Forged in Rome

Ink and Iron #1

by Conn Iggulden

Can a slave . . . become a master?

AD 37. The Roman Republic has become a true empire, stretching from Egypt to the seacoast of Gaul. Sixty million people live under its rule.

A scribe in a noble household on the outskirts of the empire’s greatest city, a young man who has no memory of his past or his family. Where freedom exists for the privileged few, he has only ever known a life of slavery. His name is Cormac.

When Cormac’s master dies suddenly under suspicious circumstances, he finds himself furnished with documents freeing him from bondage. Surviving somewhere between slave and citizen, he quickly discovers the dangers that come with freedom. The city is a pitiless place for those without allies.

But the winds of fate are shifting. Cormac’s talents – his treasured ability to read and write – will soon take him from city slums to the mines of Gaul, to the island of Britannia and back to the hills of Rome.

Slave, scribe, soldier – Cormac will have to play Rome’s most dangerous game if he’s to secure wealth and power. For in this city, with skill, ambition and luck, perhaps such things can be won . . .

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, Roman

409 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 20, 2025

About the author

Also publishes under author name C.F. Iggulden.

I was born in the normal way in 1971, and vaguely remember half-pennies and sixpences. I have written for as long as I can remember: poetry, short stories and novels. It’s what I always wanted to do and read English at London University with writing in mind. I taught English for seven years and was Head of English at St. Gregory’s RC High School in London by the end of that period. I have enormous respect for those who still labour at the chalk-face. In truth, I can’t find it in me to miss the grind of paperwork and initiatives. I do miss the camaraderie of the smokers’ room, as well as the lessons where their faces lit up as they understood what I was wittering on about.

My mother is Irish and from an early age she told me history as an exciting series of stories – with dates. My great-grandfather was a Seannachie, so I suppose story-telling is in the genes somewhere. My father flew in Bomber Command in WWII, then taught maths and science. Perhaps crucially, he also loved poetry and cracking good tales. Though it seems a dated idea now, I began teaching when boys were told only girls were good at English, despite the great names that must spring to mind after that statement. My father loved working with wood and equations, but he also recited ‘Vitai Lampada’ with a gleam in his eye and that matters, frankly.

I’ve always loved historical fiction as a genre and cut my teeth on Hornblower and Tai-Pan, Flashman, Sharpe and Jack Aubrey. I still remember the sheer joy of reading my first Patrick O’Brian book and discovering there were nineteen more in the series. I love just about anything by David Gemmell, or Peter F. Hamilton or Wilbur Smith. I suppose the one thing that links all those is the love of a good tale.

That’s about it for the moment. If you’d like to get in touch with me leave a comment in the forum or you can tweet me @Conn_Iggulden. I’ll leave it there for the moment. If you’ve read my books, you know an awful lot about the way I think already. There’s no point overdoing it.

Conn Iggulden

Reviews

[Clemens Schoonderwoert]

This historical adventure is the 1st part of a duology called "Ink And Iron".

At the beginning of the book you'll find a Foreword, explaining the Roman empire from the 1st Emperor Augustus until Nero.

At the end of the book you'll notice an Historical Note, where historical details concerning this historical tale of adventure are documented in an orderly fashion.

Storytelling is very good, and although this is a spin-off the Nero trilogy and the author is trying his best to bring believable and likeable characters, the story itself is predictable and lacks realism to make it a really convincing one for me in general.

The book is divided into three parts, from AD37 to AD 43 until AD44, with the Emperors Tiberius, Gaius Caesar (Caligula) and Claudius mentioned in the background, but not much shown in this historical adventure as I would have liked, because this tale is about our main protagonist, former slave and now freedman Cormac, sharing his good fortunes and bad times with his friend Malvo, but all in a bit of an unbelieving fashion in many situations in my opinion.

What is to follow is a bit of a tame and predictable historical adventure, lacking in quality in general and thus simply not the best by this otherwise great author I have to say in all honesty, but still is a worthy read about a slave within the Roman world.

Recommended to anyone who loves stories about the Roman world and its slaves, and i will still read the 2nd and last part of this duology to see how it ends, and so I will call this 1st episode: "A Decent Roman Slave Tale"!

[Terry Rudge]

I can’t believe I’m typing this… but I’m giving Forged in Rome 3 stars.From an autobuy author, this is so unexpected.

I’ve read everything Conn has written, and this is easily the most disappointing of the lot.The plot idea is brilliant. Ancient Rome! Political intrigue! Blood, ambition, history soaking into your bones? That classic Iggulden immersion is still here. The setting works. The atmosphere works. The potential is enormous.

