The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden.

Hello Readers :)

Recently, I've been reading the book "The Gates Of Rome" by Conn Iggulden, a pretty fantastic book by the author of "The Dangerous Book for Boys" and other historical novel, takes place in the Roman times, following Gauis Julius Caesar, or as he will be later known as, Julius Caeser as a boy, and growing up, until he is in his 20's, which then leads onto the next book in the series, which I know doubt shall be reading!

  As a whole, the story was pretty good, and you could tell Conn Iggulden has researched it, as many of the authors I have read have seemed to have done. It goes over Gaius' childhood, and also goes over his best friend, and "brother", Marcus' life up 'til the time the book ends, ending on a pretty amazing realization for the reader, as you get during some of the novel. He seems to keep it secret that Gauis is indeed Julius Caeser (that is, if you didn't read the blurb, like me.) until about halfway through the novel. The story was, however, very good, and as detailed as you'd want. You can get lost in it, as I realised, at 1AM one Monday evening a few weeks ago!

  The language was understandable, and even uses a good few Latin words, but Iggulden tells the reader what they mean, when they are first used in the story, and example being "Gladiuus" which is a "Short-Sword" in the English language. Although it seems really complex, you understand what they're saying, and strangely, it makes you feel slightly more intelligent, in a weird kind of way.

        The Characters were realistic, as some of them actually existed, however, the author created some of them, to add some artistic detail to it, but to be honest, you couldn't tell the difference between the characters that actually existed, and the ones that Conn Iggulden created. They were believable, and you can understand why some characters do the things that they do (not giving too much away).
        The themes centrally used in this novel is love, friendship, militarism and social differences among the different classes, slaves were talked to alot differently than a fellow man or an army general. The themes were done well, and worked well among the historical background with it.
    The settings and the world have to be one of the most impressive parts of this novel. You feel like a part of this world, and you can't seem to want to leave it all. Like the last book, I could instantly see some of the characters' scenes being played out in my head, like one of the scenes which is particularly gory (again, trying to not give it all away). Adding to that, there are alot of gory moments in it, and the person who recommended this book to me said she felt "Physically sick" during the reading of one of the chapters, so you have been warned. Lastly, you can smell the filth and blood in the streets, you can almost side with one of the two groups in it, and you can see how the events prior to the unfortunate decline of Julius Caesar, and how these have set the scene for the unfortunate death as well.
  Overall, I would give the book a 9 out of 10, because you can really feel the world, and believe me, I ended up only wanting to read the book for 20 minutes, before I went to bed, but ended up reading for 4 hours, covering most of the middle of the book, and ending at about 1 in the morning... and I don't like to think I get sucked into a book often.. Enough said on that point, a good book, and if you like things like Lords of the Bow and other historical novels by Conn Iggulden, then you'll love this book, "The Gates of Rome"!
Signing off for this week, thanks for reading
Dan :)
Conn Iggulden's site is here: http://www.conniggulden.com/
The Gates of Rome Wikipedia Page is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gates_of_Rome