I used to think this book was greater than The First Man in Rome, but now that I've re-read it again, I have to say that it's not exactly as good as I thought it was. First Man rose in my estimation on a re-read, this was slightly lowered, so now I think they're pretty much even.The elements that make it great are all here, except for one. I'd forgotten that Publius Rutilius Rufus' letters barely make an appearance and I sorely missed them. Not that he dies, but he's in no position to be informing others in the farflung provinces of what's going on in Rome. So that job falls to others and they simply don't have Rufus' voice in their missives. When there are no letter opportunities, the exposition is dumped into the narrative and it tended to get ponderous - especially towards the end when Sulla and Marius are trying to checkmate each other and armies get shifted and elections are held and things move very fast. At times it felt like I was reading an ancient historian rather than dramatic fiction.So that was the only problem I had with it, and the disappointment was a slight bummer.Other than that, it was the same old glorious fun. Sulla was his lusciously sociopathic self, Marius' descent into homicidal insanity was sad and terrifying at the same time, Mithradates of Pontus was an absurd figure as only megalomaniacal Eastern potentates can be, young Julius Caesar was an annoying precocious prat (I've never really cottoned to him), and Young Pompey was - to put it simply - adorbz.He has always gotten my non-Sullan cottoning-to.(Illustration: McCullough)There were a lot of things that had fallen down the memory hole over the past 10+ years since I last read it, and so the entire book didn't feel like I was retreading old ground. There's simply so much covered - wars, debates, laws, assassinations, elections, negotiations, murders, exiles, taxes, trials, and slaughters - that it's impossible to retain every conversation, every detail. These books will never get old and never entirely familiar.The early scene between Sulla and Aurelia, however, has been burned into my memory for the past 17 years. Stupid, virtuous woman. I always want it to end differently, as in lots of sweaty grappling without a moment of hesitation or regret. But alas....Probably my most favorite aspect of this book, as well as the entire series (since it applies to nearly every character): The voices and attitudes McCullough gives these long-dead people never ceases to amuse me. I love what she puts into their mouths, though if one has a huge bugaboo about even a whiff of anachronistic dialogue, maybe they wouldn't feel the same. If someone saying, "Don't worry, I wouldn't miss that fiasco for anything" has your hand clutching at the pearls, then remind yourself that if it was linguistically accurate, you'd be reading it in Latin. :P In my world, Quintus Sertorius can use whatever the hell mid-19th century theatrical vocabulary he wants because ONE-EYED BADASS.The joyride of murder, intrigue, and politics by Hot Dead Language Guys will continue in Fortune's Favorites. It's Golden God Pompey's turn to shine. Wheeee! :D
finished another reread of Grass Crown (like with First man in Rome and Fortune's Favorites I forgot how many, but I would say over 10 end to end reads) and it was still engrossing - starting in 98 BC, so 2 years after First Man in Rome's end with both main protagonists now in political decline.After unprecedented 6 consulships and the decisive defeat of Jugurtha and then of the Germans, Marius was outplayed politically in the Senate and had his first stroke which incapacitated him at a crucial time, while when recovered he could only destroy his former allies who in the meantime had bid for power - of course this only helped his conservative adversaries who then sidelined him (they of course expected that to be for good as Marius was 60 by now); with his most tenacious enemy returning from exile, Marius decides to make himself scarce and go on an extended trip East to investigate Mithridates, the young and ambitious king of Pontus...Sulla on the other hand, moved away from Marius to further his career only for the curse of his extremely good looks to strike again - the teenager wife of Scaurus, the venerable leader of the Senate and about the same age with Marius so 40+ years older than his wife, becomes infatuated with him and makes a fool of herself in front of all Rome by stalking him (Scaurus' son who killed himself after being disowned for cowardice was the original intended husband of young Dalmatica) Sulla's pride (knowing that he did nothing wrong with Dalmatica as he avoided her very carefully) in not following Scaurus friendly suggestion to leave Rome for a couple of years as a general somewhere, led to his rejection in elections where undistinguished nobodies came in front of him due to Scaurus' influence, so off from Rome he must go too, in order to rebuild his image and still have a chance at higher office...So in the meantime, the saga of famous noble conservative turned populist after the defeat at Arausio, Livius Drusus and of his extended family (which will include as children Servilia, Cato and the father of Empress Livia among others) takes center stage as Livius Drusus tries hard to have the Italian allies become citizens, while knowing perfectly well that the Italians were ready for war if Rome kept refusing them...And then the storm comes with Rome's survival at stake, while as men of destiny and greatness, Marius and Sulla go again on the center stage and towards the inevitable titanic confrontation...Just great stuff and still one of my all time favorite novels
What do You think about The Grass Crown (1992)?
