Tres hombres enfrentados por alcanzar el trono de Roma: Sila, Pompeyo y Julio César. Aquí cobra especial protagonismo un Julio César adolescente que consigue desembarazarse de sus obligaciones sacerdotales para demostrar a todos su extraordinaria inteligencia y su valor, cualidades que harán de él un héroe celebérrimo de la historia de Roma.

This historical fiction novel concludes the Marius and Sulla story arc that began in the first volume. Of course history is never so tidy as fiction, and McCullough insists on abiding by it, but she's able to muster a sense of closure. With Sulla's passing the spotlight smoothly shifts to Caesar and his destined rival, Pompey. This is also the volume that features the adventures of Sparticus, and McCullough does him justice.

The dialogue in this series remains as artificial and unlikely as ever, but maybe that's a sacrifice to maintain the narrative pace. Occasional oversights (Caesar forgetting to say farewell to his wife among the laundry list of others whom he takes leave of, etc.) pop up now and then. Possibly a sign that by the third book the author's confidence was growing and her care lessening? I was chastened at the end, reading the glossary, to be reminded how many smaller details McCullough did keep track of and incorporate to a painstaking degree. She was only occasionally overbearing when wielding her research, as when Sulla is describing his new laws in needless detail. For the most part it's all very well integrated and just enough is provided to move the plot forward.

What she's done in invoking Rome is a marvel. In fantasy we call this world-building, and that word is nearly applicable here for all that it normally applies to entirely fictional creations. This is an instance of world-REbuilding. This third book is my stopping point (and its ending allows for that very nicely, better than the second's would have), but I can understand why others carry on. After three enormous books, McCullough still delivers and the Republic's story is not yet at its close. ( )

Los últimos años de la república Romana, aparecen haciendo sus primeros ejercicios políticos Cesar, Pompeyo y Craso. Muy buena parece la reconstrucción de época ( )

In this volume the author weaves a wonderful story around the demise of Sulla and rise of Julius Caesar. Mot interesting to me was how she handled how Caesar managed to escape the proscriptions and the threat that Sulla felt Caesar was going to be to him. Enjoyable, too, was reading Caesar's interactions with Nicomedes, his queen and Sulla the dog. ( )

I really enjoyed it. It was hard to follow sometimes. Roman politics were very complex. ( )