The love of Antony and Cleopatra was truly the stuff of legend. The self-destructive desire that led to their downfall and double-suicide has inspired a host of stories, books, plays, and movies that range from painfully accurate to wildly fantastical. The sheer wealth of material begs the question: do we really need another "Antony and Cleopatra" story? In this latest addition to her Masters of Rome series, Colleen McCullough feels that we really do.

Caesar is dead and Rome is moving forward as the book begins. The Roman world has been divided among the three Triumvirs (Octavius, Antonius, and Lepidus), and Cleopatra mourns Caesar as she clings to his sonCaesarion . As Octavius and Antonius clash again and again over territories and systems of government, Cleopatra plots from her Alexandrian throne how best to ensure that her son will receive his due as Caesar's heir to Rome. Soon enough Cleopatra sets her sights on Antonius as the one who can help her succeed in her plans forCaesarion . She feels no real love for Antonius but she weaves a web that snares his love for her. Octavius plans to use this affair to discredit Antony and place himself as the ultimate head of Rome. The ensuing civil war between the two men and the Egyptian queen will leave thousand of Roman soldiers dead and Roman citizens torn, their loyalties divided between the two men who stand highest in their world.

I've seen other reviews describe this book with things like "breathtaking" and "larger-than-life characters". The author has been called the "best historical novelist of our time". I don't think so. I'm not a slow reader by any means. I can whip through a 500-page book in two days if the subject is good and the writing is spot-on. This book took me a painfully-long week of grueling force-reading to get through. Cleopatra was reduced to a skinny, shrieking shrew (my apologies for the alliteration) that lived vicariously through her son. Antony was the stereotypical oaf who even when sober was simply too stupid to do anything right and Octavius was the gleaming, golden god (again with the alliteration!) who does what he must for the good of Rome.

The characters are nothing more then caricatures of a shoddy historical model and they don't invite any kind of sympathy or warmth. Indeed, from the way her previous blockbuster The Thornbirds is trumpeted over and over again in reviews and on the cover, it seems that is the only real selling point for this book, and I can only assume the previous books in the series as I have not read them and do not intend to. I suggest the same for my readers.

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Hardcover: 576 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (December 4, 2007)
ISBN-10: 1416552944
ISBN-13: 978-1416552949
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