenes I have read. Ancient Rome jsut comes to life effortlessly it seems,(and the plains of Mongolia in the other series) you can feel the city inhabited by some of the most amazing charcters in history.
Read these books if you are interested in Ancient Rome. And try the Genghis Khan books too. I am sad that I have read everything now and am eagerly anticipating the next release.
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Caesar's last hoorah!
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The Gods of War is the final installment in Conn Igguldens' series of Emperor novels and it sees Julius cross the Rubicon river and take charge of Rome. He follows the fleeing Pompey across to Greece and Egypt where he meets the enigmatic Cleopatra before returning home to be worshipped, idolised and then treacherously murdered by a supposed loyal friend and supporter.
As with the three previous novels, this is a highly readable and enjoyable book. Iggulden manages to keep the reader glued to the page right to the very end, even though the majority of us already know the details of Caesar's final years and eventual demise. This was on the whole an excellent series of novels, I had never previously read anything by this author, but now I eagerly await every book he produces no matter what the subject.
Now for a bit of a rant, I'm fed up of reading reviews criticising Conn Iggulden's tendency to stray from the facts in order to embellish the tale. If readers want a book that is based on nothing but the facts, then please stop reading fictional novels! These are not intended to be 100% historically accurate as the author willingly acknowledges, they are works of fiction which is generally based on facts but with huge juicy dollops of imagination and intellect thrown in.
Overall, I think this was a fantastic novel and indeed series, I don't believe I can recommend them highly enough, so pick them up and find out for yourself!
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gripping
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I read the whole series from start to finish in a matter of days. 'Easy reading', historically questionnable, but gripping nonetheless if you enjoy a straightforward historical novel. I went out and read Suetonius and Tacitus afterwards to remind myself of what early historians said about Julius Caesar- in spite of the historical conflicts in the facts, still an enjoyable read.
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Compelling read, but.....
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I bought all 4 books in this Emperor series in one go and am reading them back to back. Whilst they are without doubt a compelling read the extent of the historical inaccuracy is so grotesque as to render the characters and events depicted almost totally fictional. If you read the books bearing this in mind you will definitely enjoy them but if you are expecting an enlightened education into the life and times of some of ancient Rome's titanic characters (Caesar, Sulla, Brutus, Marius, Pompey etc.) you will be sorely disappointed.
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