Product Description

The third volume in the acclaimed Emperor series, in which Conn Iggulden brilliantly interweaves history and adventure to recreate the astonishing life of Julius Caesar -- an epic tale of ambition and rivalry, bravery and betrayal, from an outstanding new voice in historical fiction. THE GATES OF ROME, THE DEATH OF KINGS and now THE FIELD OF SWORDS tell the powerful, dramatic story of the friendship and enmity between the two men who ruled the Roman world. Following the defeat of the Spartacus rebellion, Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus, who have been sent to run the Roman colonies in Spain, return to challenge powerful senators to become one of the Consuls of Rome. Political opposition, family quarrels, armed rebellions and corruption make this a highly contemporary scene, fuelled by the intrigue of the major characters, who are now developing as full adults. As he takes the legions north into mighty battles with the Gallic tribes, the imperious stand of Caesar and the leadership of his men, his new friendships with fellow leaders and his overwhelming ambition, begin to separate him from Brutus, the great swordsman and warrior. Their long friendship reveals ominous cracks under the strain. Although the Gallic conquests lead to Caesar's triumphal entry into Britain, the victories on the battlefield cause political rivalries at home, and ultimately the famous choice is presented to Caesar and Marcus Brutus. They must choose whether to cross the Rubicon -- together or singly -- and to take the fight to Rome itself. Conn Iggulden is a brilliant storyteller. Characters jostle for space in the crowded streets, on the battlefields and in the corridors of the Senate. The friendship and rivalry between Caesar and Brutus provides compelling reading. Each book in the EMPEROR series causes readers to return to the previous novel, and ensures they also look forward hugely to the next.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1444 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 656 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Emperor - Field of Swords takes Colin Iggulden's sequence of novels about the rise of Julius Caesar to a point where Caesar is forced to bid for mastery of the Roman world. Iggulden is intelligent and precise about the internal dynamics of the triumvirate of Caesar, the elderly rich Crassus and the proud Pompey. This alliance was never more than pragmatic and there was always going to be a settling of accounts--thus far so good, but Iggulden's idealizing of Caesar leads him at times into ignoring the sheer complexity of the affairs of the late Republic. This is a version of Rome which downplays the alliance of street and snob, and treats Caesar as if he were always an apostle of order--it is a historical novel which plays worrying games with historical fact.

Iggulden is fascinating on Caesar as governor and general--in the areas, that is, where we have the words of the man himself, rather than the spin put on his actions by his enemies. There is a real sense here of the practicalities of ancient warfare, of hard footslogging in difficult terrain and planning supplies for the long haul of sieges and forced marches - Iggulden may oversimplify politics, but he is intelligent about battle. --Roz Kaveney

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

Guardian
‘The great events and breathtaking brutality of the times are brought lavishly to life.’

Customer Reviews

Pleasantly Addictive
I have picked up the Wolfs of the Plains at Heathrow airport three weeks ago on my way back home and by the time I arrived I decided to order all the historical novels by Conn Iggulden. Now I am almost done with the third book in the Emperors series, the Filed of Swords, so my comment here relates to the whole series.

I have read many books by great authors who excel in bringing ancient events to life, but this guy is unbelievable. My advice is to start reading on a weekend or on a holiday as trying to read it during a working week can ruin your schedule.

I can not comment on the inconsistency of the historical events that many of my fellow readers have expressed their concern about as my knowledge of Roman history remains very general. However, I will say this, these books are of the highest quality as history based novels are concerned. The characters are vivid and the scenes are superbly described. The war scenes alone would get the book a five star rating.

A highly recommended read. A lot of fun.

Excellent, entertaining page-turner
Volume three in the series devoted to the life and times of Julius Caesar. Here, we follow his political and military career from Spain to the conquest of Gaul and his abortive expedition into Britannia. Caesar had a well established political presence in Rome by the time he was given the freedom to pacify Gaul. Once engaged on this task, his star rose higher and higher, aided by Caesar's ability to manipulate news and spin a heady story for the people of Rome.

The cast of characters is well established now and Iggulden is able to leap backwards and forwards between the political chicanery and turmoil of Rome and the battlefields of Gaul, the Rhine frontier, and Britannia, sustaining both strands of the story quite effectively. Caesar was a great military leader - and it is clear that he had the personality to inspire his soldiers and drive them on to victory after victory. But Caesar was also a very ambitious man, politically. Indeed, given the bloody nature of Roman politics, ambition was probably a good survival strategy.

Iggulden manages to make the political in-fighting as exciting and well-paced as the military action - at the price of some over-simplification and a bit of judicious manipulation of history. As a piece of fiction, however, it continues to work quite well. In fact, there may be evidence of a bit more maturity and confidence creeping into his style in this volume, particularly given the more complicated nature of the plot he has to tackle this time.

"The Field of Swords" is an excellent page-turner - if you have read the first two volumes and enjoyed them, this one will not disappoint. If you haven't read the first two, I'd encourage you to start with "The Gates of Rome" to see if you like Iggulden's style and themes - you will lose too much of the back-plot and character building if you leap straight in to volume three

3 down 1 to go
Originally I bought Book 2 (Death) as a holiday read then, at the airport, discovered there was a Book 1 (Gates) with a third to come. So I bought Book 1 as well and groaned at the thought of 1300 or so pages to plough through on holiday. But I did so, thoroughly enjoyed them, and couldn't wait for Book 3. Now I've read it I can't wait for Book 4!
Iggulden has been heavily criticised for historical innacuracy by a few indignant reviewers and they all have a point. Anyone who just watched the BBC's "Rome", for example, would be immediately puzzled by the obvious generation gap between Caesar and Brutus. In the books they were inseperable childhood friends. Well, the BBC has got it right and Iggulden has chosen to ignore the truth for his own purpose.
But so what? I can't get indignant about it. If you want a cracking,exciting, page turning, easy to read historical tale then that's what you'll get. All the well deserved 4 and 5 star reviews bear testimony to that.
If you want greater accuracy with less excitement go for Christian Meier's "Caesar" and/or Tom Holland's "Rubicon". They're fascinating and I got them whilst reading the Iggulden trio on the recommendation of other reviewers.
There's room for all but if you don't particularly want to explore the man (Caesar)and the period further just read Iggulden's great stories and enjoy them for being just that - great stories.
3 down - 1 to go!