Rating: 
Summary: Historical Rubbish
Review: Being a fan of Roman historical novels, I looked forward to obtaining Emperor, The Gates of Rome. In the first 88 pages I found such liberties taken with Roman culture and civilization that I wanted to scream: calling Gaius' father Julius (the family name), saying that the Senate elected consuls (not the Roman people meeting as tribes), his reference to the 28 legions of Augustus as being extant when young Julius Caesar was a boy. Referring to Julius Caesar as an emperor (he was Dictator for Life in the Republic, not the Empire). Saying that Gaius spent most of his boyhood on the family farm and not in his mother's Suburan insula. Ignoring his Uncle Sextus. Making his mother Aurelia a fading beauty who suffered from some disease remarkably like Gaius' later in life epilepsy. Making Marc Antony his boyhood friend. Ignoring the time he spent as flamen dialis (who cannot ride a horse or touch metal). Every page seemed to bring some new historical faux pas. If you want to learn about the late Republican period, read Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series (start with the First Man in Rome). If you want to learn about life in the Legions read Stephen Dando-Collins' Caesar's Legion. This was a vast disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Bad history and bad storytelling
Review: I love historical fiction -- particularly novels set in Ancient Rome -- but I was terribly disappointed by this book. Neither the "historical" nor the "fiction" parts are satisfying. The book is wildly inaccurate in its history, which serves as a constant irritation to readers with even a modicum of knowledge about the main characters and events. The fiction involves countless, repetitive battles -- large and small -- interspersed with the kind of unlikely coincidences found in straight-to-video potboilers.Skip this book and read instead the novels in Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series, Lindsey Davis's Marcus Didius Falco series, John Maddox Roberts's SPQR series, or Colleen McCullough's series of novels set in the late Roman Republic.
Rating: 
Summary: it is historical
Review: First off at the end of the book the author explains what was changed and the reasons for it. And I don't think Caesar had any sisters Octavian or Augustus was adopted.
Rating: 
Summary: Good read if you're not a history professor
Review: I picked this book up from the store the other day when I had nothing to read, and finished it the next day. I had trouble putting it down; it is a fast read with many sub-plots that make it interesting from cover to cover. Some of the other reviewers complained about the historical accuracy; it's not accurate; that's why it's called historical fiction. I recommend this to anyone who doesn't care about the history as much as they care about a good story.
Rating:
Summary: Review of a Review of a Review
Review: Gosh! Talk about Ignorance! This book is great because the reviewer liked to climb trees and get muddy when he was a boy. You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried!
Rating:
Summary: Bogus history in a weak novel
Review: This book does to the Roman history novel what "Gladiator" did to the Roman history movie. This is a novel for adolescents that has been larded with occasional sex scenes. Rosemary Sutcliffe wrote many novels about Romans aimed at teenagers and managed to fill them with interesting characters. She did not mangle history as Iggulden does. While many authors bring their fictitious lead characters into encounters with major historical figures, very few of them base their "historical" novels mainly on multiple connections between major historical figures that could not have occurred in time or place. A short session with The Oxford Classical Dictionary, an encyclopedia, or a web search engine will convince a reader that this novel belongs not to the history genre but to fantasy. Readers wanting exciting historical tales of imperial Rome should read the novels of Lindsay Davis and Steven Saylor, in each case starting at the beginning of the series. Read the novels of Robert Graves. But here the real story is even better than fiction. Read Livy and Tacitus, Suetonius on The Twelve Caesars, Sallust on the role of Marius and Sulla in the Jugurthine War, Caesar on the Gallic Wars. Good, low-priced translations of these authors are readily available. To be sure there are few sex scenes, but they won't be missed. Other reviewers have remarked on Iggulden's anachronisms and awkward language. His attempts to incorporate explanations of Roman life into the text read like misplaced footnotes and could not be more intrusive if they had been set in small type. A historical novel always reflects the times in which it was written, sometimes far more than the times it purports to portray. This book reflects very little of the past and not much more about the present.
