Eckert presents a historical novel about the life and times of notoriously cruel Roman emperor Caracalla.

Lucius Septimius Bassianus is born prematurely in the year 188 as his parents, Septimius Severus, a Roman commander on the Danube, and his wife, Julia, are traveling in Gaul. Later renamed Marcus Aurelius Antonius, he’s nicknamed “Caracalla” after the woolen cloak and hood he habitually wears, but he prefers to be called Alexander. His younger brother, Geta, is favored by both parents, and after Septimius becomes emperor in 193, the antagonism between the siblings increases. Caracalla’s nature is increasingly combative, and malicious gossip, murder, and intrigue abound during Septimius’ reign; he dies in 211 during an ill-fated military campaign in Caledonia, leaving Caracalla and Geta as co-emperors. The drunken, increasingly paranoid Caracalla stages a bloody coup, and as emperor, he attempts to expand citizenship throughout the Roman Empire and restore faith in coinage. As he embarks on a tour to the eastern reaches of the empire, the narration notes that “all he wanted was to be acknowledged as the reincarnation of Alexander”; his cruelty has consequences, however. Readers who are unfamiliar with the setting’s four decades of Roman imperial history will learn much from Eckert’s detailed descriptions of ceremonies, schemes, and circuses: “In the Circus [Maximus], the gods were permanently installed in a raised shrine encircling the upper reaches of an obelisk, which the first Augustus Caesar brought from Egypt at great expense.” Although characters from all parts of the empire effectively portray the era’s diversity of people and beliefs, including the often misunderstood faith called Christianity, a glossary of characters and their various names and allegiances would have been helpful.

A bloody and educational drama of the Roman Empire with intricate worldbuilding.

Ancient Rome boils with sordid power plays, constant intrigue, full moon rituals, and eruptions of bloodshed in Eckert’s sprawling historical novel.

The author paints a panorama of the Roman Empire in the year 193, starting with the murder of the vile Emperor Commodus by Laetus, commander of the Praetorian Guard, after the leader attempts to rape Laetus’ betrothed. Pertinax is promptly elected emperor by the Senate, and he proves modest and competent but also impolitic and stingy; after he fails to pay the city watchmen their customary bribes, he’s unceremoniously stabbed to death. The Praetorians then massacre the city watch, sell the emperorship to one Didius Julianus for 25 gold pieces per Guardsman, and force the Senate to vote him in at spearpoint. The loathed and inept Julianus tries everything to keep his shaky hold on power, including drinking the blood of a rabbit sacrificed to the goddess Hecate. But powerful rivals—the governors of Britannia and Egypt; the rough-hewn general Septimius Severus—soon try to overthrow him with their legions. Throughout the upheavals, Eckert’s narrative focuses on the household of Sen. Marcus Tullius, his daughter Tullia, and those they’ve enslaved as they navigate a time when a careless comment could get one branded an emperor’s enemy. As it portrays real events (with a few embellishments), Eckert’s tale steeps readers in all things Roman—from wedding ceremonies to military drills to Rome’s traffic jams—and ably dissects a society structured around complex hierarchies and in which survival requires currying favor with the powerful; even casual conversations and actions are calculated for advantage. The author’s vivid, nuanced prose conveys the subtle tensions that besiege his characters as well as the brutality that awaits those who incorrectly parse them: “I order that his lying tongue be torn out by the roots, and that he be hung by his hands from a bar and flogged until death,” declares a judge of the loser in a lawsuit. The result is a captivating page-turner.

An entertaining sword-and-politics saga full of engrossing period detail and sharp drama.