Great story let down by monotonous narration

The book covers much the same ground as Mary Beard's SPQR, though in somewhat greater detail. However I was constantly having to rewind and listen to a passage again because my attention wandered. I don't think this is a problem with the book but with the narration. It's not flat, but almost every sentence seems to follow a set pattern of intonation and emphasis which I found quite wearing once I latched onto it.

6 people found this helpful

Factual, accurate, dry.

Solid history but dryly written. Performance clear and crisp with even volume and tempo. Recitation as dry as the facts presented. I enjoy my history a bit more flavorful, i.e. Mary Beard or Barbara Tuchman.

4 people found this helpful

Brilliant Highly recommend.

I loved this book and got through it really quickly. Holland is a great writer. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in Romans. I'll definitely be listening to more of his books.

3 people found this helpful

What a shame. Awful narration.

An engaging and insightful account by Holland of the machinations underlying republican era Rome.

This is completely ruined by the repetitive cadence of Mark Meadows, who begins narrating after the introduction. His narration isn't the worst to have been encountered, but his technique of repeating every paragraph in the same delivery turns what should have been a fantastic listen into sheer drudgery.

An awful shame that Holland couldn't have taken the mantle and narrated the book himself as his narration is sheer brilliance in the introduction.

Champion horse, wrong jockey.

2 people found this helpful

Ave Caesar

This book is excellent in providing the journey from the brith of the republic, and then slowly plots the destruction of what at the time was comparable today seeing the proud petriotic american seeing his country descend into a civil war, a dictatourship, two popular uprisings, a oligarichal dictatourship, and then explodes into another civil war, then after that another dictatourship. After all that you can only imagine the desperation for it to end. All of this is compounded by excellent narration which gives life to the sheer magatude of these larger then life figures who's names still echo throughout our culteral psyche. Well worth it in my opinion.

2 people found this helpful

Really, really interesting

Whilst this is a mammoth tome, it was truly fascinating and the lives of Romans are surprisingly familiar. With, perhaps, a touch more murder than we have today.

1 person found this helpful

I bought the next two about half way through the first!

Wonderful. History telling at its very best. Right up there with Sceptered Isle and Genghis.

A brilliant audio of the Roman Empire and World

I wasn't sure what I bought when I bought this audiobook, but I'm extremely glad I did.
As a layperson my knowledge of the Romans came to me by various stories, but this book certainly sets out the period from beginning to the death of Octavius in 14 AD.
It is a compelling go ok and goes into great detail of each consul and the workings of the senate.
It has certainly put me right in some of my spasmodic knowledge.
Where did Tom Holland find all to Roman texts to put together the writings and words of all of the main people of the Roman Empire?
It is a great book and well worth the time to listen to it.
It has certainly filled in my knowledge of how fast an entity the Roman Empire was.
Highly recommended reading or listening. Great narration by Tom Holland AND great researching by him.

Life of Caesar this is not

A thorough and well presented overview of the late republic. I was quite pleased as I was expecting a focus primarily on Julius Caesar, however Holland does an excellent job of following the tide of characters, motivations and changing tides within Rome ultimately leading to the destruction of the Republic. I particularly enjoyed following Pompeii's exploits in more detail than typically discussed in other tellings. If you want a story of the military history of the civil wars this isn't the book for you, as the battles are very much footnotes in the overall drama and personally I enjoyed the focus on the political motivations of each of the key players.

Great recounting of the fall of the republic.

My favourite historical story distilled into a single book. The narration is actually fine, people seem not to like it but this is a history book, it deals with facts and realities of the time it covers. I’m not sure introducing a theatrical bent to that would add anything so I think they made the right decision the way it is.