Rating: 
Summary: Tremendously biased view of history
Review: ... As anybody who's ever actually read about TRUE ancient history will tell you, she makes glaring mistakes throughout this story,especially with concerns to the Druids and the Celtic peoples. This is not history; this is McCullough's version of it,with Caeser as some arrogant, vainglorious conquistador(megalomaniacal to boot!)that somehow is still loved and worshipped by all....please! Let us not forget that it is the winner in war that always writes history, much distorted to fit his own viewpoint. Caeser brought some "progress" (but what was that really? certainly not moral nor societal, merely economic-to a point) but he enslaved whole nations, agressed against peoples who were in their own rightful territories, set women back for countless centuries(shame on you,Colleen-you should know better-a roman patrician matron was never a citizen of Rome, yet the lowest Celtic female was by right of birth) and set about teaching slavery and moral corruption to Hairy Gaul. As for Romans not ascribing to human sacrifice....wrong again. They willingly sent thousands to their deaths in the coliseums,and all for the sake of "sport",not even as messengers to the spirit world,which was the usual reason for Druidic human sacrifice, which did not occur,we all know now, nearly as much as the lying Caeser made out in his writings about the Celts. Of course,he had to turn them into less than human for the Senate and the easily gullible back in Rome. No; there was much wrong with Rome and with Julius Caeser,just as there is much wrong with the fawning, overly-sentimentalized version of him this author would like to feed us! Caeser the man has been wrought into a sort of demi-God in her hands, which, rest assured,he most definitely was not. Caeser seemingly can do no wrong, which in fact makes him a rather dull and boring topic for a book. ...
Rating:
Summary: Another flawed, but worthwhile McCullough opus...
Review: As a lifelong student and fan of Roman history, I enthusiastically dive into every Colleen McCullough "Masters of Rome" novel, only to come up floundering and gasping for air after a few dozen pages. "Caesar," which is in most respects the climax of the series, is no exception: A grand story with riveting characters, expertly plotted, but weighed down by some of the worst prose this side of "it was a dark and stormy night." McCullough doesn't seem to think normal rules of fiction writing apply to her. Long, dense paragraphs of exposition containing dozens of names and mountains of historical minutia serve no real purpose other than to show off the depths of her research (which is considerable, although she still gets odd details wrong-- i.e. references to a "gold denarius" [the denarius was strictly a silver coin; a gold piece was termed an "aureus"] or Roman officers in "leather armor" [there is no evidence Roman armor was made of anything but iron or bronze]). Even more irritating are long passages of extremly verbose dialogue that start and stop with no indication of setting-- i.e. we have no idea where her characters are or what they are doing when they speak these words. Other reviewers praise her battle scenes. I can't imagine why, since the actual battles are given only the most perfunctory treatment, although the groundwork for each clash is meticlulously laid. She describes each battle in a sterile, academic fashion. Never do you experience the actual blood, sweat, grime, the horrendous physical exertion, the searing pain, the awful disorientation, the screams, and the stink of hand-to-hand combat. This is particularly true of the last great battle, Pharsalus-- the maneuvers leading up to the clash take up perhaps 50 pages, while the actual battle itself occupies two paragraphs. Still, what McCullough lacks as a wordsmith, she makes up for with strong plotting and characterization. Caesar, as been noted elsewhere, comes off as too perfect an embodiement of all the Roman virtues, but his allies and enemies-- studly Anthony, dynamic Curio, dogmatic Cato, longsuffering Cicero, and always the likeable, naively egotistical Pompey-- are all compelling and immensely human. Of the women, Fulvia, Porcia and Servilia are all strikingly drawn and memorable. So, yes, despite the hard work necessary to finish reading this novel, it ended up being (barely) worth the effort. I will no doubt read the "October Horse," but only after taking a long breather and steeling myself for another tough slog.
Rating: 
Summary: A Worthy Member (Though Not the Best) of the Series
Review: Caesar: Let the Dice Fly is a worthy member of McCullough's Masters of Rome series, and therefore essential reading to any of the avid readers of those books. McCullough makes ancient history real and beleivable; she shows us the very human people behind the cardboard historical facades. We all know Caesar was great, but WHY was he great? McCullough shows us why--not just his through his achievements as a general, but through a realistic (albeit fictional) picture of the man. In her notes at the end of the novel, McCullough comments on her publishers' requiring her to deal with a great deal of recorded history in a limited number of pages. This she does very well, but not as well as the previous books. Many of the most significant battles are described with astonishing brevity. This makes some of the events in the book seem forced and rushed. Perhaps her publishers should allow her more lassitude--none of her fans would object to longer books, or more of them! While Caesar is not the strongest book in the Masters of Rome series, I still found it an engrossing read, as would anyone else reading these exceptional books.
