Product Description

The fourth and final volume in the acclaimed Emperor series, in which Conn Iggulden brilliantly weaves history and adventure to recreate the astonishing life of Julius Caesar. Caesar must fight his toughest battle yet -- with Rome itself. Julius Caesar, fresh from triumph in Britain and Gaul, is marching on Rome with his legions of hardened veterans. His goal: to unseat Pompey, now dictator of the Empire. But waging war on your own people is never easy. And even after the city itself is taken and Julius, Brutus, Mark Antony and Octavian re-enter in triumph, there are many battles left to fight. For across the Empire -- in Spain, Africa, Greece, across Asia Minor -- there are legions loyal to Pompey. How will Caesar prevail? And at what cost? 'The Gods of War' is the story of ambition and loyalty, of friendship and power, of love and war. A famous tale, of truly epic dimensions, it ranges from Rome to Greece to Egypt and back to Rome; it shows how brilliant generalship can completely turn the odds, how overwhelming success can change even the best of men; it depicts brilliantly those famous names -- Caesar, Marcus Brutus, Mark Antony, Pompey, Cicero, Cleopatra, Ptolemy -- so that they appear anew. This is a triumphant conclusion to the outstanding Emperor series.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1480 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-07
• Original language: German
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Review
'If you liked "Gladiator", you'll love "Emperor".' The Times 'A brilliant story -- I wish I'd written it. A novel of vivid characters, stunning action and unrelenting pace. It really is a terrific read.' Bernard Cornwell 'The great events and breathtaking brutality of the times are brought lavishly to life.' Guardian

About the Author
Born in London, Conn Iggulden read English at London University and worked as a teacher for seven years before becoming a full-time writer. He lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and children.

Customer Reviews

Caesar's last hoorah!
The Gods of War is the final installment in Conn Igguldens' series of Emperor novels and it sees Julius cross the Rubicon river and take charge of Rome. He follows the fleeing Pompey across to Greece and Egypt where he meets the enigmatic Cleopatra before returning home to be worshipped, idolised and then treacherously murdered by a supposed loyal friend and supporter.

As with the three previous novels, this is a highly readable and enjoyable book. Iggulden manages to keep the reader glued to the page right to the very end, even though the majority of us already know the details of Caesar's final years and eventual demise. This was on the whole an excellent series of novels, I had never previously read anything by this author, but now I eagerly await every book he produces no matter what the subject.

Now for a bit of a rant, I'm fed up of reading reviews criticising Conn Iggulden's tendency to stray from the facts in order to embellish the tale. If readers want a book that is based on nothing but the facts, then please stop reading fictional novels! These are not intended to be 100% historically accurate as the author willingly acknowledges, they are works of fiction which is generally based on facts but with huge juicy dollops of imagination and intellect thrown in.

Overall, I think this was a fantastic novel and indeed series, I don't believe I can recommend them highly enough, so pick them up and find out for yourself!

How it ended for Julius Ceasar
If you have read none of the previous 3 books in the series then, please, don't start with this one - there will be much of the detail which will pass you by.

There will be few surprises for those of us who have read the whole series, the same style, the same breakneck pace and a familiar portrait of the flawed leader. Obviously, this rounds off the story, from the crossing of the Rubicon to the murder in the steps of the Senate, and to some extent, because this is a relatively well known part of the story, the author is up against the readers preconceptions in this volume.

He does OK, though in parts I did wish for another parallel tale which might have shed more light on other characters - something which happened in earlier volumes to great effect. By the end Caesar seems to have cast off all the interesting characters around him - that's the problem with megalomaniuacs I suppose!!!!

For me, the first 2 books were the best in the series, but if you have read and liked those then you really had to/have to read to the end

What a brilliant series of books!

I love historical fiction - Bernard Cornwell, the Flashman books, Sharon Penman, etc, and was very happy to discover Conn Iggulden's books. I sped through all 4 of the Emperor series, the exciiting life of Julius Caesar and then the 2 Genghis Khan books too!

I found all of them well written, very exciting, with some of the best battle scenes I have read. Ancient Rome jsut comes to life effortlessly it seems,(and the plains of Mongolia in the other series) you can feel the city inhabited by some of the most amazing charcters in history.

Read these books if you are interested in Ancient Rome. And try the Genghis Khan books too. I am sad that I have read everything now and am eagerly anticipating the next release.