The Field of Swords

February 21, 2005
The third (after Emperor: The Gates of Rome
and Emperor: The Death of Kings
) of four projected volumes in the much-praised fiction series based on the life and times of Julius Caesar, this sweeping epic resumes the narrative in Spain where young Julius is fantasizing about the conquests of Alexander the Great. After four prosperous years with the Tenth Legion in Spain, Julius has discovered gold and decides to return to Rome with his loyal general, Brutus. There, rich with Spanish loot, Julius enters into an alliance with Pompey, a popular and autocratic military leader, and his older, wealthy co-consul, Crassus. Sponsored by this pair of influential and unscrupulous politicians, Julius is elected consul and assumes charge of an expedition to Gaul with full powers to take spoils and rule his conquests in the name of Rome. His eventual victory over Vercingetorix is only postponed by a daring side campaign in Britain. The novel ends as Julius receives word that Pompey plans to have him slain, and Julius, Brutus and Mark Antony prepare to march on Rome, leaving avid readers athirst to read the final volume. Iggulden has been gathering momentum gradually over his first two installments, and here he blasts full steam ahead, with blistering battle scenes ("there was more flesh than grass") and rapier-sharp political intrigue. Agent, Kathy Anderson at Anderson/Grinberg Literary Management.

November 1, 2004
As evidenced by the first two books in the "Emperor" series, Iggulden really knows his stuff about ancient Rome. Here, Julius Caesar's enemies start lining up.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2005
This title is the third volume in Iggulden's projected four-volume Emperor series, following" Emperor: The Gates of Rome" (2003) and " Emperor: The Death of Kings " (2004). The series continues to be a highly (and authentically) detailed, fast-paced, and elaborately plotted saga based on the life of the greatest Roman of them all, Julius Caesar. As the second volume ended, readers saw Caesar gathering an impressive record as a military leader. Now, in the new installment, Caesar is taking significant steps into the complex arena of the politics of the Roman republic and moves further to the forefront with his famous conquest of Britain. Caesar is inarguably a man of ambition, and the results of his ambition are dramatically played out as the series proceeds. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)