Rating: 
Summary: caesar
Review: Caesar
The book Caesar is great, its violent and compelling. This book really pulled me into the long treacherous history of ancient Rome. Colleen McCullough does a great job of describing the toilsome adventures of Gaius Julius Caesar and his legions crossing over into enemy lands where very few can be trusted for people like brutus can be the real enemy. This book is as McCollough describes it: "Never was there one more adored yet feared than Gaius Julius Caesar, invincible on the battle field, he commands the love and loyalty of those who fight at his side and would gladly give there lives for his glory, but only ill fortune can come to the good men who underestimate him. For Rome is his glorious destiny - one that will impel him reluctantly to the banks of the rubicon...and beyond into triumphant legend". Now just listen to those wonderful words from Colleen McCollough wouldn't that make you want to read this book. I would recommend this book to teen and adult readers not that it's not great but the vocabulary and context are immense and suggestive. Overall it's a great book.
Tom C.
Rating:
Summary: The series is deteriorating in quality.
Review: I loved the previous books by McCullough. I thought First Man in Rome was tremendous, as were the next two titles. With the emergence of Caesar, however, McCullough seems less and less interested in concentrating on anything else. I get it already - Caesar is brilliant, scrupulous, and honest. Oh, did I mention brilliant? While I can certainly ignore the historical problems with this, I got tired of reading a romantic paean to Caesar by the end of the book. This guy literally does nothing wrong. If anything, his flaw is that he's too gifted, something I'm sure we're all wishing on our enemies. Due to the infallibility of the character, the book gets bogged down in hero-worship. The scholarship is still outstanding for a novelist, certainly more than I have a right to expect. The language is good, and it generally does not read like a soap opera, despite the hero-worship of Caesar. McCullough seemed to be much better at writing books where she has less emotional investment in the characters. The earlier portraits of Sulla, Marius and Young Pompey were wonderful. But Caesar simply consumes too much of her attention and emotion; there is almost nothing left for anyone else. In Caesar's Women the genius that was Caesar was a novel and interesting approach, in Caesar it got tiresome, and I hope McCullough corrects this problem in her next work, which I still expect to be excellent. The plot, which should be mentioned, is the fall of the Roman republic. Caesar schemes to get command in Gaul, where he defeats the Gauls, with this occupying much time in the book, and deservedly so. Next he confronts the Senate who are foolish enough to challenge him unnecessarily. He crosses the Rubicon, takes Rome, fails to broker a peace and finally defeats Pompey at Pharsalus. From here we are taken to Egypt, and the short entrance of Cleopatra, upon which the book ends. For those who are familiar with Suetonius, Appian or Plutarch, the main details are right on. Except, of course, that Caesar manages to do everything genius, while his opponents are a peevish vicious lot of stupid jealous men. The portrayal of Brutus as a moneyhungy mama's boy is an interesting one though - not quite the same as Shakespeare's. In short, the worship of Caesar by McCullough drags this book down from a potential 5/5. By the end I longed to read about the other personalities involved, much like when McCullough switched from Sulla to Marius with great ease. This is a good and reccomended book, albeit with one major flaw.
Rating:
Summary: "Let the Dice Fly High" rolls a 7!"
Review: In this fifth book of the First Man In Rome series Julius Caesar leaves Rome for the Gallic Wars. The scene shifts between Gaul and Rome as the "Boni" or "Good Men" continue their machinations to destroy Caesar. Pompey Magnus goes from Caesar's ally to his nemesis. McCullough's greatest gift is to make history come alive. Her characters are not the dry dust of high school history or Latin classes but spring from the page with ambition and passion. My greatest complaint is that she writes so slowly. I've waited two years for this episode to arrive and now I'll have to wait for the next. This entire series is a must read for anyone who is interested in Rome and Romans. McCullough's research is superb and when you finish, your understanding of how Rome ruled the world for 1300 years will have reached your gut level.
