The fifth book (after Caesar's Women) in McCullough's popular Masters of Rome series depicts Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul, his momentous decision to cross the Rubicon and his eventual defeat of rival Pompey at Pharsalus. Around these military events, McCullough constructs various synchronous plot lines, including the political machinations of the Roman senate, the complex entanglements (romantic and otherwise) of key Roman families and life in the Egyptian court of Queen Cleopatra. It is always Julius Caesar, however, who is the focus of attention, and although McCullough makes much of the great man's dignitas, she also lets readers into his most private tribulations. His overwhelming grief when his daughter Julia dies is just one of several instances in which he exhibits unexpected vulnerability. As usual, McCullough applies her historical research judiciously and skillfully, integrating details that drive her story forward. She deftly handles a large cast of characters and brings welcome humanity to such historical icons as the conniving Brutus, indecisive Pompey and young, charismatic Mark Antony. McCullough's legion of readers now dwarfs Caesar's own considerable army. This novel will increase the ranks. Glossary, maps and illustrations. BOMC, QPB alternates; audio rights to Simon & Schuster. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

The latest installment in McCullough's popular ancient history series, the Masters of Rome, finds Julius Caesar poised and ready to assume full mastery of the Roman state. The reader witnesses two of Caesar's major endeavors in extending not only Rome's power but also his own: the reduction of Gaul to Roman control and the eventual face-off for absolute power with his ally-turned-enemy, Pompey, another famous general. Readers of historical fiction who love to live in a novel's world for a long reading period will savor the amazing amount of detail here; McCullough's copious research pays off, for she is as much at home on the battlefield as in the political arena. Is all of that detail necessary, though? The question is really beside the point. That she maintains a vast readership testifies to a definite appreciation of her ability to handle all those facts and particulars without ever letting her story droop. Her dialogue gets better--less wooden--with each volume in the series, and her strength in giving historical figures life and breath continues unabated. --Brad Hooper

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. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 8/97.]‘Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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. Again, the portraits are memorable--from Brutus (here, a money-mad ``wet fish'' with acne) to Cleopatra (scrawny, ugly, calmly plotting fratricide)--and the politicking is showy, sly, witty, and often deadly. At the close of Caesar's Women (1996), McCullough's fourth massive staging of the power wrests and wrestlings of mighty men of ancient Rome, Julius Caesar, a true colossus of skill and brilliance, had left for ``Further Gaul.'' Now, while mopping up the revolts in his detested Britannia of ``blue-painted relics,'' he receives word from Pompey the Great, First Man in Rome and husband of Caesar's lovely daughter Julia, that Julia and his mother are dead. Grief drains him, but oddly he grows in strength, proceeding to un-Romanized Gaul, pacifying tribe after tribe, and eventually defeating Vercingetorix, an ambitious but inexperienced leader out to unite Gaul, who would not accept Caesar's offer of Rome's ``light rein'' in a ``shrinking world.'' While Caesar with his beloved legions win Gaul with extraordinary tactics and hardship, his foes in Rome have swung Pompey--once a Golden Boy, now tarnished with fatuous conceit and lack of political savvy--to their cause, which is, simply, to destroy Caesar. Although scrupulous in his observance of law, Caesar crosses the Rubicon to become Rome's aggressor. (McCullough appropriately uses Plutarch's account of his utterance: ``Let the dice fly high!'' instead of the gloomy ``The die is cast.'') While temporarily Dictator, afterward, Caesar pursues Pompey's armies until the Great One's sad end. In the wings for Book Six: the gorgeous Mark Antony, slinky Octavius, and Cleopatra. Rewarding but rugged terrain for the casual reader. Armchair generals, though, should love this--perhaps with De bello Gallico at the ready. Maps, glossary, and photos of sculptured portraits of the time. (Book-of-the-Month Club alternate selection/Quality Paperback Book Club selection)