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Empress of Rome #1
Den of Wolves
It is 44 BC and the rival powers of Rome are driving the republic to a violent end. A soothsayer foretells that the young Tiberius Nero, if he is wed to his cousin, the darkly beautiful Livia Drusilla, will sire four kings of Rome. Fuelled by ambition, Livia devotes her life to fulfilling the prophecy. No crime is too great when destiny beckons. So begins a murderous saga of sex, corruption and obsession at the dawning of the age of emperors. Narrated by the 100-year-old slave Iphicles, Den of Wolves brings to life the great women of imperial Rome - Livia, Julia, Antonia and Agrippina - women who relied on their ambition, instincts and cunning to prosper. In this first book of the dramatic new series Empress of Rome, Luke Devenish superbly recreates these outstanding women who lived in such monstrous times.
588 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2008
5 people are currently reading
236 people want to read
About the author
Luke Devenish
4 books56 followersLuke Devenish lives with his partner and pets in the historic town of Castlemaine, in the heart of the beautiful Goldfields region of Victoria, Australia. Originally from Western Australia, where he often returns, Luke grew up in the Perth Hills where he attended Eastern Hills Senior High School and Curtin University in the 1980s. He moved to Melbourne to pursue writing opportunities in 1988 and has lived in Victoria since.
Luke’s ‘Empress of Rome’ historical fiction novels are an international publishing success. Book 1, ‘Den of Wolves’, was first published in Australia and New Zealand in 2008, before being released in the United States and Canada, and later translated into Spanish, Serbian, Russian and Turkish editions. Book 2, ‘Nest of Vipers’, was released in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in 2010, with non-English language editions following in 2011.
Before writing novels, Luke wrote for television. From 2001 to the end of 2007 he held key creative roles including Script Producer, Story Editor and Supervising Script Editor on the long-running Australian TV drama series, Neighbours. Luke oversaw 1,500 episode scripts for the internationally broadcast serial, creating dozens of much loved characters and long-running storylines. He represented Neighbours at the UK National Television Awards in London and spoke about its ongoing success at drama industry conferences in Cologne and Amsterdam. He also appeared in a series of behind-the-scenes programs about the show made for BBC 3. Before joining Neighbours, Luke was Script Executive on Something in the Air and, as Assistant Commissioning Editor for Drama with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, he worked in the writing and development of SeaChange, RAW FM and other television series. He has also written for Home & Away.
Luke Devenish is also a playwright. Working at Melbourne’s St Martins Youth Arts Centre in the late 80s and early 90s, Luke’s plays were regularly staged for the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Productions of his work then went on to be commissioned by Melbourne’s Playbox Theatre, the Adelaide Festival, the Sydney Festival, the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts and the National Institute for Dramatic Arts, among others. Luke returned to the theatre in 2010, adapting (with Louise Fox) Dario Fo’s ‘Elizabeth: Almost By Chance a Woman’ for Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre. This adaptation was also staged by the Queensland Theatre Company in 2012.
Luke was a student of Curtin University’s creative writing stream in the mid-80s, studying fiction under renowned novelists Elizabeth Jolley and Tim Winton. In 2008 he appeared in an ABC TV documentary, IOU Elizabeth Jolley, where he spoke about his creative debt to the late author. Luke is now a lecturer himself, having taught creative writing subjects for the Australian Film Television & Radio School, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Monash University and the National Institute of Dramatic Arts. Since 2013 Luke has lectured and coordinated 1st Year undergraduates of the Bachelor of Fine Arts Screenwriting degree at the University of Melbourne's Victorian College of the Arts - a job he loves.
When he’s not writing or lecturing, Luke spends his time gardening, reading, travelling, cooking, watching, talking and listening.
Luke’s ‘Empress of Rome’ historical fiction novels are an international publishing success. Book 1, ‘Den of Wolves’, was first published in Australia and New Zealand in 2008, before being released in the United States and Canada, and later translated into Spanish, Serbian, Russian and Turkish editions. Book 2, ‘Nest of Vipers’, was released in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in 2010, with non-English language editions following in 2011.
