The Ides of March
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- €8.99
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- €8.99
Publisher Description
March, 44 BC. Rome, in all her glory, has expanded her territories beyond the wildest dreams of her citizens, led by Caius Julius Caesar – Pontifex Maximus, dictator perpetuo, invincible military leader and only fifty-six years old. He is a man in command of his destiny, who wields enormous power throughout the vast empire. However his god-given mission – to end the blood-splattered fratricidal wars, reconcile implacably hostile factions and preserve Roman civilization and world order – is teetering dangerously close to collapse . . . His power is draining away. None of his supporters can stop the inexorably evolving plot against him and prophecy will explode into truth on the Ides of March and the world will change forever.
Valerio Massimo Manfredi's The Ides of March is a political thriller laced through with all the intrigue and action surrounding one of the most crucial turning points in the history of western civilization.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Authors such as Steven Saylor and John Maddox Roberts have successfully woven novels around the events preceding Julius Caesar s assassination in 44 B.C. by employing suspenseful, whodunit plot lines. By contrast, Manfredi (The Last Legion) simply retells a story familiar to anyone who s read Shakespeare s play. Given the universally known outcome, the insertion of a character, centurion Publius Sextius, who races to reach Rome in time to protect his friend, comes across as a misguided effort to create tension. The translation s anachronistic-sounding colloquial speech ( What kills me is the waiting ) will jar on some ears, while the focus on action rather than character will disappoint others. Those interested in a solid work of fiction that fleshes out the well-known characters would be better served by Thornton Wilder s far superior book with the same title.
