Roman Conquest

Claudius by Douglas Jackson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I rarely read historical fiction but the ancient Romans have always fascinated me - and my copy of this book came cheaply in a book sale.

I expected it to be bloodthirsty, with horrible deeds, and it did fulfil that expectation, of course; the reason I put off reading it at first.

The violence could have been less graphically described and would have left an entertaining tale that spoke less of man's inhumanity to man, and the horrors of war and conquest, no matter what the epoch.

Both Roman and British motivation in slaughtering each other are well brought out in the book and the fate of the British hero, King Caratacus, is left slightly in doubt in the last few lines.

The trouble with historical novels, with real historical figures in them, is that you can resolve any dilemma about what happened. Two websites I checked confirm that Caratacus was pardoned by Claudius and left to wander Rome.

The records I searched do not mention what happened to him after that.

Rufus is an engaging minnow among characters in the story but is frequently at the forefront of the plot and is most likely to get the sympathy vote from a reader.

The epic story is masterfully told, living up the book blurb.







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