Before writing novels, Luke wrote for television. From 2001 to the end of 2007 he held key creative roles including Script Producer, Story Editor and Supervising Script Editor on the long-running Australian TV drama series, Neighbours. Luke oversaw 1,500 episode scripts for the internationally broadcast serial, creating dozens of much loved characters and long-running storylines. He represented Neighbours at the UK National Television Awards in London and spoke about its ongoing success at drama industry conferences in Cologne and Amsterdam. He also appeared in a series of behind-the-scenes programs about the show made for BBC 3. Before joining Neighbours, Luke was Script Executive on Something in the Air and, as Assistant Commissioning Editor for Drama with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, he worked in the writing and development of SeaChange, RAW FM and other television series. He has also written for Home & Away.
Luke Devenish is also a playwright. Working at Melbourne’s St Martins Youth Arts Centre in the late 80s and early 90s, Luke’s plays were regularly staged for the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Productions of his work then went on to be commissioned by Melbourne’s Playbox Theatre, the Adelaide Festival, the Sydney Festival, the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts and the National Institute for Dramatic Arts, among others. Luke returned to the theatre in 2010, adapting (with Louise Fox) Dario Fo’s ‘Elizabeth: Almost By Chance a Woman’ for Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre. This adaptation was also staged by the Queensland Theatre Company in 2012.
Luke was a student of Curtin University’s creative writing stream in the mid-80s, studying fiction under renowned novelists Elizabeth Jolley and Tim Winton. In 2008 he appeared in an ABC TV documentary, IOU Elizabeth Jolley, where he spoke about his creative debt to the late author. Luke is now a lecturer himself, having taught creative writing subjects for the Australian Film Television & Radio School, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Monash University and the National Institute of Dramatic Arts. Since 2013 Luke has lectured and coordinated 1st Year undergraduates of the Bachelor of Fine Arts Screenwriting degree at the University of Melbourne's Victorian College of the Arts - a job he loves.
When he’s not writing or lecturing, Luke spends his time gardening, reading, travelling, cooking, watching, talking and listening.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 15, 2010
I'm fond of saying..."If you are going to entertain me for 4 days (aka 600 pages), you better grab me from the get go." I do have a very short attention span and I hate extremely lengthy paragraphs describing dresses and trees and clouds. (YAWN) I will say one thing in this book's favor. It did grab me from the get go even tho I thought it was kind of weird.
Why weird? The narrator is 100 years old. (He also narrates book 2 so I guess he is about 115 or 120 at that point.) That's strange itself, but the man/woman and the little oracle boy that kills birds and reads their entails... VERY WEIRD. Nevertheless, I was hooked because the book was different and the heroine, Livia Drusilla, tho unlikeable, is strong... BUT...
Read full review by clicking the link below.
http://wwwbookbabe.blogspot.com/2010/...
Why weird? The narrator is 100 years old. (He also narrates book 2 so I guess he is about 115 or 120 at that point.) That's strange itself, but the man/woman and the little oracle boy that kills birds and reads their entails... VERY WEIRD. Nevertheless, I was hooked because the book was different and the heroine, Livia Drusilla, tho unlikeable, is strong... BUT...
Read full review by clicking the link below.
http://wwwbookbabe.blogspot.com/2010/...
June 29, 2019
Ancient Roman politics was deadly serious - in every possible way. This was a very interesting and well written ongoing series of historical events. I was left feeling that no-one was safe, from the lowest slave to the highest of the ruling families. No doubt all too true.
November 30, 2018
Full of twists and turns, this book shall kept you intrigued and the historical aspects of the book were magnificent. Well researched and well told.
April 1, 2019
I read half of this book and then quit. Perhaps the truth is it’s just not for me - but here are my notes jotted while reading it.
I enjoyed twenty percent of this book, and disliked the other eighty percent. That’s a hard ratio to read, because just as I got sick of it, a good bit would happen that was well written, so I would keep reading.
But then I didn’t anticipate liking this book - it’s a type of novel I would never, ever have chosen for myself - a friend wanted to know how much of it is truth, and how much not, so I agreed to try to read it and give my opinion.
I am currently writing a novel set in this time period after two years intense research; this means that I am acutely aware of just how impossible it is to write anything set in Ancient Rome that is what you could call ‘historically accurate’; the ancient historians are generally believed to be completely inaccurate and biased, while modern scholars are, at every turn, divided in their opinions. Everyone disagrees with everyone else.
An author just has to choose a position, and run with it.
On this basis, while there are parts of the historical bones of this story that *I think* are wrong, I have to give the author a pass on most of it - because no one actually knows the ‘truth’. There is certainly stretching of the facts (as we know them), but not to the point of throwing the book aside in disgust. Livia’s husband was at her wedding to Augustus, for example. He agreed to the divorce. She didn’t kill him. Marcellus wasn’t murdered on his wedding night. Historians generally do not believe the stories of poisoning anymore. That kind of thing.
