Allan Massie

Allan Massie nos ofrece la gran novela sobre uno de los personajes más atractivos, complejos y contradictorios de la historia del Imperio romano, Marco Antonio. Con el vigoroso pulso narrativo que le caracteriza, Massie ha convertido en un relato apasionante la trayectoria del político que incitó a César a luchar contra Pompeyo y posteriormente se adueñó de Roma y formó parte del triunviro con Octaviano y Lépido, el militar que venció a Filipos a Bruto y Casio, el hombre que abandonó a su esposa por Cleopatra y recobró la felicidad en Egipto, pero finalmente se vio abocado al suicidio. Una vida de novela.… (més)

This is the first of a trilogy of historical novels set during the so called "Dark Ages" around the time of and after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. A Roman youth Marcus is sent on a mission to the eastern Roman Emperor Honorius at the time when Alaric's Visigoths are threatening the sack of Rome (410 AD). The narrative vehicle of this novel, one which seems to have not gone down well with some readers if Amazon reviews are anything to go by, is as if it were an early Medieval chronicle, being told by the tutor of the future Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, to his young charge, with interpolations by other scholars in later centuries. This is quite an erudite literary conceit, which I can appreciate, but which will not appeal to all readers and which does result in a novel that gets bogged down by digressions and with a narrative studded with highly improbable incidents, as was the case with a lot of Medieval literature, where the boundary between history and fantasy/legend was often blurred, not generally for any sinister reasons, but due to the prevailing Medieval worldview. Overall, I enjoyed it, and will probably read the sequels (which concern King Arthur and then Charlemagne).… (més)