Thank you to Random House - Ballantine and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I can’t be 100% sure because this is a translation and maybe I just don’t like this particular translator, but I absolutely hated the writing style. The dialogue felt unnatural, there were multiple contradictions in the few chapters I read, and I had a hard time following it. I was also absolutely bored. Sometimes historical fiction is a miss for me, and this was so far off the mark. DNFed about 5 chapters in but I couldn’t read another 550+ pages.

This book was just so interesting to me, the historical-fiction mix was soo good! We have THE Julius Cesar, who is a lawyer, trying to take down corruption in the city of Rome. This senator has everyone on his payroll, how is Julius going to do all of this?? This book gets dark and showed us the bad things that may have happened in those times.

I think the translation was good. The story in general felt a bit disjointed and difficult for me to follow.

I’ve aways found Rome interesting, so I was looking forward to reading the novel. Unfortunately, the novel did not fulfull my interest. There were way too many characters, and I struggled with the plot. The story was well researched and the writing was nicely done.

Thank you Santigo Posteguillo, Random House Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity of reading and reviewing the book.

I'm not well-versed enough in Roman history and the history of Caesar to be able to comment on the historical inaccuracies, so I will leave that to other reviewers. From what I could notice though, there were definitely liberties taken and changes made, which in some cases is understandable, but in others is rather odd. Some of the side characters we may not have a lot of accurate information on, but Caesar is a very well-known historical figure with quite a bit of information about his life. The original Spanish cover of this book featured the tagline "the true history of Julius Caesar", which is something I'm glad was removed from the English translation, as it's basically stating this book is completely accurate, which it is not.

This book is part John Grisham legal thriller and part military strategy and battle. It jumps between timelines, with the present being the trial of Sulla, and the past moving from Caesar as a child, to his teenage years, and then into adulthood. It also features side parts dealing with other people in Caesar's life, such as his uncle Gaius Marius, his future wife Cornelia, and people who were sided with Sulla, such as Dolabella. Now I understand that the author wanted to set up the conflicts between Caesar, Sulla, and Dolabella, but it was taken way too far. Dolabella and Sulla are both characterized as villains with absolutely no redeeming qualities. They are brutal, sadistic, power hungry men who only care about riches and alcohol and women. Towards the end there is a scene involving Sulla, Dolabella, and a bunch of slaves that just seemed rather ridiculous. Caesar, on the other hand, is written as the hero who can do no wrong. It is basically the Mary Sue and the Villain archetypes, which is frustrating as these were real people with much more depth to them who deserve to be written better.

There are some instances where you can see the story trying to shine through. You can feel the frustrations of the people of Rome and those that were conquered, the tenseness and fear of battle, and the hopes of those trying to do what is right. However, they mostly get overshadowed by the rest of the story, as Caesar's heroics and Sulla and Dolabella's villainy have to be center stage. Had each of these people been written with a more realistic edge instead of by archetypes, it could have shifted the story greatly.

This isn't a terrible book, but I think those who are knowledgable about Roman history, particularly involving the times of Caesar, will find themselves frustrated at the liberties taken with the story and characters.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Santiago Posteguillo for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for I Am Rome coming out March 5, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I love learning more about Ancient Rome, so I was really excited to check this out. I think it felt more like historical nonfiction to me. It was really well-researched and had a lot of detail about Julius Caesar. I was thinking it would be more like fiction. I would’ve liked a little more dialogue. I think it was a little long for me. But I really enjoyed the story. I think it was very similar to a Julius Caesar movie I watched a long time ago. I would check out more books by this author.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books about Ancient Rome!

A challenging read. Fans of Roman history and historical fiction might enjoy this big novel about Caesar's rise to power- if they are patient and can deal with Latin in the text. This is heavy on minutia about Rome, which is interesting and oddly light on character and emotion. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm sure others will appreciate this more than I did.

I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.

DNF at 5%

The writing style was completely not for me, unfortunately. The author chose to bounce in the time line and the entire narrative structure was basically delivered through very dense info-dumps in diagolue format. I am sure that the content is well-researched from the limited amount that I read, but the stylistic choice to break up the narrative into chunks to establish background, the initial petitioning of Caesar by the Macedonians for representation, then delving into the memories of Caesar's mother was just not a format I enjoy. This format continued through the rest of the book with a piece of the trial being followed by, what one would assume, is a relevant series of memories from an associated person.

I love Roman history, but will have to skip this one. I will also decline to rate this book on Goodreads/StoryGraph.

I cannot figure out who the audience for this book is meant to be. It goes into obsessive detail on random aspects of late republic Roman life, leaving little bits of latin untranslated until endnotes, but it also overexpounds on basic facts that anyone who's enough of a fan of ancient Rome would already know.

The whole book is over repetitive and stilted, constantly rehashing things said two paragraphs ago. Characters go on didactic lectures for paragraphs at a time, sometimes explainable in universe as part of the trial, but frequently also when speaking to friends or family, talking in ways that no human would ever bother doing.

I can't figure out if the books failings are a failure of the translation, or a failure of the source material, but I can't imagine this book achieving the massive popularity it claims to have abroad with English speaking readers. The whole thing is overlong, repetitive, and quite dull.

If it were edited to be half its length, I could easily give it four stars, but as it stands, I barely want to give it two. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, and I will not be reading any follow ons.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on March 5, 2024.