That being said, there were a few things that did really bother me here.
The ‘big penis/small penis’ competition is nonsense as represented in this book. We know that the Romans didn’t covet big penises. On the contrary, a small penis was considered cultured, a large one was barbarian and unattractive. I realise from a modern western perspective that this seems implausible, but you need only look at classical statues to understand that they glorified the smaller specimens. Mark Antony, as Devenish writes, being ‘hung like a horse’ would have been sneered at by Tiberius Nero, not the other way around.
A woman could divorce her husband. To say that she couldn’t if he refused is untrue. Women in Rome were powerful and wealthy in their own right.
Also, women didn’t need sons to secure herself because she had her own money and important connections. That’s a very 18th century notion.
Speaking of 18th century notions - The fuss around Tiberius Nero, and later Tiberius and Drusus, being ‘bastards’ - just no. It just wasn’t a thing back then.
A child could be rejected at birth by the father, as the Emperor Claudius refused to acknowledge his wife’s daughter due to suspected adultery for example; the child could be exposed if it was sickly; but once accepted the child was considered a child of the father, end of story. There was certainly no shame attached to the child.
Aside from this, there is a lot of (in my opinion) distasteful sexual encounters - The dying Fulvia being violated for example, and the random lesbian encounter with Livia and the slave woman while the protagonist touches himself behind a curtain - pointless, honestly - oh, and all the slaves fingering themselves outside the door on Julia’s wedding night *shakes head* .... but I’m willing to concede that is a matter of taste; it is definitely not my cup of tea.
I enjoyed twenty percent of this book, and disliked the other eighty percent. That’s a hard ratio to read, because just as I got sick of it, a good bit would happen that was well written, so I would keep reading.
But then I didn’t anticipate liking this book - it’s a type of novel I would never, ever have chosen for myself - a friend wanted to know how much of it is truth, and how much not, so I agreed to try to read it and give my opinion.
I am currently writing a novel set in this time period after two years intense research; this means that I am acutely aware of just how impossible it is to write anything set in Ancient Rome that is what you could call ‘historically accurate’; the ancient historians are generally believed to be completely inaccurate and biased, while modern scholars are, at every turn, divided in their opinions. Everyone disagrees with everyone else.
An author just has to choose a position, and run with it.
On this basis, while there are parts of the historical bones of this story that *I think* are wrong, I have to give the author a pass on most of it - because no one actually knows the ‘truth’. There is certainly stretching of the facts (as we know them), but not to the point of throwing the book aside in disgust. Livia’s husband was at her wedding to Augustus, for example. He agreed to the divorce. She didn’t kill him. Marcellus wasn’t murdered on his wedding night. Historians generally do not believe the stories of poisoning anymore. That kind of thing.
That being said, there were a few things that did really bother me here.
The ‘big penis/small penis’ competition is nonsense as represented in this book. We know that the Romans didn’t covet big penises. On the contrary, a small penis was considered cultured, a large one was barbarian and unattractive. I realise from a modern western perspective that this seems implausible, but you need only look at classical statues to understand that they glorified the smaller specimens. Mark Antony, as Devenish writes, being ‘hung like a horse’ would have been sneered at by Tiberius Nero, not the other way around.
A woman could divorce her husband. To say that she couldn’t if he refused is untrue. Women in Rome were powerful and wealthy in their own right.
Also, women didn’t need sons to secure herself because she had her own money and important connections. That’s a very 18th century notion.
Speaking of 18th century notions - The fuss around Tiberius Nero, and later Tiberius and Drusus, being ‘bastards’ - just no. It just wasn’t a thing back then.
A child could be rejected at birth by the father, as the Emperor Claudius refused to acknowledge his wife’s daughter due to suspected adultery for example; the child could be exposed if it was sickly; but once accepted the child was considered a child of the father, end of story. There was certainly no shame attached to the child.
Aside from this, there is a lot of (in my opinion) distasteful sexual encounters - The dying Fulvia being violated for example, and the random lesbian encounter with Livia and the slave woman while the protagonist touches himself behind a curtain - pointless, honestly - oh, and all the slaves fingering themselves outside the door on Julia’s wedding night *shakes head* .... but I’m willing to concede that is a matter of taste; it is definitely not my cup of tea.
