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Ryan is currently reading

The Grass Crown (Masters of Rome, #2)

by Colleen McCullough

bookshelves: currently-reading

Reading for the 3rd time

read in August 2015

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Ryan said: " I think this might be a better book than First Man in Rome, but it's hard to say. As other reviewers have mentioned, the absence of Rutilius Rufus' letters is a sad omission; on the other hand, there's a lot more dynamic conflict in this one -- Mariu I think this might be a better book than First Man in Rome, but it's hard to say. As other reviewers have mentioned, the absence of Rutilius Rufus' letters is a sad omission; on the other hand, there's a lot more dynamic conflict in this one -- Marius v Sulla, rather than Marius v. a bunch of (mostly nameless) antagonists we don't really care about.

Each of these men have strengths and weaknesses, and McCullough depicts them fantastically -- well-drawn, with complex depths that can sometimes turn up surprising results. Marius, the fading First Man who doesn't realize he's fading, and Sulla, the rising star whom you'd feel more sympathy for if it weren't for the fact that he's a (mostly) cleverly concealed sociopath (references to the "clawed creature" inside him abound).

What I found most intriguing was how relatable these people were -- when you were following each of their various perspectives, you were led step by step to understand exactly how they *thought* their actions were necessary to Save the Republic...while at the same time knowing with the wisdom of historical hindsight that in actuality they were step by step destroying everything it had meant. Marius realizes that government cannot be entrusted to a bunch of oligarchial old fuddy-duddies, so he acts to move power to the people where he thinks it belongs, demonstrating the dangerous power of demagoguery to his nephew Caesar who will make much better use of it. Sulla "restores" Rome, but at the price of marching an army into the previously-inviolable precincts of the city, setting a salutary example that others are quick (very quick) to follow.

The bloody purges of Marius are horrific -- one reads history that says, OK, pre-eminent nobles were slaughtered without distinction, but it doesn't really mean anything. This book has spent time with most of these leading figures, even if they're peripheral to the main action, so when Marius' thugs run amok and start killing them, it's a big "Holy crap I can't believe these people!" sort of moment. I do not look forward to Sulla's purges when he returns, which I recall being a lot worse.

If I had a nit to pick here, it would be that the author can sometimes get lost in describing the who's who of senators, who's marrying the other one's daughter, who's being prosecuted for treason and corruption, who's exiled, who's un-exiled, etc. But then, the Romans were themselves obsessed with this kind of litigiousness and social climbing, so perhaps all that's really saying is that McCullough is a quintessential Roman (or that I am not, in this respect). So I can't really fault her a star for that.

800+ pages flew by remarkably quickly! ...more "

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"Look I know it's wrong but I'm not sure there's a right choice in this situation anyway. I'd march to Rome with him...VIVA SULLA" — 15 hours, 5 min ago

Jul 28, 2022 06:11PM · see review

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Pax: War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age

by Tom Holland

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Jan 17, 2026 09:36AM

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2026 on Goodreads

by Various

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Ryan said: " Ok guys, in addition to finishing the locked tomb w/ Nona the Ninth (which will necessitate rereading Gideon & Harrow since it's so complicated), this year we are ... going (back) to Rome!

Colleen McCullough's First Man in Rome series of doorstops is ...more "

Jan 01, 2026 08:32PM · see review

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Ryan’s Quotes

“The young girl was waiting in the sky-walker suite’s dayroom when she arrived, sprawled across a massive chair and playing a tap-click game on her questis. She looked to be nine or ten, but sky-walkers tended to be on the short side, so that was only a guess. She looked up as Thalias came through the hatchway, gave the woman a rather suspicious-looking appraisal, then returned her attention to the game. Thalias started to introduce herself, remembered how touchy she’d usually been whenever a new caregiver came to call, and instead took her luggage to her part of the suite”
― Timothy Zahn, Chaos Rising

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“The sun peers over the rim of the earth, casting its blaze across Bangkok. It rushes molten over the wrecked tower bones of the old Expansion and the gold-sheathed chedi of the city’s temples, engulfing them in light and heat. It ignites the sharp high roofs of the Grand Palace where the Child Queen lives cloistered with her attendants, and flames from the filigreed ornamentation of the City Pillar Shrine where monks chant 24-7 on behalf of the city’s seawalls and dikes. The blood warm ocean flickers with blue mirror waves as the sun moves on, burning”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl

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