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sarahjjs's review against another edition
3.0
As the author goes on to state at the end of the book, as more historical evidence becomes available the story becomes a biography of the crazy emperors. I liked Roma more because he was able to sprinkle some magic and myth with his facts but Empire was still a whole lot better than ready a start up non fiction book on Imperial Rome. I'm ready for my visit now Rome.
emilyowen88's review against another edition
3.0
I have to say, I picked this because it was the second in the series (following Roma) that I got on offer from Kindle books. I wasn't the biggest fan of the first one, but wanted something unchallenging to relax to and this fits the bill. I preferred this one as it covers a better known period of history than the first, but it is still a rather superficial historical fiction novel. I did want to get to the end and it provided a few laughs, but I wouldn't rely on this for your dose of reliable history!
psteve's review against another edition
3.0
A novel about Rome from about AD 14 to 141. Good portraits of the emperors during this time, told through several generations of a single family. The sweep sometimes leaves the author with putting dialog into people's mouths that they would never say: "As you know, Pinarius, emperors usually beheaded their enemies and displayed the heads on the Avetine." Not an actual quote, but there's a lot of awkwardness like that: imagine saying, "as you know, Americans elect their presidents every four years." Towards the last 100 pages of the novel, this gets a bit old. On the other hand, the emperors are well-drawn with a good view of Roman history. The earlier novel, Roma, sounds interesting too.
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