Steve Exeter

An interesting fictional biography of the Roman emperor, Septimius Severus, from his life in Leptis [called herein Lepcis] Magna [in present day Libya] where he was deeply involved in a local rebellion, which turned into a bloodbath, and after leaving Africa, following his life until his death. I enjoyed most the last part, where he lies dying, reviews his life, and tries to justify his actions. As he is dying, he meets those who were important in his life who have passed on before him, from family members to first wife to friends to the emperor Marcus Aurelius. He gives that august name to his elder son, who reigns after his death as the horrible Caracalla and you can tell by the very last page of the novel that "The Hood" is intending to do away with his brother, Geta.
As far as the subtitle of the novel, I'd sooner have said the Brown Caesar, since I believe he was basically mostly Punic i.e. Carthaginian -- think Hannibal. But I guess the author thought that the adjective he used would grab someone's attention more readily.… (mais)

Listened to audio narrated by Ifeyinwa Unachukwu. I was not a big fan of most of this narration. There was very little variation between characters so it was difficult to keep up with who was speaking unless you were paying very close attention. Especially in the beginning chapters, words were drawn out and spoken very slowly and carefully, with very little inflection or energy. Their were some enjoyable parts when it felt like the narrator stopped thinking about what they were saying and just let the words flow, which was very engaging but then they would fall back to the previous style. I actually considered increasing the playback speed because it seemed so slow.

An interesting fictionalized story about Lucius Septimius Severus starting when he was a young African male activist against Rome, following his life and what led him to eventually become Caesar. The story jumps a lot to fast forward to highlight moments in his life. The time jumps made it difficult to follow, especially in an audiobook format.

This story is loosely based on the actual Lucius Septimus Severus' life. It does deviate from actual historical facts so enjoy it as Roman fiction, with just enough true facts to make it feel real. The author does a good job giving the reader a gritty portrayal of those conquered by Rome and it's bloody politics, highlighting the year of five Caesars, but skips over so many other details that I was left feeling like I only skimmed the surface of Severus' life.

I received this audiobook at no-cost from Audiobook Empire. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it. If you like my reviews I hope you will follow my blog. https://wyldheartreads.wordpress.com/
… (mais)