Title and author
The title of the novel is Emperor: The gates of Rome, written by Conn Iggulden.
It’s his first novel he has published and as is debuting book it was very well written and did better than expected in the sales charts. Conn Iggulden was a teacher who gave lessons on different schools, and surprisingly he teached English, not history. Although Emperor is his first book he has published, he wrote poems, short stories and novels for himself. Emperor is the first novel in a line of four, which are all about the live of Julius Caesar.
Summary
Emperor: The gates of Rome, is about the youth of Julius Caesar, the most famous Roman who has ever lived. It starts with Gaius Caesar, who is Julius Caesar before he changes his name into Julius in honour of his murdered father, and Marcus, who is adopted by Gaius’ parents. The two young boys grow up with each other and have a deep going friendship for one another, which will be tested numerous times in their lives. When they are old enough to participate in the legions, Gaius’ father hires the best trainer he can find for them, Renius an old gladiator who has never been beaten. Though through this fighter they master the art of the blade, it’s not without pain; they are almost being drowned and even killed. Thereafter Gaius gets to know his uncle Marius better who is the consul of Rome, which you could relate a president nowadays. But there is one who wants the position of Marius dearly, that person is senator Sulla but Marius plots a scheme which sends Sulla off to Greece to put a stop to a rebellion there. During this time of peace Gaius lives the good wealthy live a young man in Rome, visiting every party possible, while Marcus has gained himself a position in a legion, which gets send off to the outer eastern border of the Roman Empire. Meanwhile there was a slave rebellion at Gaius’ home, in which his father is killed, but to honour his father Gaius renames himself to Julius Caesar. Months later Sulla gets back from a glorious victory in Greece but Marius has declared the general to a traitor and thus an enemy of Rome. This leads to that Marius needs to defend Rome with his own legion while Sulla tries to conquer it with the army he has taken to Greece. Marius is defeated due to a scheme of Sulla, he infiltrated Marius’ legion which turned against him, resulting in murdering their so thought leader. Because of his relation to Marius Julius should be killed as well but Sulla spares him and sends him off to a distant province in Egypt, where he cant be off any threat to him, which is where the novel ends.
Setting
Nearly everything has taken place in or around the city of Rome, starting with the growing up of Gaius and Marcus on the land of their family, which is followed up by Gaius getting to know the good life in the rich parts of Rome due to his uncle Marius. Marcus instead, joins a legion which first trains around Rome but than is getting send to a distant land in the most eastern part of the Roman Empire. Especially the city of Rome is very imaging told, the beautiful architecture of the temples, the ahead of its time organising of the houses, and the surroundings of the Caesar estate.
Time
Logically, it’s set in the period of Julius Caesar, which was from 100 BC, his birth till he was around eighteen where this novel stops which was around 82 BC. The republic that is Rome is ruled by the Senate, which is drenched in schemes and plots against one another senator. The Roman Empire is still relatively small, because it hasn’t conquered Gaul, Spain and Egypt yet.
The protagonist
This is of course Gaius Julius Caesar, a promising young boy. He gets a very high level of education by the best teachers that are around, and he is teached the arts of warfare, sword fighting, mathematics and Latin, which prepares him well for his future career in the Senate and in the legion. Gaius is as well a very persistent man, who has to achieve his goals and will not settle with anything less than he dreams of. In the course of the book when the fighting isn’t there, he also lets his romantic side been shown on the numerous parties he visits. In the end he swears that the one who has banished him and murdered his uncle, Sulla, death by his own hands, which shows another side of him, that he is as well very hate carrying.
Flat characters
Senator Sulla, the one who plotted the demise of Marius and thus the banishment of Gaius. He is presented as a smart but sinister character, which is very ambitious and wants to achieve the status of consul from Marius. He’s as well a great general who is cunning on the battlefield, the revolt of the Greeks is quickly strike down due to Sulla’s skills as a tactician.
Suetonius, the bully who lives next door to Gaius and Marcus. During the time the young boys spend they get caught on Suetonius terrain more than once and after a few times he hangs both of them with rope to a tree, bound at their feet. He than takes his chance and punish them for the deeds they have done, but later in the story, Suetonius becomes inferior to Gaius because he will become his superior in the legion.
Perspective
The story is told in a third person view. There is not one narrator but the main one is Gaius, but it switches to Marcus occasionally and rarely to a scene which is told through the eyes of Gaius’ enemies for example senator Sulla, to emphasize the danger that the politics are where Gaius involves himself in.
My Opinion
This novel was given to me as a gift, so I didn’t have any ideas what quality this novel could be, but the theme of the Roman Empire does appeal to me. When I found out that it was about Julius Caesar, a great historic Roman that quickly speaks to one’s imagination because of his achievements. In the end I must say that I am pleasantly surprised with the quality of this novel, it was way beyond my expectations. The main characters are very well described and are evolving throughout the story, but the surroundings are described in a sufficient way. However it was the battles that were very well written, very imaginative and realistic. You read that blood is flying around, limbs are chopped off, while men of both sides are dieing, than the author also adds to it that Gaius keeps his head cool and orders his men to victory, in which you could very quickly see that this boy was destined for a great future. Historically this novel isn’t perfect, the author has changed certain events to happen more quickly or on another period than it in fact happened, but even if you’re aware of such a thing, it doesn’t matter. This is fiction you are reading for your own amusement, not a history book for a test. All in all this was definitely one of the better books I’ve read in a long time, due to the speed of the novel being just right and the excitement which leads you to wonder what will happen on the next page and makes you keep reading and reading till you’ve gotten to the last page.
“Veni, vidi, vici!”
REACTIES
1 seconde geleden