Emperor : The Gods of War [Hardcover]

This is the last book in the series charting the life of Julius Caesar. I found them all very readable and very enjoyable. Perhaps falling a little short of Colleen McCullough's Roman series of books, but there is no shame in that and these books are extremely enjoyable.

Much has been written about Julius Caesar, but like all great men he had his Achilles heel, in more ways than one. Although history portrays him as a very fair minded man, much loved by his soldiers and the common people. He had a terrible temper, which could be vented at any time and woe betide anyone who was in close proximity when this happened. He also had great problems with the `falling sickness' He did everything in his power to hide this from everyone except his closest confidants and friends.

Caesar has his greatest test yet. To do the unthinkable and march against Rome. His aim is to march against his one time son-in-law Pompey, self proclaimed dictator of Rome. Even after the city itself is taken there are many more battles to fight throughout the Roman Empire, even to Egypt, where brother and sister are fighting like cat and dog.

The book is full of passion, love and hatred. It is a story of ambition, loyalty and friendship. It is the tale of one of the greatest generals the world has ever known. Apart perhaps from Alexander the Great, no one man has had the love and loyalty of his troops in such a way as Julius Caesar.

Gods of War is a fantastic end to the brilliant Emperor series. Gone are the days of childhood friendship and even the years of young adulthood which saw the first signs of tension between Caesar and Brutus. What we are presented with here are the world leaders the main characters would always become. Accordingly the reader is shown a Caesar devoid of any doubt on and off the battle field. Brutus on the other hand is more than willing to take any wedge between them and drive it in futher, in the name of fame, power and just a little jealousy.
The conflict between the main characters has been in evidence from the first pages of the first book, The Gates of Rome, and is carried through here with finesse.
The real beauty in the Emperor series, and no less in Gods Of War, are the smells, sights and sounds the writer conjours up in the readers mind. The city of Rome and the battle fields beyond come to life with vivid reality. The welcome return of old friends from the previous books and the meeting of some new ones all mix to plunge the reader into the world that is Rome. There are moments of pure brutality as well as the kind of humanity rarely seen in a book of this type.
Conn Iggulden is proving himself to be a master story teller and, Gods of War, only serves to confirm this view.
I have no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone who wishes to read one of the greatest stories of all time wonderfully told.

Iggulden completes his series and this time there’s not too much complaint about historical inaccuracy (though perhaps about historical characterisation). To get it all going, Julius leaps over the Rubicon, captures Corfinium without bloodshed, and traipses into Rome with consummate ease. It was going to be interesting to see how he forced the character of Brutus back onto his true historical destiny and Iggulden manages it in a single episode of childish pique as our silvered-armoured sidekick goes from outstanding general and best friend to outstanding general and worst enemy in the space of a single night simply because he feels Julius favours Mark Anthony over him. Julius, himself, doesn’t seem too bothered as he laps up the adoration of the Roman crowd and spends most of his time trying to father a child before getting cuckolded and storming off to Pharsalus to hunt down his previous friend who has chucked his lot in with the aging and increasingly befuddled Pompey (who spends much of the first half grumbling about intestinal issues and managing to let Caesar out manoeuvre him) and the self-exiled Senate, caustically represented by Cicero.
In the meantime Brutus has a new aristocratic friend, Seneca and we move past page 200 into the battle for Roman supremacy at Pharsalus which takes the next hundred pages or so and ends Part One. It is during this battle that Iggulden shows why the glaring inconsistencies in plot and characterisation that so define all these novels can be swept aside through sheer brilliance of action. The battle for Pharsalus and control of Rome is executed with pathos, crisp dialogue and gladiator-esque vibrancy. Brutus’ fight to a standstill, Octavius’ handling of the intended decimation of the Third, Pompey’s agonised futile stand and Julius’ military brilliance are all painted in an exhilarating manner until the final ignominious end on the shores of Alexandria. The only item that grates slightly is Brutus’ volte-face and his near-cowardice when faced with faced with dishonourable death or naked legionary hatred as Julius exercises a clemency that leaves a festering wound on his soul.
Iggulden sweeps us on to the penultimate action of Julius’ life as he has a dishevelled Cleopatra tumbling from her infamous carpet in a manner less reminiscent of Elizabeth Taylor and more of Asterix and Cleopatra before falling for her wiles, capturing Ptolemy, razing the Alexandria library to the ground in a rooftop escape and finally securing the throne for his new love and begetting a male heir.
We move swiftly to Julius’ denouement back in Rome where Iggulden has Servilia as the architect of his downfall. Focusing on the two main events, his thrice refusal of a crown and his murder, Iggulden cannot resist the impulse to use the infamous Shakespeare quote which never happened historically. At least he didn’t go so far as so say, ‘Et tu, Brute?’ choosing to give a direct English translation of Julius’ last words and leaving the conspirators with far more glory than any other author as they enter the Roman forum with the saving blood of the republic on their hands rather than the results of a heinous crime. Still, he does hint he might subject the story of Mark Anthony, Octavian and Cleopatra to the historical mangle in future years.
The character of Brutus is the only minor historical complaint. Brutus is historically is recognised as the epitome of republicanism, second only to Cato. History tells us that his participation in the murder of Caesar is an unwilling act of a man for whom Rome and republic is everything whereas Iggulden has him behaving like the historical Mark Anthony – wild, impetuous, a charismatic leader of men – which results in the problem that his actions in the novels come across as whimsical and petulant most of the time. He is constantly bleating and bemoaning the fact that he isn’t number one, something that is outlined starkly in his feverish diatribe to Julius mid-novel.
In stark contrast, having got past the farcical upbringing of Octavian in the previous novels, we see a character that perfectly explains his future destiny as Augustus and matches his historical personage perfectly.
The quartet of novels are extremely well written stories, Iggulden demonstrating a remarkable capacity to capture his reader’s attention and imagination, his ability ensuring he has produced a story that, as the quote on the front jacket claims “the great events and breathtaking brutality of the times are brought lavishly to life.” It is this great capacity to tell a story that rescues a historically awful series punctuated with inane characterisation at times. So, buy it, because it is compelling, but there are other series out there that tell the story of the fall of the Roman Republic in a more historically satisfying way (Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series being the best).
It’ll be interesting to see what Iggulden comes up with next.