I kept Wikipedia handy so that I could look up the endless list of ancient foreign cities, and I was never able to keep track of the revolving cast of Quinti (Quintuses?), but beyond that, the second volume of McCullough's epic Masters of Rome series rivals the first in quality historic fiction writing.McCullough deftly moves her characters into a new era--Rome is seemingly on the decline due to corruption and greed within its government, and various foreign and domestic wars. She uses this as the backdrop to transform her main characters (Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla)from triumphant allies in the first book to bitter political rivals. The transition is subtle, yet palpable throughout, and the author delivers with impactful final act.The body count is seriously upped from the first installment, and so is the gore factor. McCullough wraps the bloody bits up in beautiful prose, almost to the point that you don't even realize sometimes how shockingly disgusting the scene unfolding is until it's too late.Each book in this series weighs in at more than 1000 pages, so it will probably be awhile before I pick up the third, but I am definitely eager to continue the series.
—Jeremy Hurd
This second book, in a seven book series on the Roman Empire, is a great and entertaining way to discover the ways and times of the Roman Empire. The first book, "The First Man in Rome" was a better book, certainly one of the very best of the historical fiction genre. It was rich in characterization and the description of the times and all its details was sumptuous (I loved reading about what they eat, when, and how). Ms. McCullough (of Thorn Birds fame) admits herself in her afterword of this book, "...the initial book in this projected series...laid in the backdrop of an alien world. After it, I am obliged by the sheer length of the project to restrict my detail to what is necessary to advance characters and plot..." and each book is over 400,000 words in length! Anyway, that is a shame, as the less detail does show, hence only four stars for this one (I gave the first one five). The first book must be read by anyone interested in this series, as the characters are introduced there in great detail and most of the characters in this book are those same characters, further along in time and age. I will no doubt precede with the third in the series, "Fortunes Favorites" since in the third book, the rise of that precocious teenager, Julius Caesar, who was 13 years old at the end of this book, promises to be intriguing and continually enthralling subject.
—Lee Galloway
I think this might be a better book than First Man in Rome, but it's hard to say. As other reviewers have mentioned, the absence of Rutilius Rufus' letters is a sad omission; on the other hand, there's a lot more dynamic conflict in this one -- Marius v Sulla, rather than Marius v. a bunch of (mostly nameless) antagonists we don't really care about. Each of these men have strengths and weaknesses, and McCullough depicts them fantastically -- well-drawn, with complex depths that can sometimes turn up surprising results. Marius, the fading First Man who doesn't realize he's fading, and Sulla, the rising star whom you'd feel more sympathy for if it weren't for the fact that he's a (mostly) cleverly concealed sociopath (references to the "clawed creature" inside him abound). What I found most intriguing was how relatable these people were -- when you were following each of their various perspectives, you were led step by step to understand exactly how they *thought* their actions were necessary to Save the Republic...while at the same time knowing with the wisdom of historical hindsight that in actuality they were step by step destroying everything it had meant. Marius realizes that government cannot be entrusted to a bunch of oligarchial old fuddy-duddies, so he acts to move power to the people where he thinks it belongs, demonstrating the dangerous power of demagoguery to his nephew Caesar who will make much better use of it. Sulla "restores" Rome, but at the price of marching an army into the previously-inviolable precincts of the city, setting a salutary example that others are quick (very quick) to follow. The bloody purges of Marius are horrific -- one reads history that says, OK, pre-eminent nobles were slaughtered without distinction, but it doesn't really mean anything. This book has spent time with most of these leading figures, even if they're peripheral to the main action, so when Marius' thugs run amok and start killing them, it's a big "Holy crap I can't believe these people!" sort of moment. I do not look forward to Sulla's purges when he returns, which I recall being a lot worse.If I had a nit to pick here, it would be that the author can sometimes get lost in describing the who's who of senators, who's marrying the other one's daughter, who's being prosecuted for treason and corruption, who's exiled, who's un-exiled, etc. But then, the Romans were themselves obsessed with this kind of litigiousness and social climbing, so perhaps all that's really saying is that McCullough is a quintessential Roman (or that I am not, in this respect). So I can't really fault her a star for that. 800+ pages flew by remarkably quickly!
—Ryan Groesbeck