Rating:
Summary: It looks like you either love this or hate it
Review: This is a great book that deserves great reviews. I don't think anyone has given it three stars, so it looks like you either love it or hate it. I loved it and can't wait for the next one. Richard
Rating: 
Summary: A promising historical fantasy
Review: Iggulden's 'Emperor: The Gates of Rome' is a well written piece of historical fiction. Loosely based around historical events at the time of the Social War and dealing with the adolescent Gaius Julius Caesar, it pulses with an energy that makes it hard to put down. This review is somewhat different to the intended one on reaching the final chapter, for as a piece of historical fiction is was littered with so many historical inaccuracies to keep the plot moving that it became (to one familiar with the true history of Marius, Sulla and Gaius Julius Caesar) immensely disappointing. For example, the chronological events surrounding 90 - 82 are mixed, reversed and placed in such a way to be glaringly inaccurate. History also has Marius as desirous of the Mithridatic command, Iggulden reverses this. All this was saved, however on reading the author's historical note where he cheerfully explains the reasons why he 'compressed these years'. Historical accuracy is sacrificed for 'dramatic purposes'.
The opener of what must become a trilogy, at the least, is presented in a somewhat episodic manner, each designed to be a focal point in the development of Gaius and Marcus (whom I suspect is Marcus Antonius? - the Mark Anthony of Shakespearian legend). These episodes (almost moralistic anecdotes) invariably mean both have to prove themselves in some manner in order to learn some lesson, and, by the end, the format of each has become fairly regular in style.
So, we move from boyhood 'escapades' to gladiatorial training by Renius, to the defence of the the farmstead, then to the move to Rome and acceptance by Marius (after a boxing match). From here Gaius participates in Marius' Triumph, learning more valuable lessons on the way, whilst Marcus leaves for Africa (fighting most of the ship's complement on the way) to understand what it means to lead an army. Inevitable love escapades aside, it culminates in Sulla's sack of Rome and Gaius' 'exile' to Greece where Marcus follows, setting us up neatly for the next book.
It does not compare to McCullough's brilliant sequence, headed by 'The First Man in Rome' but, whilst a trifle formulaic in presentation, it is fluid and precise in both characterisation and plot, providing sufficient thrills and twists as we watch these two young men grow up in Republican Rome to ensure purchase of the next installment.
I suspect it will only get better and better.
Rating:
Summary: Ignorance is Not Bliss
Review: One can judge this book within the first 20 pages when two of the characters introduced are called Julius and Suetonius. The author is so ignorant of Roman history that he doesn't know that both of these are family names and not first names. The "Julians" were one of Rome's first and oldest families and "Julius Caesar's" name was Gaius Julius Caesar. All I can say is "Good grief! How can they publish this nonsense."
Rating: 
Summary: The Author Is Optimistic
Review: The documentation to classify this work as poor historical fiction is provided in the, "Historical Note", the author includes at the end of this novel. There is a reason this book occupies over 350 pages without taking the reader pass the largely fictional account of Caesar's teenage years. This is only part one of an unspecified number in a series of books, so, at best this is a number one of only two, It makes little difference to me for the probability of my reading anything else by this author is zero. If a writer is going to utilize historical figures and key events in their lives as well of some of the most important in our History the book must be held to a higher standard. If an author wishes to conjure pure fiction, wonderful, if he or she desires to utilize the lives of some of the most noted names in History, then use them well and accurately. There is as much literature written on Greece and Rome as on any society, there is no need to add poor fiction. The dialogue in this book reads as though is was being spoken today; it actually becomes amusing to read at times. The historical detail is faint at best, and major historical issues are readily manipulated to fit this poor story as the author notes at the book's end. References to the location of various Legions are left to the color a particular tribe may favor. In one section you may believe the Romans are fighting the primary character in Braveheart. That more than a millennia separates the two will remind you they are not. The subjects in this book are far too well documented as well as the battles the author mentions for him to start fiddling with. Relating these events as they actually took place provides for fascinating reading and leaves the reader with knowledge that may not have had before. This poorly manipulated fiction leaves the reader with nothing, except perhaps regret at the money that was spent on the book. If you feel compelled to read this book wait for the paperback, the reading experience will be the same, and you will have invested far less money. The only reason I can give this book two stars is that it may cause some people who have yet to do so, reach for good books on the subjects. The author may believe the, "events of the second book are even more astonishing", but after reading this volume, I for one, will never bother to find out.
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