Rating:
Summary: Alternative history
Review: Irene Frain ,a French novelist,recently has noticed a tendency to disparage the images of the ancient world and its people.And she is right.Also Colleen Mccullough is following this tendency.Some reviewers have already interceded for Cato,Cicero,Brutus,Pompey,Antony.All they,with the exception of Julius Caesar,had lost in the novel their many-sided personalities.Perhaps it is only a reaction to their previous excessive romanticization,perhaps it is difficult to believe that such gifted and brilliant individuals did really exist.Of course "Caesar" is merely a novel.Still an author however fertile his fantasy may be cannot show us a cowardly Nelson,a good-hearted Hitler,an ugly Princess Diana without inevitably entering the domain of the alternative history.In this novel history may take an alternative course when young Pompey and Antony ,exactly those who in reality had admired the Egyptian Princess,find her appearance provoking nothing but mockery.We know how highly beauty was estimated in the Ancient world.Were Cleopatra such as represented in the novel,she would never become an object of the legend,her subjects would have given her an insulting nickname,the enemies would have used her deformity in their propaganda.Caesar and Antony were not only ambitious men of large scale but also very vain.Never would they tolerate such a mistress.Their attitude to the Queen perhaps would have been restricted merely to a political and financial alliance .Egypt was already a Roman ally and was obliged to support every enterprise of Rome.Were there on the throne of Egypt instead of Cleopatra a man,a child,an old woman,an unattractive woman the politics of Caesar and Antony would have been the same but their fate could turn out differently.Octavian would have lost the trump card of his propaganda.There exist only symbolic pictures of the Egyptian Queen.On the tiny coins her profile is engraved almost identical to the profile of Marc Antony,thus symbolizing their political,spiritual and family unity.These images have nothing to do with the appearance of the real Cleopatra.Only few historians perceive their symbolic./Prof.Paul Martin,Prof.Manfred Clauss,Irene Frain,Mary Hamer,Susan Walker/.The heroine of Colleen Mccullough is a plain girl dreaming of a love for a god.It is a very interesting conception but it has nothing in common with the real Queen of Egypt.We may believe Plutarch.He does not give us the evidence of the court flatterers.All these doctors ,cooks and Roman militaries gossipping of their lords were simply incapable to become creators of myths.
Rating:
Summary: McCullough puts oomph back into the Masters of Rome series
Review: Just when I was losing faith in the Masters of Rome series, Colleen McCullough throws in some oomph. Caesar brings the ancient battles to life, and shows Gaius Julius Caesar at his most powerful. I think McCullough's strength is in her battle scenes. Even when there is little bloodshed, she does a wonderful job of describing military strategy and tactics. The book is worth reading if only for this. Caesar shows the return of a writing technique McCullough hasn't shown since The Grass Crown: she includes the point of view of a foreign enemy. In this case, it is Vercingetorix, king of "united Gaul." Although I knew he was doomed from the beginning, I couldn't help but admire his valour and tenacity. It would have been nice if equal attention had been paid to Cathbad, the chief Druid. The main problem I have with Caesar is the blatant worship of the title character. In McCullough's writings, he can do no wrong. Although I enjoy reading about his great military achievements, it would be awfully nice if he was humanized a tad more. He's just too perfect, and a thin head of hair isn't nearly enough to bring him down to our level. I'm afraid he's become some sort of mortal Superman, and none of the villains happen to have a vial of Kryptonite. The other problem I have with the book is related to Caesar's hero-worship. Where Caesar and his supporters are portrayed in a in overtly positive ways, his detractors are seen as peevish, jealous, and frankly, rather dumb. I have a difficult time believing the enemies of Caesar were so lacking in positive traits. By the end of the novel, Pompeius Magnus, who started out as a likeable and able general (albeit very temperamental), becomes a whingeing and bullied fool. I think this is a shame. It is also a shame that Cato receives so little personal attention. I think he could be a very sympathetic character if only the attention was paid to him.
Rating:
Summary: The Penultimate novel the ultimate in series?
Review: Ms. McCullough's penultimate entry in her republic of Rome series tracks Caesar's exploits in Italian Gaul and Long haired Gaul as he wars with gallic tribes united. Meanwhile in Rome his enemies the boni seduce his former colleague Pompeius Magnus (Pompey) after the death of Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife dissolves their familial and political connections.
McCullough, if nothing else breathes live into the ancient Romans that populate her series. Throughout reading these books I almost felt as if I stood beside such greats as Cicero, Pompey, Cato and of course Caesar as her characters renacted ancient history. This must be a challenging thing to do, as she herself stated her subject matter hadn't been written to death by previous authors, so she had to really research to write credibly. Ms. McCullough succeeded as far as I am concerned, painting the crossing of the Rubicon with the splendour history suggests it deserves, and bringing Caesar from legend into this entertaining tome.
Rating:
Summary: Alternative history
Review: This is a novel, written in the syle of Bill Safire's "Freedom". It allows Colleen McCullough the opportunity to make history come alive. For me, the Italian and Latin names were hard to keep up with, especially since people often were referred to using their full names and titles. The use of maps of the time are fascinating. It is definitely about warfare and reminds one of the truism that "war is politics by another means." What is most effective about this book is that in reading it, I was struck by the fact that I could have been reading about the Civil War, World War I, Churchill's writings about "The Gathering Storm", or even the Middle East. The Roman Empire lasted for multiple centuries, but it took on many faces. It was not always totalitarian, dictatorial, and cruel. Caesar's time was a time of intrigue. This story describes the desperate struggle of politicians and militarists trying to find out about themselves, asking of their civilization whether they were overwhelming armies, a republic, following in the Platonic tradition, or a little bit of all the above. Outstanding. STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM
|
