Emperor: The Death of Kings: A Novel of Julius CaesarConn Iggulden | 2009-01-01 00:00:00 | Delta | 480 | Fiction
I was not a huge fan of Conn Iggulden's, "The Gates of Rome," his first novel in his planned four-volume "Emperor" series, in which he fictionalizes the life and times of Julius Caesar. He took enormous historical liberties with his tale, and his conceit of keeping the identities of his protagonists (Julius Caesar and his friend-turned-assassin Brutus) secret didn't really work.
Iggulden's second novel in the "Emperor" series, "The Death of Kings," is a much more enjoyable read. Caesar and Brutus are now young men soldiering for Rome, and Iggulden has a knack for writing battle scenes and depicting the soldier's life. Not as poetic as Steven Pressfield, nor quite as violent as Bernard Cornwell, Iggulden is nevertheless capable of spinning a riveting tale. From his opening scene of a night raid on a rebellious Greek city to the climactic battle against Spartacus, Iggulden throws the reader pell-mell into the chaos of battle.
Iggulden also has a command of the realities of daily life in the Roman world. It's refreshing to see history's great figures dealing with the frustrations and agonies of the real world just as we all do -- from pulled muscles to tormenting flies to the pangs of a romance that isn't working. All too often, authors make their protagonists super-human, and Iggulden enjoyably refuses to play this game. Further, without going overboard on the historical details, Iggulden reminds the reader that we are reading about a world centuries gone, but it was nevertheless a civilized world with its own craft and technology.
The novel also gains as Iggulden reduces the elements of mysticism from the first novel. In Book One, Iggulden introduced the entirely fictional (at least as far as I know) healer/mystic Cabera, and his magical powers were out-of-place in Caesar's story. While Cabera is back for Book 2, he generally seems to be more of a man of wisdom and learning than of magic, and that generally helps the novel.
You cannot read Iggulden's works as a fictionalized-yet-historically-accurate account of Caesar's life. Sure, some of the major points are there, such as Caesar's capture by and eventual destruction of the pirates (one of the most enjoyable sections of the book). But, as Iggulden acknowledges in his author's note, he made several major departures from the historical record. Sulla was not murdered by Caesar's friend, Caesar did not slay Mithridates, and there is no evidence that Caesar ever met Spartacus. But these deviations are not a weakness -- Iggulden is trying to tell a rollicking story of the ancient world, and for the most part he succeeds, and succeeds very well.
Not as epic as Colleen McCullouch's "Masters of Rome" series, Iggulden's "Emperor" series is nevertheless shaping up as a thrilling, enjoyable spin through the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of one of history's titanic figures. Here's looking forward to book 3!
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