Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Young lawyer Julius Caesar takes on an impossible case that threatens to end his career and his life. “They chose you because you are, by far, the lesser man, the lesser orator. Because you don’t know what to say or when to say it.” Thus says the great Roman orator Cicero to 23-year-old Julius Caesar, who’s competing against him to be selected to prosecute a case. Thanks to hindsight, we know Cicero’s assessment couldn’t be more wrong, but Posteguillo takes us back to a moment long before Caesar was undisputed master of the world. Though it’s easy now to say Caesar was destined for greatness, Posteguillo shows his fate was far from certain. Caesar is chosen over Cicero to prosecute the corrupt former Macedonian governor Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella, and it’s an impossible situation. Though clearly guilty of plunder and rape, Dolabella is a favorite of Roman dictator Sulla and a member of the optimates, an exclusive group in the Roman Senate unwilling to concede power to anyone, especially a young upstart from a lower-level patrician family. The novel traces the history leading up to Dolabella’s trial in 77 B.C.E. and depicts the hidden grudges and motives behind the efforts to ensure Caesar’s defeat. The author describes invading barbarian armies in Gaul, rebellions in Greece, and the brutal silencing of anyone brave enough to speak the truth. He also shows us the hypocrisy of a society that embraced high ideals but accepted violence as part of the political process. What hampers the story is a plodding narrative style and the author’s penchant for cliffhangers that seem better suited for TV. He puts too much potted history in his characters’ mouths, too much language that seems unrealistic or verging on the soap operatic. And yet, at other times, his writing has a strikingly contemporary sound, especially when Caesar makes his closing argument in the trial: “We may call our form of government a ‘democracy,’ but to truly be democratic, our laws, as Pericles points out, must defend the interests not of the very few, but of the majority.” Posteguillo’s story is a reminder that, though more than 2,000 years separate us from ancient Rome, some conflicts haven’t changed. A book that’s far more interesting for its insights into Roman history than for its style or storytelling. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
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Posteguillo, a bestseller of crime and historical fiction in Spain, makes his English-language debut with a bold series opener about the early life of Gaius Julius Caesar. It’s 77 BCE, and Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella, governor of Macedonia, has been charged with corruption. His prosecution in Rome falls to 23-year-old Julius Caesar, who beats out many older and more experienced lawyers for the honor. Complicating matters is the fact that Dolabella will be co-defended by Caesar’s maternal uncle, Aurelius Cotta. The plot thickens when several prosecution witnesses turn up dead under mysterious circumstances and a spy in Caesar’s camp leaks other witness testimony to the defense team. The narrative is broken up with many flashbacks: Caesar’s coming-of-age under the tutelage of his paternal uncle Marius; his first time meeting Cornelia, whom he will be arranged to marry, when he is 12 and she is eight; and the time he outsmarted the hostile Sulla, dictatorial Consul of Rome. There is action, oratory, and spectacle galore as Caesar awakens to his world-changing destiny. Posteguillo tends to stray from historical accuracy, writing with a surfeit of vulgar gusto. The result is less Mary Beard or Robert Graves than French author Christian Jacq in his novels about Egypt’s Ramses II, though it amounts to a lively depiction of young Julius Caesar. It’s an engrossing narrative of Caesar’s rise to power. (Mar.)

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Known for Roman epics on Scipio Africanus and Trajan, Posteguillo returns to Rome for the event that, in this biographical novel, launches Julius Caesar as a political player. The framework is 23-year-old Caesar’s prosecution of Roman governor Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella for heinous crimes against the Macedonians. Dolabella’s acts in Rome and all parts in between there and Macedonia are no less odious. Dolabella, Sulla, and their ilk are effortlessly hateable villains who elevate Caesar by contrast. The plotline jumps about in time, using “Memoria” from Caesar’s uncle, Marius, his wife, Cornelia, and others to provide a detailed background on Roman politics. Posteguillo is an academic, and the prose, while approachable, has a decidedly didactic tone—footnotes and explanatory asides abound. The result is reminiscent of one of the BBC miniseries of old, with a leisurely pace, an expansive scope, and a detached feel. Certain character relationships, such as that between Caesar and his tirelessly loyal wife, offer a counterpoint to balance the history lesson. Recommended for those who like their historical fiction to wear its research as voluminously as a toga.