August 18, 2024
While enjoyably page-turning in places, 'Den of Wolves' stretches credulity a bit too far.
Characterizing Livia and her fictional slave as gods was...a choice. The focus on witchcraft as the cause of all the murders Livia supposedly perpetrated was a bit much. There could have been more compelling tales written without constantly falling back on the narrative crutch of magic.
The first-person narrative was too trying at times. There are so many scenes described that the narrator, Iphicles, was not present for, yet he sometimes brushes that all away with 'oh, this person told me everything about to happen on their deathbed much later.' And sometimes forgets to justify his lack of presence in the scene he relates at all. Either stick to the first-person narrative or don't - in a tale of this size, having a third person perspective would have made more sense than trying to tenuously hang on to a failing narrative device.
There are some historical inaccuracies present here. Some of Julia the Elder's children were omitted from the story, and Julia the Elder gets confused with her daughter, Julia the Younger, in terms of the final stages of her life, which I didn't really appreciate. Her fictional end reads as silly. In general terms, eschewing the historical narrative in order to create shock value loses its sting over the course of this very....long....book. Rome was brutal and savage enough - there's no need to go over the top and make it fantastically so.
That being said, there were several small historical details that lent an authenticity to the world and showed that someone with extensive knowledge of the time period read over drafts of this novel. The pace of the story did move along and made for page-turning reading, but it ultimately feels far sillier than it is compelling. It is a comical, ridiculous, overblown image of Rome presented here. And I've read far better treatments of the Julio-Claudians to rate this book much higher.
Essentially, this is silly high fantasy for Romanophiles. If that sounds like your thing, give it a read.
Characterizing Livia and her fictional slave as gods was...a choice. The focus on witchcraft as the cause of all the murders Livia supposedly perpetrated was a bit much. There could have been more compelling tales written without constantly falling back on the narrative crutch of magic.
The first-person narrative was too trying at times. There are so many scenes described that the narrator, Iphicles, was not present for, yet he sometimes brushes that all away with 'oh, this person told me everything about to happen on their deathbed much later.' And sometimes forgets to justify his lack of presence in the scene he relates at all. Either stick to the first-person narrative or don't - in a tale of this size, having a third person perspective would have made more sense than trying to tenuously hang on to a failing narrative device.
There are some historical inaccuracies present here. Some of Julia the Elder's children were omitted from the story, and Julia the Elder gets confused with her daughter, Julia the Younger, in terms of the final stages of her life, which I didn't really appreciate. Her fictional end reads as silly. In general terms, eschewing the historical narrative in order to create shock value loses its sting over the course of this very....long....book. Rome was brutal and savage enough - there's no need to go over the top and make it fantastically so.
That being said, there were several small historical details that lent an authenticity to the world and showed that someone with extensive knowledge of the time period read over drafts of this novel. The pace of the story did move along and made for page-turning reading, but it ultimately feels far sillier than it is compelling. It is a comical, ridiculous, overblown image of Rome presented here. And I've read far better treatments of the Julio-Claudians to rate this book much higher.
Essentially, this is silly high fantasy for Romanophiles. If that sounds like your thing, give it a read.
October 22, 2018
Odlicna! Volim ovakve knjige!
June 12, 2019
Kitabın vaat ettiği hiç bir şey yoktu. Çerez olarak okunacak bir kitap bile değildi.
December 19, 2023
Ovakve priče ili volite ili ne ...
October 7, 2011
Редкая мерзость.
После прочтения ощущаю смесь дискомфорта, раздражения и разочарования. Я считаю, что это самый что ни на есть ничтожный пример вульгарного чтива. Мне трудно разобраться в односторонней любви и невыносимо признавать по-настоящему омерзительные поступки данных персонажей. Именно омерзительных - просто не смогла подобрать нужного синонима для описания подобного. И честно, не догадываюсь и, даже, не могу предположить, кому будет по вкусу эта работа.
Откровенно говоря, я долгое время не могла разобраться в самой себе - это достаточно тяжелое произведение, явно не для подростков. Абсолютно безвкусная постановка сюжета, интриги, да и самих отношений между героями романа. Надеялась получить искреннее удовольствие, поскольку моими предыдущими романами из этой серии были книги автора Мишель Моран, которая покорила меня и взбудоражила до самых кончиков пальцев, и это незабываемое чувство настоящего приключения в далекое прошлое, которое до сих пор держит в капкане запутанного и невообразимо прекрасного повествования, легкого, словно морской бриз.
