The Death of Kings - Emperor, Book 2 Author:Conn Iggulden The acclaimed author of Emperor: The Gates of Rome returns to the extraordinary life of Julius Caesar in a new novel that takes us further down the path to glory . . . as Caesar comes into his own as a man, warrior, senator, husband, and leader. — In a sparsely settles region of North Africa, a band of disheveled soldiers turn their eyes t... more »oward one man among them: their leader, Julius Caesar. The soldiers are Roman legionaries. And their quarry is a band of pirates who dared to kidnap Julius Caesar for ransom. Now, as Caesar exacts his revenge and builds a legend far from Rome, his friend Marcus Brutus is fighting battles of another sort, rising to power in the wake of the assassination of a dictator. Once Brutus and Caesar were as close as brothers, devoted to the same ideals and attracted to the same forbidden women. Now they will be united again by a shock wave from the north, where a gladiator named Spartacus is building an army of seventy thousand slaves--to fight a cataclysmic battle against Rome itself.« less
Julius Caesar lived in interesting times and he is still a young man at the end of this novel. Book 1 in this series was good, like a scoop of chocolate icecream. Book 2 is even better, like nutella on my icecream. In Book 2, the author honed his story-telling ability to a riveting point, keeping me up far too late on a work night traipsing around with Caesar. I found myself reading 100-page chunks of this book at a time. Images from this book have stuck with me, such as Julius threatening the pirate captain, the formation of the Tenth legion after they suffered their punishment for cowardice in battle, his reunion with his wife Cornelia, Brutuss blossoming relationship with his mother. I loved the juxtapositioning of Rome, a civilized, beautiful city, run by the shadowy side of politics versus the deadly open-field warfare in Greece.
It's pretty enjoyable, a bit lengthy but any book involving Roman politics should be. It's got some good action and it's an interesting view of historical fiction.