This was a struggle to read and I didn't really care for the pacing or narrative planning. I wanted to love it. I liked elements so I will definitely look for more books by Posteguillo.


Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Maybe it’s the translation. but this book is a bunch of words without much story. There’s no narrative ARC to capture my interest. DNF.

I did not know quite what to expect when I delved into I am Rome by Santiago Posteguillo. But what I soon discovered on the pages intrigued me. History, law, politics, prophecy... so many elements were woven together with this novel. Having only studied Julius Caesar from an academic standpoint, this book succeeded in adding a whole new dimension to my perspective on this captivating man.
Dynamic, captivating, and rife with tension, I am Rome is worth the read. With its shifting plot and compelling characters, readers cannot help but fall into the pages.
I received this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

History tells us how Gaius Julius Caesar’s life ended. However, we know truly little about his earlier life and the events that contributed to the man he became. In I Am Rome by Santiago Posteguillo, we learn about his early life. We see him as a young man who wants to do the right thing. When he offers to defend some Macedonians who feel they have been wronged by the powers in Rome, he takes on a case that most of his family and friends feel will lead to his death. He loses the case, but he gains the respect and support of the people of Rome. This is the beginning of his successful political life. This is a rare glimpse into the history of the Roman Empire. Caesar became one of most successful leaders of Rome, the dominant power in the western world at the time. This is historical fiction at its best.

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC of this novel. I really liked the concept of a fictionalized account of Julius Caesar's early legal career, but this was pure pulp. This was Caesar as some sort of 70s movie character who always gets his man even though nothing he does is particularly clever, Plus he's really good in bed. I ... just ... could ... not. Does not translate to American audiences.

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I Am Rome (Roma soy yo) by Santiago Posteguillo is the first in a historical fiction series following a young Julius Caesar, making a name for himself and enemies while he’s at it. Mr. Posteguillo is a published Spanish author philologist, and linguist.

This is one of the best historical fiction books I’ve read in a while. The novel revolves around a 23-year-old Gaius Julius Caesar taking on Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella, a corrupt Roman Bureaucrat, in court.

Like each of us, Julius Caesar is a man made from the sum of his experiences. Each step he takes in court, or in life, is based on something that happened in the past. I Am Rome by Santiago Posteguillo moves in time to show why Caesar is doing what he’s doing.

Caesar’s uncle, Gaius Marius, plays a big role in the book. He was a seven-time consul (unheard of), a popular military and civil leader. His young nephew adored him, but also bore the burden of becoming just as successful, or more than his famous uncle.

Each section is told through the eyes of a different character, whether it is Caesar himself, his wife Cornelia, Titus Labienus his best friend, or the antagonists Cinna, Dolabella, or Sulla.

To my surprise, I really enjoyed the trial aspect of the book. The strategy, procedures, and arguments made an exciting read just as much, if not more, than the description of battles.

I have to be honest and say that I don’t know much about this part of Roman history. I have no idea if the author was fictionalizing historical events, or making things up as he goes along. And I enjoyed the narrative too much to stop every five pages and search.

The only complaint I have was that the character of Julius Caesar wasn’t what I had in mind the little I knew about him. I thought he’d be more brutal, to be frank, but his strategic mind is on full display regardless.

This book goes into the story of Julius Caesar's early life and the trial he took part in as prosecutor against Dolabella, a corrupt senator who had a lot of power and had already bought off the entire jury. It's historical fiction at its best, richly detailed and exciting between the war saga flashbacks and the courtroom drama in the present, with a love story between Caesar and his wife Cornelia peppered in for good measure.

It's long, at 600+ pages, and probably won't appeal to anyone who would get bored of detailed history but for history nerds? Yes, yes, yes. This is a good one. At least I think it is.

I usually scroll through the reviews on Goodreads before I submit my own and all were in Spanish (it's translated from Spanish) except for one, and that one went into detail about historical inaccuracies in this book. I can't agree or disagree because I'm no expert on Roman history (my own history nerd focus is on early 1700s naval history/Golden Age of Piracy stuff and I don't stray outside that much), so I'm keeping this review at five stars because I enjoyed the heck out of it. I'm sure once it is released in English, more people will chime in on this, and I'll stay in my corner of recommending this to historical fiction fans!

The first in a series starring Caius Julius Caesar, this novel focuses on a young Caesar, lawyer for a Senator Dolabella, who is accused of corruption. We get to see a different side of Caesar, one that does not pinpoint his days as emperor of Rome, but his youth, vivacity and love story with his wife.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this e-arc.*

If you think about Rome every day, then this is the book for you!

This book follows the rise of Julius Caesar and his origins as a nobody. I didn't know anything about Caesar's early life, and this book gave me an appreciation for how he went from a nobody to the Caesar we know of today. I guess you could say this story helped humanize him for me and gave me a better understanding of the odds he was up against.

However, this is a very history heavy book. It will be easier to follow if you already know the history because there are a lot of names and Romance customs and the like thrown at the reader right from the start. I had to read this in short bursts to keep it from feeling overwhelming. If you prefer fast-paced books, you might find this one a bit frustrating. But if you like a long slow burn, then this will be right up your alley.

Thank you to the publisher for letting me have an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

I Am Rome is a complicated yet enjoyable story about the life and career of Julius Caesar. I found it a bit slow and had trouble getting into this one. Lots of characters to keep track of and a lot of history to get through. It is a long one so brace yourself. My favorite thing about this is the writing style, it is very well written.