Englishman Iggulden obviously is steeped in Roman lore, judging by his latest historical fiction work, The Blood of Gods, in what is termed the Emperor series.
I liked learning Latin but the pleasurable daily task would have been so much more rewarding had Iggulden's creative talent been available as an ancillary aid.
My classmates and I certainly were not ignorant about Rome and the famous protagonists whose names are permanently etched in history. But my recollection is that our knowledge was very much on the fringes.
Doses of Iggulden's writing would have made our Latin labours so much more pleasurable.
Beginning with the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44BC, this book traces the subsequent happenings that resulted in the deaths of men whose overweening ambitions laid them low.
I quote the headings on the novel's back cover: ''Julius Caesar has been assassinated.'' ''A nation is in mourning.'' ''Revenge will be bloody.''
Melodramatic, indeed. But while the author has penned a story that illuminates the events that followed Caesar's death, the beauty of his work is that he succeeds in bringing to credible life the harsh flavour of the times.
Iggulden has the ability to recount ancient historical happenings that kept this reader quite absorbed from start to finish.
He writes that he always intended this book to be about the immediate aftermath of the assassination and the fates of those men who stabbed Julius Caesar on the steps of Pompey's theatre on the Ides of March, 44BC.
As he noted: ''Not a single one of them died a natural death.''
Apart from writing this impressive brand of historical fiction, the author, obviously steeped in the twists and turns of the era, also provides helpful information that will aid the reader's understanding.
- Clarke Isaacs is a former ODT chief of staff.