Я глубоко уважаю и преклоняюсь перед теми людьми, публикующих эту серию, однако эта книга не удостоится от меня лестного отзыва. Я поставила три только за оформление, перевод и крохотный намек на серьезную литературу.
"Императрицу Рима" не следует читать на ночь, иначе будешь отходить несколько дней кряду. Женской части населения не понравится, однозначно (хотя у всех совершенно отличные вкусы), по-моему, женщины в романах ищут определенный отдых и умиротворение. Здесь я не отдохнула! Просто непреодолимая стена, складывается такое впечатление, что в Риме не было ни Цезаря, ни детей знаменитой Клеопатры, ни бесконечных заговоров, убийств, детей там не выбрасывали на улицу, переворотов не совершалось, никого не травили всевозможными способами, на которые только способен разум человеческий - был только бесконечный трах. Я понимаю, если в книге один пиф-пав - еда и эротика напрашиваются сами собой, но в таком количестве...
Я под глубочайшим впечатлением от сцены между мужем и женой, говорить даже стыдно или печатать. Словом на мужа, даже, если ты его и презираешь, мочиться, как зверье не следует. (Ну, небольшое лирическое отступление - Вы можете купить эту книгу шутки ради).
Вывод: книга - настоящая дрянь! Мерзкая и непереносимая. На самом деле, литература подобного рода не достойна какого-либо комментария (небольшое противоречие). ^.^
Потратьте деньги на чашечку горячего шоколада.
August 26, 2014
I love historical novels from this era. I found this one interesting as it takes the perspective that the women of this era who seemingly had no rights to speak of and were at the mercy of their fathers/husbands, still shaped history, though through alarmingly and sometimes horrific means. There is a lot of sex in it and mostly it seemed unnecessary. A lot of potions etc that seem unlikely as symptoms are more severe than a lot of the 'drugs' available today. Overall though I enjoyed the book and found it easy to read. A lot of the reviewers on this site have express the manner in which it is told (from the perspective of a slave) as inconsistent as a lot of it is hearsay but I think with any book written this occurs and I didn't mind it. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series and want to know who the Empress mentioned at the very beginning of the book turns out to be.
March 26, 2015
Gave this book a second try and while the language was still more crass than needed I was able to get through it a bit better. Sitll far too much talk about people loosing control of their bowels and bladder
The only reason I gave this book any stars at all is for the depth of the historical research. I read this as an ebook, and there were no little markers to show when the thought stream changed tangents. I found that the book was very sexual, and crass. I continued to read it because of how much I paid for it. All in all a disappointing read for me, compared to other books for this time period and with these characters. This is also a book that could benefit from a glossary.
The only reason I gave this book any stars at all is for the depth of the historical research. I read this as an ebook, and there were no little markers to show when the thought stream changed tangents. I found that the book was very sexual, and crass. I continued to read it because of how much I paid for it. All in all a disappointing read for me, compared to other books for this time period and with these characters. This is also a book that could benefit from a glossary.
December 20, 2014
This book me a very long time to read, and I just could not bring myself to care for much of it. It is disappointing because I actually really like the way Devenish writes, I just found the saga too long and monotonous. I realised how frustrated I was when I was just starting to get invested in It and a character got killed. I stuck with it, but ultimately was extremely glad when I finished it. I'd happily give something else Devenish writes a go, but won't be pursuing this series.
October 18, 2010
I have been able to follow this book because I have a deep knowledge of the characters depicted and when they appeared (specially the secondary ones, intended to be immortals and appearing long before their time)I knew exactly who they were. But if you lack this knowledge, you' ll simply get lost. Great idea, developed in a very confusing way.
January 9, 2013
It was a good story and I'm a sucker for historial fiction anyway. My only real complaint is that it was very long and it became a bit repetitive. It was hard to follow with all the characters having very similar names (I understand this is how it was in ancient times but wow, it was difficult!)
Thank god for the family trees at the start.
Thank god for the family trees at the start.
January 19, 2011
A shocking tale of the extremes women will go to, to make sure they're prophecies ring true. Full of twists and turns, this book is like an ancient Roman roller-coaster which doesn't stop until you scream for more! Then there's Nest of Vipers... A deliciously wicked read, I loved every page.
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September 26, 2010ThAT SOMEONE IS ACTUALLY WRITING FICTION ABOUT ANCIENT Rome and we ladies are loving it
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews