This book sounded so interesting, and it definitely met my expectations!

The story revolves about Cassandra, who gets enlisted into a team of researchers that try (and succeed) to get Julius Caesar to their time. 

The book starts slow. For the first 25% (more or less) we get a lot of information. All of the characters that we come across get some background information, which was sometimes interesting, sometimes not so much. There were definitely parts that didn’t contribute to the plot. We also make some timejumps, that I didn’t always get. But after Cassandra gets enlisted into the team, we stay in the same time and the story starts to flow. 

I did like that we didn’t get much information about the technology they work with. To some it could maybe feel like “easy”, but I didn’t feel the need to know more about that. 

The chapters are really short (like 2-5 pages), which makes you want to read “one more chapter” all the time, but it also “breaks” the story in a matter of speech. Especially when the POV changes, you feel a bit disoriented. We get POV’s from almost every character, which makes it complex, but it enriches the story as well. I especially loved the chapters from Caesar’s POV. 

It’s always tricky to write a POV from a real person. I’m definitely not a Caesar-expert, but I do know some things about him from my Latin-classes in high school. I found his character really well done. We see how cunning and smart and controlling he is, yet he also experiences emotions like love and sadness. I loved seeing his reactions to modern technology, even though that part may be a bit unrealistic. I get that Caesar wants to be in control all the time, but I can’t believe someone would be THAT chill if he gets transported 2000 years into the future. 

It’s in the blurb, so we know that it’s coming, but after we get to the point where someone is after Caesar and wants to abduct him, the story reads like a thriller for a part. I found the escape-scenes very exciting. 

What I didn’t like as much, was the relationship between Cassandra and Caesar. I get that they get closer as they are on the run together, but it was a bit too much for me. 

Also, everything comes really easy for Cassandra. I understand she has real academic talent, but she has the right connections for everything and gets almost immediately what she’s always wanted. 

I found the ending really well done. It definitely felt like this could have happened. 

The writing style was also very fluent. The short chapters definitely helped to get through this book easier, as I found myself saying “only one more chapter” very often. It’s also easy to read a chapter in between your work or something, as it takes literally only 5 mins to finish a chapter. 

To summarise: I liked this book very much, it read fluent and the plot was really interesting. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who has interest in Rome/Caesar and timetravel.