A close friend harried me to read this under recommendation. He said the first 1/3 of it was painful, and he was right. I had an easier time slogging th rough those parts once I let go of the idea of trying to memorize everyone’s names; they all have at least 3, and people call them by each one differently, making conversations, actions, and anything involving the characters hard to follow at first.

This book has a ridiculous amount of historical detail. I appreciate it, but would have preferred more about the people and how they lived. Unfortunately, it is of necessity a long book that sacrifices time with the characters to explain the situations that arise and the political and military manouevrings that are part of the story. This is more for history fans than for people who think this will be like watching Rome. (Though to tell the truth, this is more realistic, whereas Rome is sleazy and panders to the porn- and violence-watching proletariat, the willfully ignorant. :P)

This book will take you a while to read, but the story is very detailed and will therefore paint itself a very clear picture in your mind of a setting in time where some important shifts in the world’s greatest empire started occuring. I ahet to say this, but I’m actually looking for the next part of the story. It must be worth reading, if this book made me want to learn more.