The Ides of March

By Valerio Massimo Manfredi

Book Overview

From the pen of the international bestselling author of The Last Legion comes a new political thriller set during the tempestuous final days of Julius Caesar's Imperial Rome. It is March in the year 44 BC. The Roman Empire stretches from modern-day Syria in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Gaius Julius Caesar, Pontifex Maximus, dictator in perpetuity, indomitable military leader who has subjected much of the known world to Roman law, is fifty-six years old. He is at the height of his power; his reign is supreme and his reach immense. Or so it appears. In truth, Caesar is exhausted and ill, trapped in the prison of his own nightmares. His divine missions--to end the bloody season of fratricidal wars, to reconcile warring factions, to singlehandedly save Roman civilization--may be too great for one man. The tide is turning against Caesar and there are those who conspire against him. They accuse him of being a tyrant. They say that when he dissolved the alliance with Pompey the Great at the river Rubicon, he put an end to liberty within the Republic. Caesar has resisted the attempts of his betrayers to bring him down; still, he cannot resist forever. His power is being drained and it seems that nothing can save him, not Publius Sextius--his most loyal centurion and comrade, who is racing toward Rome in an attempt to prevent his assassination--or his devoted wife, Calphurnia; not even the attentions of his lover Servilla. The soothsayer's prophecies will out and when the Ides of March have passed, the world will have changed forever.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1933372990
• ISBN13: 9781933372990
• Release Date: February 2010
• Publisher: Europa Editions
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.3" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A very readable sojourn into the weeks prior to the Ides of March

The Ides of March This book is much better than the two, 2 star reviews that were currently available at the time that I made this review. While the characters are not incredibly deep--as other reviewers have stated correctly--the story flows well, especially in the beginning. It does drag a bit in the middle, and I would offer a suggestion; read the book in a very short period of time. Why? Well, because due to the author's use of many fictional characters and very short mini-chapters in which he moves back and forth from Caesar to this character, then another, then another 2!, etc, it becomes very convoluted if you've put the book down for a few days and then jump back into it. I should have read it in only one day and not attempted to read it at night while I was also focused on reading Caesar by Adrian Goldsworthy. At times I had to go to the back of the book and look up the characters, which the author has wisely identified with short synopsises on each. But overall, I enjoyed the book and find it a worthwhile read.