HISTORICAL FICTION REVIEW: The Last Caesar - Henry Venmore-Roland

Release Date: 21/06/12

SYNOPSIS:

AD 68. The tyrant emperor Nero has no son and no heir. Suddenly there's the very real possibility that Rome might become a republic once more. But the ambitions of a few are about to bring corruption, chaos and untold bloodshed to the many. Among them is a hero of the campaign against Boudicca, Aulus Caecina Severus. Caught up in a conspiracy to overthrow Caesar's dynasty, he commits treason, raises a rebellion, faces torture and intrigue - all supposedly for the good of Rome. The boundary between the good of Rome and self preservation is far from clear, and keeping to the dangerous path he's chosen requires all Severus' skills as a cunning soldier and increasingly deft politician. And so Severus looks back on the dark and dangerous time history knows as the Year of the Four Emperors, and the part he played - for good or ill - in plunging the mighty Roman empire into anarchy and civil war...


REVIEW:

I love historical fiction and to be honest whilst a number of other authors have danced around the year of the four emperor’s no one has really tackled it from a characters point of view in the heart of the matter. Whilst this book is set around the time, its more of a place setting and allows the reader to get a hold of the life and times prior to the key events basing itself around the Vindex Rebellion.

Whilst Henry may be a newbie to the genre, he writes like a pro, allowing the reader to get deep to the heart of matters with politics, double dealing and of course a fair share of combat. Add to this the fact that you’re glued from one page to the next and all in it’s a very satisfactory novel. Finally throw onto this, great prose and solid pace and all in I really can’t wait to see what Henry fights back with on his second, and perhaps most telling title.