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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9780312989408
ISBN number: 0312989407
Label: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 464
Printing Date: September 15, 2003
Publishing house: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Sale Popularity Level: 392722
Studio: St. Martin's Paperbacks
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Product Description:
In the year, 354 A.D., Julian, a sheltered scholar and pacifist lives in peace-until a summons from Emperor Constantine the Great changes the young man's life forever. Dispatched to Gaul to help reclaim a beaten Roman territory from German barbarians, Julian displays a surprising and brutal genius for survival against impossible odds. Emerging as an unlikely hero and adored by a legion of zealots, his untapped ambition is ignited-to reign as the new emperor. It's a position of power that'll test the loyalty of his friends, stir the ire of enemies, and cast an ominous shadow over his mad, and most magnificently impossible conquest of all...
From the author of the acclaimed The Ten Thousand comes a breathtaking recreation of the historic rise to power of a ruthless yet unlikely leader plunged into the chaos of war-and his shocking fall that would become one of the most fascinating mysteries of the ages. A novel of courage and conviction, of loyalty and betrayal, of personal victory and dark ambition,
Gods and Legions is epic storytelling at its most riveting.
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Rated by buyers -
The cover was not very impressive when I found it at the store but I was simply blown away by this book after reading it. Maybe it was the low expectations. Maybe it was the recent suffering through Tides of War. Anyway, the book is about Julian the Apostate. Another reviewer said that he wasn't depicted as a tragic character yet that is exactly what I thought of Julian. Julian for the most memorable portion of the story is an intelligent hardworking administrator. He stabilized and secured Gaul under extreme pressure and with little help. Throughout the whole story Julian's ability as a general is impressive. His descent into superstition was tragic. Even with all his faults I was disappointed that he lost to the Persians and that he died. Perhaps had things been slightly different Julian could have led Rome back from the brink and secured her eastern territories against the Persians and western territories against the barbarians. Instead, Rome continued the infighting and ultimately was overrun and civilization was dragged back a thousand years into the muck. Too bad.
Rated by buyers 
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This will not catch your full attention right away, because author's skills of writings. But after you get over that phrase, then you can get the idea of the systematic trains of the book.
What this book can be improved... could be the way he described women, the book fail to describe how a woman could be. It is more of manly book. The battle scenes are good, it is very much in details. After all, it still have the score of 8.
Rated by buyers -
I enjoyed the book overall, but got "bogged down" in some of the battle descriptions. Otherwise, it was an enjoyable read.
Rated by buyers -
The key to GODS AND LEGIONS is its narrator. Caesarion, physician to two emperors, begins as a bright scientist who likes to push the boundaries of reseach. Contradictorily, he is also a 4th century Christian, and in Caesarion Christianity is gradually winning. As a Christian's twisted view of Emperor Julian, GODS AND LEGIONS is a cultural study of the Roman Empire.
Caesarion begins as a friend of young student Julian, the only surviving male cousin of Emperor Constantius. Julian survives because his love of books seems to make him harmlessly unambitious. But Constantius needs a figurehead to represent Roman power in the West. Placed in Gaul, Julian flowers into a brilliant general and administrator. His sense of justice and his sympathy for Rome's subjects make him immensely popular. As so often happened in the Roman Empire, Julian is acclaimed Emperor by his people.
While Julian comes into his own, Caesarion's disenchantment grows. For most of the book there is a strict correlation between their attitudes: Julian's headed up, Caesarion's headed down. Like all good Christians of the time, to Caesarion religious tolerance would be a sin, and Caesarion will eventually be declared a saint. Trapped by his sense of duty in a grossly uncongenial position, he becomes grim and disapproving. From the moment Julian declares that he follows the Hellenistic gods, Caesarion believes him mad; it is very clear in the text that all of Caesarion's later accounts of Julian are colored by the Christian view of Julian as the Antichrist.
Was Julian murdered in Persia by someone among his own troops? We have no evidence of that, and Julian was stabbed in battle. He didn't stand behind with his generals, observing; he fought. Ford says that either army might have been using the type of spear that killed him. Julian did the same thing as Napoleon did -- led his troops beyond their supply lines. Napoleon's troops didn't kill him. Maybe the murder theory is just another case of the victors rewriting history.
Gore Vidal's JULIAN has a delicious, satirical approach that hurts the powerfully dramatic GODS AND LEGIONS by comparison, but agrees with Ford that the murder theory makes a better story. I'm going to have to track down the writings of Julian and Ammianus Marcellinus, and see for myself if I agree with either novel.
Rated by buyers 
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This book helped me understand what I am looking for in an historical fiction. (deep breath) Steven Saylour (Mysteries of Ancient Rome series) does not hold my interest.... Simon Scarrow (Under the Eagle) is modern writing writ small for the epic that is Rome. But Michael Curtis Ford... ahhh ... If you understand the humour in this line, you will love him. Ready ? Here goes... " I believe he was a Spartan" muttered Julian laconically'. Was that funny to you? If so, Michael Curtis Ford is your cup of tea. Writing circles within circles as the ancient narrarator struggles with his own style. The history is tight as the soon-to-be mad emperor Julian undoes, unstrings, and unravels what Constantine the Great sought to do. Julian reverts to paganism and heads, where else, for Persia and his own Waterloo.(sorry for my own very mixed metaphor) This after reluctantly becoming a Roman warrior, succeeding his uncle, (the Roman emperor), overthrowing the Gauls, and in general, having an adventure that makes the AD 300's come to life. I went in ignorant of this particular time period. I came out smarter and better for the experience. This is a meaty novel, not pure history, but not the pap Saylour and Scarrow churn out, either. This is on par with Colleen McCollough and the Grass Crown / Caesars Women series. Call me middle brow, but I'm havin' some fun here !!
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