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Title: Fortune's Favorites by Colleen McCullough ISBN: 0-380-71083-8 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 June, 1994 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.88 (24 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A disjointed effort
Comment: I have now read all five books in the Masters of Rome series, and this is the first time I gave one of the wonderful books in this series four stars. Although this book is pretty good, it is worse than the other four: "First Man in Rome", "The Grass Crown", "Caesar's Women", and "Caesar".
The main reason for this book falling short of the others is that it does not have a central character or characters. The characters in the forefront in this period are Sulla, Pompey the Great, Lucullus, Crassus, Sertorius, and Spartacus. Caesar, no matter how much the author wants to focus on him, does not have much to do. Instead of trying to tie him into the experiences of others, it would have been better to focus on Pompey and Crassus, for example, with Caesar lurking in the background. I think the greatest problem for the author is how to deal with the book after Sulla's death. "The Grass Crown", ended with Marius' death with stage now set for Sulla to take over. It was an appropriate ending but when Sulla retires and then dies in "Fortune's Favorites", the thread of the story begun in "The First Man in Rome" ends. So, McCullough came up with the theme of "fortune's favorites", which works OK but not well enough. Since she has to continue with the story after Sulla's death, a hodge-podge of characters and events abound. Caesar's exploits are interesting but they take attention away from the people who were actually doing something. As I said before, I feel that Pompey should have been in the center of the novel, with both Lucullus and Crassus vying with him to be the First Man in Rome. Pompey, at the start of the book, looked promising but his war in Spain against Sertorius is quite dry (I admit I do not like military campaigns but enjoyed them in "Caesar") and not enough is said about it. Everything that leads to his consulship is squashed into the last hundred pages or so and then all the credit and attention goes to Caesar. This is contrary to historical evidence and the point could have been made more subtly.
Another person who was emerging as a potential First Man in Rome is Lucullus. The author mentions his vices as well as his unwavering loyalty to Sulla, attachment to his brother, Varro Lucullus, and fairness, but it is not enough. The author barely scratches the surface of this complicated man and does not even go into details to describe his campaign against Mithradates, which made him a virtual god in the East.
I was eager to see how McCullough would handle Spartacus. I can't say that I am disappointed with the way she presented Spartacus' plight and origins, but I am disappointed that she painted a rather one-dimensional picture of him. I was surprised that she deemed Crassus a capable general. It was more likely that Crass was just lucky and Spartacus' army less numerous and well equipped than McCullough would like the readers to believe. This factor especially contradicts Crassus' military disasters later on in "Caesar". Again, giving all the credit of what Crassus did during his consulship and his cooperation with Pompey to Caesar is not well supported historically.
Caesar's adventures themselves, especially against the pirates and in Bithynia at the court of King Nicomedes, are interesting. I especially liked the description of his stay in Bithynia where for the first time in the series a human Caesar emerges. But soon enough, he becomes a demigod. According to McCullough, he basically controls what goes on in Rome and advises the consuls, very correctly, what to do and how to do it. It is hard to sympathize with someone who is so much better than anyone else. McCullough makes Caesar so patronizing and arrogant that no matter how many tragedies befall him later on in the book, I stopped sympathizing with him. The good news is that she returns him to the realm of the living in the next two books.
I was extremely disappointed with depictions of certain characters. Cinnilla, Caesar's wife, is non-existent. There is a mention of her here and there but she remains completely invisible. Perhaps that was her role in Caesar's life, still, there should have been a LOT more effort made on the author's part to describe her. Caesar's Aunt Julia is barely present throughout the novel so unless the reader read "The Grass Crown" it is hard to understand what she meant to Caesar. Metellus Pius "The Piglet" is an intriguing character but McCullough does not elaborate on the change in him during the time Pompey arrives in Spain. Something MUST have happened but McCullough is extremely vague about what it is.
