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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.
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Summary: Allows you to get inside the Roman world of Caesar's day.
Review: Once again, McCullough delivers the majesty and power of the ancient Romans to us in a highly entertaining yet factual account of Caesar's life. She does draw a bit too much from The Commentaries however she still has an uncanny knack for bringing the material to life. As an avid folower of Roman history I feel this series has allowed me to see a much larger picture of the greatest nation the world has known. As we learn more about the world of Caesar I am fascinated with the comparisons to modern day America. While I am tempted to say the USA will surpass Rome in greatness I cannot get around Rome's dominance on the world stage for 800 years. Longetivity at the top for that time frame is incredible. I eagerly await Colleen's next book,October Horse. I also hope that more time is spent in developing new characters as she did in the first 2 books.
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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.
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Summary: Let history fly high
Review: Colleen McCullough's latest book, Caesar, is not from my viewpoint the best of the series ("Masters of Rome"). They are all fabulous. I've always been a student of history, but never have I had it handed to me and such a wonderful platter. McCullough not only tells you what happened, but gives you the reasons why it happened. You are treated to the jealousies and intrigues among Rome's ruling elite as the "Boni" go after Caesar and his "populars." But this novel is primarily about the rivalry of two giants in Roman history, Pompieus Magnus (Pompey the great) and Gaius Julius Caesar. Allied in the first triumverent we see the death of Julia, Caesar's only daughter and Pompey's wife as the beginning of the end of a very successful political alliance. As Caesar's success mounts in Gaul, his fortunes at home start to decline. There really was a great right wing conspiracy against Caesar as the Senate jockeys to get Caesar back to Rome without imperium so that they could prosecute and persecute him. Pompey becomes a pawn for the anti-Caesar Senate faction and the political moves and countermoves are fascinating to watch. Finally, with his back against the wall, Caesar crosses the Rubicon and "lets the die fly high." McCullough's is meticulous in her scholarship. The few times she departs from actual history she will tell you. Or if there is more than one interpretation she tells you not only what the other one is, but why she chose hers. There are two interpretations of the Latin with the subtitle of the book. The first is the one I had heard of "The die is cast." McCullough rejects this, feeling that Caesar was more optimistic than that and a bit of a gambler. When he crossed the Rubicon with his troops, he had abandoned the law and was going for it all. McCullough felt that he would see this as throwing the die in a gambling game and was full of hope rather than resignation. You get a great view of Roman life, politics, religion, the legal system, etc. from the entire series. This book can stand alone, but is much more meaningful if you read the series in order. Would I recommend this book? I've given copies of this and others in the series to friends of mine and I've read them all twice.
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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.
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Summary: Tremendously biased view of history
Review: I think that the story is highly entertaining, however there are glaring faults with concerns to the Gauls. If you want to learn more from an un-biased source, then look up the book The Ancient World Of The Celts by a studied academic and historian of the subject, Peter Berresford Ellis, who writes about them with the respect they are due and much more truthfully. The Celts, in point of fact, were not cowards, nor were they "children", neither spiritually nor mentally, they were much more sophisticated in their view of the Afterlife than this author would have us believe, much more so than the truly barbaric Romans, who thought they had to pay their way into their version of Heaven through a Pontifex Maximus; they much respected their women, which the Romans did not, period(another reason why their women were such base manipulative creatures). In fact, they did not own slaves,(except for the Romanized ones) as this was anathema to their entire culture, and they in fact developed before the Romans many weapons and iron implements that their enemies claimed for themselves. The Roman objective was merely to ensure their subjugation of a free people, for their own selfish purposes(when has it never been this way?) and I for one, think it questionable that this author speaks for Caeser as if he actually did any good for non-Roman Europe. Au contraire, Mccullough: much that was beautiful and free in the spirit of a people was lost forever. Nowadays we know better, might doesn't make right; Caeser pillaged and slaughtered tribes in much the same way that the Spanish did centuries later in America. So, give us your wondrous story-telling ability, and leave the adulation for those who actually deserve it; a people that did not want to submit to being second-class citizens and enslaved in their own lands!
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Summary: Blatant Hero-Worship Of A Famous Historical Sociopath
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. ...
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Summary: Hail Caesar
Review: This novel typical of Colleen's writing style starts slowly, as she introduces to the reader The Plot and Characters. The plot is intriguing as it unfolds. The Characters are richly fleshed out in loving details, warts and all. The length of the Story may be a little bit long for most readers' comfort. However, the length is necessary to do the plot justice as Colleen takes the reader on a helter-skelter forced march from the British Isles to Germany and Greece. The battles are numerous with sufficient detail on Caesar's strategy. All in all, Colleen paints and overly generous picture of Caesar. Here in this novel Caesar towers and dominates above his peers in every aspect. Pompey Magnus was reduced to a whimpering, diffident and incompetent adversary. Doesn't Caesar have any weakness at all? I would like to suggest for better understanding and enjoyment that the reader reads the earlier 4 novels, starting with The First Man in Rome prior to reading Caesar. In my opinion Colleen writes wonderful novels and Caesar adds another feather to her cap. Hail Caesar!
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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.
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Summary: Best of the series!
Review: This ranks as one of my favorite historical novels of all time--second only to I, Claudius. The re-creations of the battles in far off soggy gaul are captivating and convicing. Meanwhile, the political scuffling back home in the Senate ring remarkably true to modern America. (I can't help but wonder if Ms. McCullough had the Clinton impeachment hearings in mind as she wrote this book.) This has spurred me to go forward and backwards to read the other books in the series.
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