But oh boy, this book has problems.
My biggest enemy in fiction is plot convenience, and this story is absolutely riddled with it.
Cormac doesn’t just experience events he survives an absurd conveyor belt of:
perfect timing
impossible luck
constant danger
and miraculous opportunity
All happening to one single person over and over and over again.
At some point it stops feeling epic and starts feeling ridiculous.

A secondary POV, especially one that didn’t trail the main character for the whole journey would have helped massively. Instead, we get stuck in a loop of escalating nonsensical events.

So many moments yanked me straight out of the story because the choices characters made were just stupid. Not tragic. Not flawed. Just frustrating. And the outcomes often felt unearned.

My expectations were sky high, and this book simply didn’t reach them.
Will I continue the series, of course I will. I’m not a monster.
But this one let me down hard.

[Marie George]

I'm a big Conn Iggulden fan, but this has to be my least favourite of his books so far.
I struggled about 3/4 of the way through & got a bit annoyed with it. It was like a bad over the top TV drama.
But persevered & then it picked up again.
But I have to say it was very predictable.
Not sure I'll read the follow up to it.
I won't give up on him as an author though, as loved every other book!

[Mary Pimbblet]

I thought Conn Iggulden's Nero trilogy was really good, and expected this to be similar as it's set in Rome in the same time period. I didn't really enjoy this much though, it felt more like a children's book than an adult novel, the plot felt like it relied far too much on the amazing skills of our unlikely hero who constantly falls into deathly peril in every chapter.
It isn't awful, but it just felt a bit over the top and rushed through most of the actual hardship of life as a Roman slave.

[Niki]

A slave, a young boy taken away from his home and sold into slavery in Rome gains his freedom in an orthodox way, thrilled to be free he sets his sights on Rome and all the possibilities it could offer. Only he soon learns that a freed life isn’t easy. He’s captured and sent to the gruelling mines, then onto Britannia and back to Rome to seek vengeance. And that’s where it all goes horribly wrong again.
I devoured the first 2/3rds of this book but slowly I became disappointed with how it was winding down. There could have been some really gruelling, interesting parts of the storyline that just felt a bit rushed. The revenge plots, the potential romance, why was everything so rushed? The ending came round very quickly and left us with little doubt with the fate of Cormac but it just felt so rushed. So many potentials. But maybe that’s because I fell in love with our dubiously morally grey main character and just wanted him to achieve his goals.

[Mathew Masson-Green]

I spotted this book in Waterstones after catching the word “Rome” out of the corner of my eye and it immediately grabbed my attention.

I’ve been a long-time fan of Simon Scarrow, but this was my first time reading Conn Iggulden, and he certainly didn’t disappoint. I finished the book in just under a week and found the premise fascinating: how does a slave rise from nothing to something?

The writing is strong, taking you from Rome to Britannia and back again, with plenty of twists along the way. It kept me hooked throughout.

If you’re a fan of Rome or enjoy Simon Scarrow’s work, I’d definitely recommend giving this a read. It’s a solid 4⭐ for me, and as the first in the series, I’m excited to see where the story goes next.

[Zoë Routh]

A slave, then freed, then misadventures and hopes dashed, then opportunities, near misses, plots for vengeance- this relentless tale of a tough life in Ancient Rome never lets up! Cormac and friend dash from terrible situation to the next, with plenty of collateral damage, guilt ebbing and flowing. Another great tale from Iggulden.

[David Lycett]

Exceptional as always. Read this in about a week - each night not wanting to go to sleep so that I could read a few more pages. Although I have primarily liked his historical fiction of real characters - this was a pleasant departure.

[DocGill]

Conn Iggulden hits the jackpot again in this engaging story of a slave who goes through a lot of hardship before he is able to become free.

'Forged' stands not only for 'made', but also in the literal meaning of the word, as Cormac decides on several occasions to take his fate into his own hands and forge documents (he is training to be a scribe, in a place where not many can read, and this has significant advantages).

This - and a a few more crimes! - get him to the point where he is free, and, given this is Book One, he makes some significant progress towards becoming a man of power and wealth.

I don't agree with criticisms that Cormac is in unrealistically lucky situations all the time, as he really isn't, and has to go through all sorts of miserable experiences, and much time, before he has an iota of good luck to go with his brilliant ideas.

I can't wait for the next in this series!!