Finally, a note on the Eastern kings. WHERE ARE THEY? In "First Man in Rome", McCullough spent at least part of the narrative on Jugurtha. In "The Grass Crown", there was extensive information on Mithradates and Tigranes. In "Fortune's Favorites", Mithradates and Tigranes are barely mentioned. Ptolemy Alexander, prior to his assuming the throne of Egypt, gets some attention but not enough is said about what occurred with his Queen Berenice. Mithradatis Nysa also gets some mention but her story is abruptly ended and not picked up later on. It would have made this book a lot more colorful if the view of the Eastern kings was presented.
I really liked this book but I am very passionate about these series and wish that "Fortune's Favorites" could live up to the rest of the series.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not as good as the earlier books
Comment: According to the author's note, Fortune's Favorites is a stand-alone book. However, I think she says this because the novel really doesn't measure up to its predecessors.
Fortune's Favorites is not a bad book. However, it pales in comparison to The First Man in Rome and The Grass Crown. It lacks the clever turns of phrase scattered through the preceding two books, and it also lacks a concrete villain.
I have yet to read the next books in the series, but it seems to me Fortune's Favorites acts as a bridge between plot changes. Although Caesar kicks lots of pirate butt, and helps put down the Spartacus slave revolt, there really doesn't seem to be a great, climactic moment. I really would like to have read more about the enemies of Rome. The preceding books focused upon foreign threats, like Mithradates and Jugartha, but Fortune's Favorites somehow seems safer, despite the pirate, Spartacus, and ongoing Mithradates problems.
What really does work in this novel are the sad bits. Although Sulla is a truly horrid piece of work, I felt great pangs of remorse when he finally died. Colleen McCullough masterfully made me love a wholly unloveable character.
Rating: 4
Summary: Not a Favorite
Comment: Fortune's Favorites is definitely the weak link in McCullough's Masters of Rome series. That is not because it is a *bad* book; it is, in fact, quite good. However, it lacks the direction and focus of the other books of the series.
Fortune's Favorites begins with Sulla's return to Italy from the East, and ends with Pompey's and Crassus' first "retirement" in 69 B.C. In between, we're presented with Sulla's dictatorship and debauched death, Sertorius' guerrilla warfare in Spain, the Spartacus revolt, and lots of minor incidents too many to mention. The focus constantly jumps around from Sulla, to Pompey, Caesar, Cicero, Spartacus, and a dozen lesser lights.
As usual, McCullough gives us her own spins on history, spins that are entirely her own yet pleasingly plausible. Here, McCullough takes advantage of the lack of information about Caesar's early career to team him up with Crassus years before the Cataline conspiracy. She has Crassus select Caesar as an aid against Spartacus - and why wouldn't Caesar have been involved in the putting down of the revolt? From Caesar's association with Crassus comes his role as go-between between Crassus and Pompey. Again, we know historically that Crassus and Pompey, bitter rivals, reached a rapprochement in 70 B.C. - why wouldn't have been Caesar who arranged it? A simple, yet brilliant conceit that beautifully sets the stage for the First Triumvirate.
Those who are on the fence about reading this one, be warned that at times McCullough tries to write a history book. There are endless pages of Sulla expostulating about his reforms, and still more endless pages about efforts to destroy them. The prose is, as always, dry and uninspired. But the overall concept is brilliant, and McCullough beautifully fleshes out Caesar's youth, Pompey's rise, and the rapidly growing decay of the Senate. Those who enjoyed the first two books in the series should absolutely continue on.
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Title: The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough ISBN: 0380710811 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 August, 1991 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Caesar: A Novel (Masters of Rome Series) by Colleen McCullough ISBN: 0380710854 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.50 |
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Title: The October Horse : A Novel of Caesar and Cleopatra by Colleen McCullough ISBN: 0671024205 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: I, Claudius : From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, Born 10 B.C., Murdered and Deified A.D. 54 (Vintage International) by Robert Graves ISBN: 067972477X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 23 October, 1989 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Roman Blood : A Novel of Ancient Rome by Steven Saylor ISBN: 0312972962 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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