same excellent style (Cicero, Augustus) that makes it hard to put down; on the other hand while the mythical beginnings are covered well, the book starts becoming very diluted after that and even the narrative pull suffers. There are still some good parts - the story of Pyrhus for example, but by the Punic Wars the book becomes really mediocre and you can read Wikipedia for better stuff.

Overall for early Rome, I still recommend the extant Titus Livius (Livy) on which i grew up, but this book will do; for the Punic wars on, much better stuff out there (for example A. Galsworthy book on the subject or of course Livy again) and for the later Republic from the Grachii on Rubicon by Tom Holland is an incomparable better book

In fiction, Steven Saylor Roma is a great overview of the history from 1000 BC till Augustus and a great companion to any book of the story of Rome.

On the other hand for a total newbie to the subject, the book is generally very good to adequate