I’ve read and enjoyed I, Claudius and Memoirs of Hadrian and I was gripped by this, too. It’s fiction, not history, of course, but you get the pleasurable sensation of eavesdropping on events in that tumultuous period. We get a very different portrait of Augustus, whose voice we don’t hear for much of the book. I will re-read it before long ...

Brilliant writing!!! I'm no 'history buff' and for that reason I would probably have shied away from this novel in a bookshop. I'm so glad that I received this novel as a gift because (rather surprisingly) I loved it!! It now has pride of place on my bookshelf and I will be reading it again. Highly recommended to everyone!!!

This is an unashamedly biased account of the story of a boy turning into a man and great leader. It is presented almost as a biography in which the subject says very little. Rather his story is told through the eyes of both his allies and enemies. This is done via letters and memoirs and each highlights the strengths and superiority of Augustus whilst exposing the weaknesses of others, such as Mark Anthony. Each section had me keen to keep reading, but overall I found the book a bit too long. I would be selective as to who I'd recommend to - it is definitely a people book

I must admit that this is the first historical novel I have read and probably because of this I found it a little heavy going. It did flow and told a very interesting story in a fascinating way. The form of the book was quite interesting. There was no direct narrative and no direct dialogue. The entire story was told in the form of letters, journal entries, poems, notes for uncompleted works, etc.