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Caesar: Let the Dice Fly (Hardcover)

by Colleen McCullough (Author) "The orders were that while Caesar and the major part of his army were in Britannia, none but the most urgent communications were to be..." (more)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)

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From Library Journal

The fifth volume of McCullough's continuing saga of the history of Rome meets the stellar standards she has set in her earlier books (e.g., Caesar's Women, LJ 12/95). It opens in 54 B.C., with Caesar civilizing and romanizing the different tribes in Britannia and Gaul. After five years of almost constant warfare, Caesar turns all his political brilliance to defeating Pompey, his former son-in-law, who wants to strip Caesar of his power. McCullough clearly loves her subject and has done voluminous research, smoothly interweaving the vast number of facts into the narrative. She gives us a living Caesar, the superb military tactician and the man who cried at his mother's and daughter's deaths. It's not hard to see why his troops (and many women) loved him. The novel is further enriched by McCullough's hand-drawn maps, illustrations of major players, and useful glossary. Essential for historical fiction collections.
-?Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile

McCullough continues her Masters of Rome series; in this fifth installment, the leaders of Rome plot to stop Caesar, fearing that his victories in Gaul will inspire him to proclaim himself dictator. Amazingly, this abridgment doesn't seem lacking, thanks in large part to Michael York's energetic and empathic narration. Using regional British accents to differentiate a large cast of characters, he maintains the energy and spirit that take the listener through the machinations and plotting of all involved. The emotions are real and fresh--for example, Caesar's grief at the deaths of his mother and daughters and Pompey's fears and jealousies at Caesar's mounting victories. Skillful abridgment and a masterful narrator make this engrossing to the end. M.A.M. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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The orders were that while Caesar and the major part of his army were in Britannia, none but the most urgent communications were to be sent to him; even directives from the Senate had to wait in Portus Itius on the Gallic mainland until Caesar returned from his second expedition to the island at the western end of the world, a place almost as mysterious as Serica. Read the first page
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68 Reviews
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4.2 out of 5 stars (68 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3.0 out of 5 stars Alternative history, Jun 16 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Caesar (Paperback)
Irene Frain ,a French novelist,recently has noticed a tendency to disparage the images of the ancient world and its people.And she is right.Also Colleen Mccullough is following this tendency.Some reviewers have already interceded for Cato,Cicero,Brutus,Pompey,Antony.All they,with the exception of Julius Caesar,had lost in the novel their many-sided personalities.Perhaps it is only a reaction to their previous excessive romanticization,perhaps it is difficult to believe that such gifted and brilliant individuals did really exist.Of course "Caesar" is merely a novel.Still an author however fertile his fantasy may be cannot show us a cowardly Nelson,a good-hearted Hitler,an ugly Princess Diana without inevitably entering the domain of the alternative history.In this novel history may take an alternative course when young Pompey and Antony ,exactly those who in reality had admired the Egyptian Princess,find her appearance provoking nothing but mockery.We know how highly beauty was estimated in the Ancient world.Were Cleopatra such as represented in the novel,she would never become an object of the legend,her subjects would have given her an insulting nickname,the enemies would have used her deformity in their propaganda.Caesar and Antony were not only ambitious men of large scale but also very vain.Never would they tolerate such a mistress.Their attitude to the Queen perhaps would have been restricted merely to a political and financial alliance .Egypt was already a Roman ally and was obliged to support every enterprise of Rome.Were there on the throne of Egypt instead of Cleopatra a man,a child,an old woman,an unattractive woman the politics of Caesar and Antony would have been the same but their fate could turn out differently.Octavian would have lost the trump card of his propaganda.There exist only symbolic pictures of the Egyptian Queen.On the tiny coins her profile is engraved almost identical to the profile of Marc Antony,thus symbolizing their political,spiritual and family unity.These images have nothing to do with the appearance of the real Cleopatra.Only few historians perceive their symbolic./Prof.Paul Martin,Prof.Manfred Clauss,Irene Frain,Mary Hamer,Susan Walker/.The heroine of Colleen Mccullough is a plain girl dreaming of a love for a god.It is a very interesting conception but it has nothing in common with the real Queen of Egypt.We may believe Plutarch.He does not give us the evidence of the court flatterers.All these doctors ,cooks and Roman militaries gossipping of their lords were simply incapable to become creators of myths.
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4.0 out of 5 stars HISTORY DOES NOT REPEAT, IT RHYMES, Jun 11 2004
This review is from: Caesar: Let the Dice Fly (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a novel, written in the syle of Bill Safire's "Freedom". It allows Colleen McCullough the opportunity to make history come alive. For me, the Italian and Latin names were hard to keep up with, especially since people often were referred to using their full names and titles. The use of maps of the time are fascinating. It is definitely about warfare and reminds one of the truism that "war is politics by another means." What is most effective about this book is that in reading it, I was struck by the fact that I could have been reading about the Civil War, World War I, Churchill's writings about "The Gathering Storm", or even the Middle East. The Roman Empire lasted for multiple centuries, but it took on many faces. It was not always totalitarian, dictatorial, and cruel. Caesar's time was a time of intrigue. This story describes the desperate struggle of politicians and militarists trying to find out about themselves, asking of their civilization whether they were overwhelming armies, a republic, following in the Platonic tradition, or a little bit of all the above. Outstanding.

STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM

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3.0 out of 5 stars Another flawed, but worthwhile McCullough opus..., Oct 16 2003
By David S. Michaels "Flavius Crispus" (Valencia, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Caesar (Paperback)
As a lifelong student and fan of Roman history, I enthusiastically dive into every Colleen McCullough "Masters of Rome" novel, only to come up floundering and gasping for air after a few dozen pages. "Caesar," which is in most respects the climax of the series, is no exception: A grand story with riveting characters, expertly plotted, but weighed down by some of the worst prose this side of "it was a dark and stormy night." McCullough doesn't seem to think normal rules of fiction writing apply to her. Long, dense paragraphs of exposition containing dozens of names and mountains of historical minutia serve no real purpose other than to show off the depths of her research (which is considerable, although she still gets odd details wrong-- i.e. references to a "gold denarius" [the denarius was strictly a silver coin; a gold piece was termed an "aureus"] or Roman officers in "leather armor" [there is no evidence Roman armor was made of anything but iron or bronze]). Even more irritating are long passages of extremly verbose dialogue that start and stop with no indication of setting-- i.e. we have no idea where her characters are or what they are doing when they speak these words. Other reviewers praise her battle scenes. I can't imagine why, since the actual battles are given only the most perfunctory treatment, although the groundwork for each clash is meticlulously laid. She describes each battle in a sterile, academic fashion. Never do you experience the actual blood, sweat, grime, the horrendous physical exertion, the searing pain, the awful disorientation, the screams, and the stink of hand-to-hand combat. This is particularly true of the last great battle, Pharsalus-- the maneuvers leading up to the clash take up perhaps 50 pages, while the actual battle itself occupies two paragraphs. Still, what McCullough lacks as a wordsmith, she makes up for with strong plotting and characterization. Caesar, as been noted elsewhere, comes off as too perfect an embodiement of all the Roman virtues, but his allies and enemies-- studly Anthony, dynamic Curio, dogmatic Cato, longsuffering Cicero, and always the likeable, naively egotistical Pompey-- are all compelling and immensely human. Of the women, Fulvia, Porcia and Servilia are all strikingly drawn and memorable. So, yes, despite the hard work necessary to finish reading this novel, it ended up being (barely) worth the effort. I will no doubt read the "October Horse," but only after taking a long breather and steeling myself for another tough slog.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Tremendously biased view of history
I think that the story is highly entertaining, however there are glaring faults with concerns to the Gauls. Read more
Published on Sep 5 2003

1.0 out of 5 stars Blatant Hero-Worship Of A Famous Historical Sociopath
... As anybody who's ever actually read about TRUE ancient history will tell you, she makes glaring mistakes throughout this story,especially with concerns to the Druids and the... Read more
Published on Sep 2 2003 by Dawn Marie Martin-Ali

5.0 out of 5 stars Hail Caesar
This novel typical of Colleen's writing style starts slowly, as she introduces to the reader The Plot and Characters. The plot is intriguing as it unfolds. Read more
Published on Jul 10 2003 by azmi21

5.0 out of 5 stars caesar
Caesar
The book Caesar is great, its violent and compelling. This book really pulled me into the long treacherous history of ancient Rome... Read more
Published on Jun 10 2003 by H. Mahoney

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the series!
This ranks as one of my favorite historical novels of all time--second only to I, Claudius.

The re-creations of the battles in far off soggy gaul are captivating and convicing... Read more

Published on May 21 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars Too Complicated for a Newcomer to McCullough
This was the first Colleen McCullough novel I've ever tried to read. I remember saying to my girlfriend about 120 pages in "I think I've found another great one" -- and... Read more
Published on Feb 25 2003 by Stacey Cochran. Visit staceyco...

5.0 out of 5 stars Caesar: A Novel
The story of Caesar's Gallic Wars (roughly 5851 b.c.) and return to Rome warfare, followed fictively and, in the main, meticulously, from Caesar's Commentaries. Read more
Published on Feb 14 2003 by B. Viberg

2.0 out of 5 stars If it weren't for Margaret George....
Laden with historical information and obsessions of one Marcus Antonius's. The only interest that this book held for me was to give further historical insight into the world which... Read more
Published on Jan 14 2003 by Karen J Davies

3.0 out of 5 stars "Caesar" fails to triumph
What can be said about "Caesar" that hasn't already been said? It is a large, sprawling book that covers the end of Caesar's Gallic campaign and the Civil War between himself and... Read more
Published on Dec 29 2002 by Kris Dotto

4.0 out of 5 stars again, fascinating and rivetting
This book covers Caesar in his prime, first in the conquest of Gaul and then in the Civil War with Pompey. Read more
Published on Dec 2 2002 by Robert J. Crawford

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