Two of the greatest historical fiction authors on one book?! Count me in! I have been impatiently waiting for this collaborative effort and was thrilled when I was able to read it.

The story follows two would be Roman emperors throughout their lives, each character is written distinctly differently (I dare guess one author per main character?) which really gives you a sense and feel for two completely different people and personalities in the book. I'm sure that's tough with one author writing two people, so I have no doubt that Turney and Doherty each writing one and coming together on the rest was a massive benefit to the story. I found myself completely engrossed in the story, turning pages well past a decent hour, only to be horribly saddened at the end. Now begins the long wait for the next entry into the series!

I absolutely loved everything about this book. While it may seem a bit slow to some I feel that's to be expected with the first entry into a series.

I must say that I think both authors must have lived a previous life in this age as their research and level of detail is amazing.
This is a great story but one that you have to immerse yourself in. It is well written but i just did not get drawn in to the story so that I was addictively wanting to turn on to the red the next page. I can understand that this can be difficult of a story of such magnitude and so much detail needing to be explained but I just needed something that would keep bringing me back to the book.

This is the first in a series of books and I am excitedly looking forward to the second book

I’ve been looking forward to this book for years. I’m a very big fan of both Turney and Doherty, and they’ve long mentioned this joint enterprise, so I was hugely excited to get cracking with this.

Told from the point of view of two Roman Emperors, from childhood to their rise to the purple, this is a very well written book. The two men have very distinctive voices, and as they’re written by the two authors separately, we get two very different viewpoints on the events taking place.

Where I felt a little let down was with the pacing of the novel. I love both these authors for their ability to write books that race along at a pace. With this book, I felt the story was slightly stilted however, and I found it easy to put the book down.

So let’s hope book 2 ups the pace, I’m still very much looking forward to it.