Ode To Colleen Mccullough

[dianamt54]

I really love the Master of Rome Series. I was introduced to two men I really knew nothing about. Marius and Sulla. Reading about these two men, I just had to learn more and there is a lot to learn! I know that there are a lot of people who may know a little about Rome, just the basics, don't know of these two men. They did start some 1st for Rome. McCullough, to me, makes me feel like I am walking in Rome. I can feel the violence in the streets. The feel the loneliness of the some of the women who's husbands were away for years because of wars.

One aspect of the books, is the long, long battle. I prefer more dialogue.

I am on my second reading of the books. I read them a couple of years ago, now I know so much more about the time frame of the book. I can be like, ok, that makes more sense now.

[cornelius_sulla]

I really enjoyed all of the 'Masters of Rome' series, in particular the books that focused on Marius and Sulla. Like my friend dianamt54, I enjoyed the way that C. McCullough evoked Rome in her writing. I too felt as if I were walking through the streets of Rome, could smell the miasma of the Tiber, sense the danger of the Subura, the opulence of the Palatine.

I think that C. McCullough was overly biased in favour of G.J.Caesar - she comes across almost like a cheerleader for him, and his enemies are cast as bumbling idiots (Metellus Scipio) or drunken obsessives (Marcus Porcius Cato).

But overall I really enjoyed the whole series.

[G-Manicus]

I really enjoyed all of the 'Masters of Rome' series, in particular the books that focused on Marius and Sulla. Like my friend dianamt54, I enjoyed the way that C. McCullough evoked Rome in her writing. I too felt as if I were walking through the streets of Rome, could smell the miasma of the Tiber, sense the danger of the Subura, the opulence of the Palatine.

I think that C. McCullough was overly biased in favour of G.J.Caesar - she comes across almost like a cheerleader for him, and his enemies are cast as bumbling idiots (Metellus Scipio) or drunken obsessives (Marcus Porcius Cato).

But overall I really enjoyed the whole series.

I agree for the most part. I've been reading this series over the last 6 months or so. I'm currently reading "The October Horse" and am almost up to MPC's favorite part (hint: his birthday is his SECOND favorite thing that happened that day!).

 

I've thoroughly enjoyed the series, especially the Marius vs Sulla stuff. Truly fascinating. The Caesar worship is a bit much at times. I do think that Cato comes across as an admirable yet tragic figure in the books though.

[cornelius_sulla]

I only found Cato admirable in the last book, The October Horse. This is the closest that Ms. McCullough comes to portraying him in the same light as he is seen in as a historical figure. But even so, she has him mess up his suicide horribly like a bungler.