The Throne of Caesar

By: Steven Saylor

Narrated by: John Curless

It's Rome, 44 BC, and the Ides of March are approaching.

Julius Caesar has been appointed dictator for life by the Roman Senate. Having pardoned his remaining enemies and rewarded his friends, Caesar is now preparing to leave Rome with his army to fight the Parthian Empire.

Gordianus the Finder, after decades of investigating crimes and murders involving the powerful, has set aside enough that he's been raised to the Equestrian rank and has firmly and finally retired. On the morning of March 10th, though, he's first summoned to meet with Cicero and then with Caesar himself.

Both have the same request of Gordianus - keep your ear to the ground, ask around, and find out if there are any conspiracies against Caesar's life. Caesar, however, has one other important matter to discuss. Gordianus's adopted son Meto has long been one of Caesar's closest confidants. To honor Meto, Caesar is going to make his father Gordianus a Senator when he attends the next session on the 15th of March.

With only four days left before he's made a Senator, Gordianus must dust off his old skills and see what conspiracy against Julius Caesar, if any, he can uncover. Because the Ides of March are approaching....

©2018 Steven Saylor (P)2018 Recorded Books

best book from Taylor in years, really enjoyed it

his description of the the poems and the players was excellent. not just the same characters in old stories, made me want to go find the classic works and read them

Another Outstanding Roma Sub Rosa!

I greatly enjoyed Steven Saylor's latest book and hope that it signals future books in the hands of the next generation!

British accent?

Wish they could have chosen a different narrator here. I have all of the audiobooks in this series, and have enjoyed them tremendously, but I really had a problem with this one. Why in the heck did they choose a narrator with a British accent??? Ancient Romans with a strong British accent?? Give me a break. It made it really hard to enjoy the work.

It really bothered me that they changed narrators frequently throughout the series, changing pronunciations and such makes for more difficult listening in my mind, but this last change just takes the prize for pure silliness. Somebody did Mr Saylor’s tremendously well researched and written work a very poor turn with this one.

Pronunciation / continuity problems

I’m a fan of Steven Saylor’s Gordianus the Finder series. I really wanted to love this one too, but I just could not get past the narrator. I admit that for me there really is only one Gordianus, and that’s Ralph Cosham. I was prepared to be open minded about this narrator, but Mr. Curless really mispronounces the names of the main characters Davus and Gordianus. I suppose you could make an argument for “creative interpretation” but it really does nothing for continuity of the overall series. I made it to chapter 3 before I stopped and returned the book. Unfortunately, I will have to buy this one and read it for myself.

Masterful Novel of Ancient Rome

Very good description of events around Caesar's demise. Great writing and performance. Give it a try!

Oh, How Disappointing!

I am so tempted to give The Throne of Caesar 4-stars but, ultimately, I have to be honest: it's a sad disappointment of a book in what has been a fun and stellar series.
I've loved Gordianus so. I've loved his family, I've loved his friends, and I've loved hissing at his detractors/enemies.
This is still well-written, and Saylor's research is flawless. But that's part of the problem: There's a lot of wandering prose and offshoots that basically scream: Look at me! I did so much research! The plot wanders into topics of epic poetry, and of what we think of as mythology. All of it winds up beings tied up at the very end, making them useful but, when you're initially listening to it; it's very dull.
And the skills of Gordianus? Here, looking for a plot against Caesar, Gordianus makes the rounds of senators asking a probing, oh so provocative question: Where can I get a decent toga? There. That's it. That's as far as The Finder will go, and each answer makes him satisfied with his final decision. To one used to the hyper-observational skills he's displayed in books in the past, this is a sore, sore disappointment.
Plus, you can see the end coming a mile away :(
John Curless does a fine job narrating. Actually, he's kinda like the poor man's John Lee. His narration can be almost as sweeping as Lee's can.
The only real satisfaction comes from the last, very last paragraph. That one almost moved me to tears.
But, alas! It still couldn't push this book in to 4-star territory...

Engaging Tales Of the End of a Republic

What a fantastic time to read a well articulated account of the end of a form of government that our own founders espoused 244 years ago. Saylor’s Gordianus finds himself in the lap of the conflict of Roman power brokers yet again. Huzzah! Well done.

Outstanding narrator, a great book!

Audio and written versions: John Curless proved to be the perfect narrator for this remarkable last waltz of Gordianus the Finder - his voice and presentation has the weight and depth of a man in his middle 60s who has pursued a hard and dangerous career for well over 40 years, yet despite his complaints of age, remains young in his outlook. Some of the more striking passages are rendered almost poetically, evoking a strong image. The book itself is a very interesting read and one of my favourites, I think. Davus (who is always smarter than his father-in-law will give him credit for) has a bit more of a role, and Gordianus himself has relaxed a bit from his formerly older rather crusty self, yet has not relaxed his ability to observe and his humour frequently shines through. Steven Saylor's take on history may have a note of invention to it, but is always based on sound scholarship.

Saylor's Worst So Far

This book cheats the reader, and Is dull and boring. Godianus is tasked with preventing one of history's most famous crimes. He meets the assassins and sees nothing. Instead, he witnesses a murder and solves that. Usually, Saylor is historically accurate. Virgil proves that this murder never occurred. Saylor uses Plutarch's incorrect version. Even the reader was not very good. All characters sound alike, with an old phlegmy voice.

Gordianus Disappoints

After a non stop string of well written Finder chronicles Saylor disappoints in what turns out to be a subpar narrative of Caesar’s assassination punctuated by a weak subplot. Let’s hope this is a speed bump in Saylor’s writing as opposed to the end of Gordianus