[Hamid]

What a refreshing shift for Iggulden from the last few Rome and Greece-based novels. I think the improvement is driven by divorcing himself from "great men" narratives. In this book, his protagonist is an utter nobody. Iggulden's not constrained by anything beyond a general movement of history. So he can develop his characters as he likes and is able to build some genuine stakes, mystery and arcs that don't feel shoehorned in or disappointing. I found this lightweight fun to read and not at all a slog. Good stuff.

[Louise]

I normally love Iggulden - his Nero series also set in Rome is excellent, but something about this one just did not agree with me.

It felt like it needed massively edited, with over-long descriptions ruining the flow of the story. I do wish we could have had more of the backstory for the main character, Cormac, as that seemed more interesting!

Where the story went felt contrived, sadly, and I can’t see me continuing with this series.

[Jim Sullivan]

This is a great book about the rise of a slave in Rome. It takes us through several levels of Roman society in an interesting way. Conn's books are always a great mixture of story and history and this is one of his better ones.

However, this is not a stand-alone novel. It is clearly part of a series (Ink and Iron) and ends with a cliffhanger. This did not bother me because I eagerly await the second installment in the series.

[Jeff Jones]

I've read every single one of Conn's books and have loved them all to varying degrees - the Nero trilogy for example was very good as were the early Roman ones. I agree with some of the other reviewers that it perhaps wasn't as gripping as some of his other books, but I enjoyed it nevertheless and will always give his books a chance. Hopefully the sequel will be back to his razor-sharp best.

[Steve McClintock]

Another great read by Conn. This is the 13th book I've read of his and this one did not disappoint. The Author's prose is very clean and the flow of the story felt natural if you can ignore the Deus Ex Machina.

I didn't mind it at all, and to be fair without it Cormac probably starves to death a few chapters in.

Great read.

[David]

The content is well researched and provides an exhaustive, complicated and accurate account of life in the Roman Empire at the time. Spinning the story with characters entwined in all aspects of life is somewhat unbelievable. Although parts of the story are difficult to follow, it is a good read with suspense, irony and historical accuracy

[Bill Buchanan]

Not one of my favourites

I found some of the story quite exaggerated,over the top and hard to believe that these events could actually happen. A bit too contrived. I don’t know if I’ll read the follow up when it comes out.

[Brendan]

Excellent again

This book is kinda a little different than normal but it still leaves you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. It is a very interesting and enjoyable read.

[Martin]

A new series by this prolific author.
Cormac’s talents – his treasured ability to read and write takes him to Gaul and back facing a plethora of confrontations and somehow makes it back to Rome.
The period just provides a treasure trove of material....akin to Tudor England.
Await # 2 !!

[Alexander Hodgson]

Poor kid flung from out of the frying pan into the fire and further.
the book read well and wasnt easy to put down. However the amount of bad luck suffered by the protagonist became a little bit tedious and depressing.

[Doug Deas]

Interesting approach to giving us a feel for Ancient Rome and the Roman life. A hard life for Cormac . I found the writing a bit lifeless and didn’t get swallowed up by it. Appreciate the insights to the times. Unlikely I’ll read Part2.

[Hann]

I liked the foreword because it was informative and it helped set up what time period the book was in. It has an accessible writing style. I found it hard to focus on the plot because there is a lot of background characters.

[Cristina]

Igguldens writing is always fantastic, but I am not sure I like this. Cormac just keeps digging his grave deeper and deeper, and I have a hard time buying the premise that he is intelligent. Very much Murphys law

[Ewa Myszkowski]

I enjoyed this book very much, the main character holds reader’s attention throughout the entire book ,during twists and turns of his life. Can’t wait for the next instalment.

[Sean Moran]

Excellent read. I’ve read the first two Nero books, and this new series tied in with it. I’d recommend to anyone interested in Rome.

[Benjamin Tolley]

Excellent. I like Conn a lot. Good to start a new story from a different angle from his previous Roman novels, and the usual Roman books I read.

[chyssa Jamili]

first time reading conn iggulden’s book and I could not stop reading it. Now i’m intrigued to read his other books.

[Phillip Downham]

Classic Conn, but from a different angle. thoroughly enjoyed this, particularly as it sits well in the time line alongside the tyrant trilogy.

[Gail Wylde]

Yet another great read from Conn Iggulden. Looking forward to book 2

[Jason Rubins-Thomas]

I’m an avid reader of CI books, but this one meanders aimlessly for the most part. It quickly skips, without actually putting down any roots or meaningful footprints to hold the story together.

[Paul McCormack]

Decent read. Historical stuff good