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John Williams executes his relatively straightforward premises excellently. The first half of the novel deals with Octavius Caesar’s rise to power and the path he took to get there. Then it concerns himself with how he kept power. Finally, in the last section of the book, we hear from the man himself for the first time. The rest of the book (I’m pretty sure I didn’t check) is composed of letters and diary entries from those around him. It creates a sense of the man without ever letting us inside his mind.
It also handles itself in a way that I like. Much of the book focuses on the intrigue and machinations of the Roman court, but once the reader was invested in it, the themes of the book become clear, and it uses that goodwill to explore the ideas at the heart of the novel. It doesn’t show its hand too early. Great book, not as life-changing as Stoner but perhaps a little easier to recommend thanks to how vividly it imagines Roman life
It also handles itself in a way that I like. Much of the book focuses on the intrigue and machinations of the Roman court, but once the reader was invested in it, the themes of the book become clear, and it uses that goodwill to explore the ideas at the heart of the novel. It doesn’t show its hand too early. Great book, not as life-changing as Stoner but perhaps a little easier to recommend thanks to how vividly it imagines Roman life