The Death of Kings - Conn Iggulden

...Julius and a few of the officers taken captive. Meanwhile in Greece Marcus Brutus is returning home to set up a legion and wait for his friend Caesar to return for the two of them to lead. There are rebellions breaking out all over and the senate have to do something about them. With Mithridates having risen again in Greece and Spartacus leading a rebellion in the North these are times of change in Rome as they look for a new leader.

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...Emperor series following the events of Julius Caesar's life. The series isn't completely factual and Iggulden has based the plot around real events, but adapted them to create a decent story. His first novel, The Gates Of Rome, was a compelling read and from the first page The Death Of Kings adopted a very similar structure. With a number of the events within the story being based on real events it also helps to serve partly as a history lesson but ... more

Having fled Rome and joined a Roman Galley, Gaius Julius Caesar has been involved in a couple of battles to reclaim Roman ports. He even gained an honour wreath for bravery in battle but now their ship has been attacked by pirates and Julius and a few of the officers taken captive. Meanwhile in Greece Marcus Brutus is returning home to set up a legion and wait for his friend Caesar to return for the two of them to lead. There are rebellions breaking out all over and the senate have to do something about them. With Mithridates having risen again in Greece and Spartacus leading a rebellion in the North these are times of change in Rome as they look for a new leader.

This is the second of former England teacher Conn Iggulden's Emperor series following the events of Julius Caesar's life. The series isn't completely factual and Iggulden has based the plot around real events, but adapted them to create a decent story. His first novel, The Gates Of Rome, was a compelling read and from the first page The Death Of Kings adopted a very similar structure. With a number of the events within the story being based on real events it also helps to serve partly as a history lesson but it is important to remember that not everything in these books is as it happened.

When I finished reading his first novel I decided that rather than read something different I would move straight onto the second to keep events fresh in my mind. I've never really been into Historical Fiction and as I went to start this second book I thought it might lose the appeal being read so quickly after the first. Instead the story and the characters I had read about in the first instalment held my interest and if anything I was more immersed in this follow up than in the first one. This is certainly an addictive series and Iggulden seems to be an amazing story teller.

His writing style helps to keep the story flowing and that in turn makes the 658 pages flow by effortlessly. In each chapter he focuses on certain events and tries to keep coinciding events happening within the same chapter. He also likes to create a bit of suspense in the plot and starts a story of events, which the reader won't witness but instead experiences it from the person who discovers these events. The chapter set up is quite similar in structure to the first book and Iggulden tries to keep a rigorous pace by using quite punchy chapters of around 20 pages.

Throughout the story he gives enough detail to set the scene and give the reader a mental picture of his settings. I've always thought that too much detail can kill a story but he seems to get it just right and leaves enough to the imagination. The fight sequences aren't too graphic but he uses the right sort of descriptions to make the book accessible to an audience both young and old. It seems to be a feature of all parts of his writing as he keeps the detail of intimate encounters as well as battle scenes to their simplest and leaves a lot of it to the reader's imagination, which helped me to get really caught up in the book.

It seems that Iggulden learned something from his first novel as well. I felt that his first effort ended too openly and despite knowing there was another on the way it left too many questions to be answered. This time however there is a definitive end and although there is a third book in the series he ends this one with a lot less open ends. There are still questions to be answered but it allows this book to stand a lot better on its own than the previous one.

He carries on the reader's fascination with his characters as Caesar becomes a lot more ruthless throughout the story but you can feel yourself really routing for him as you read. Iggulden seems to have taken some of the fascination with Caesar and really brought it to live in his books making it compulsory to read on. Similarly a number of characters return from the first book and a similar fascination develops with each of them. While the characters of Renius and Cabera take more of a back seat role they are still as important to the story as ever.

I felt that there were a couple of weaker characters involved in this story and the main one of those was certainly Suetonius. I'm still unsure as to whether this has something to do with the hatred Julius has for him or the events of the first book but he seems quite a weak character and one you really don't care whether he lives or dies. A similar case can be made of Sulla's general who plays quite a big part in the plot but doesn't particularly stand out in the story.

Overall this is a decent story and perhaps a much better novel than his first. He has learned from the first novel and taken those experiences into making this a better book. The series certainly has legs and Iggulden's way of concentrating on a few years at a time mean it will be a long series and ultimately if all the books are as good as this one it certainly will be a best selling series for the author. This addition to the series doesn't stand alone and it would be much more beneficial to the reader to start at the beginning to get to know the characters better. I personally really enjoyed these books and wouldn't hesitate them to anyone. If you have any interest in Caesar or the events of Rome, or perhaps you just enjoy historical fiction then you'll love this.

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