High entertainment.
The New York Times Book Review A subtle, provoking, enthralling book. . . . Vidal's ability to invoke a world is amazing.
The Christian Science Monitor Simply great. . . . A truly monumental novel.
Associated Press Historical fiction in the true, honorable sense. . . . Full of vivid, richly wrought fictional detail.
The Wall Street Journal Impressive. . . . To the formidable task which Vidal sets himself, he brings an easy and fluent gift for narrative; a theatrical sense of scene and dramatic occasion; and a revealing eye and ear for character delineation-to say nothing of wide reading. - Newsweek A real hero. . . . An excellent book. - Chicago Daily News Gore Vidal has the sharpest sense of what political power consists of, how it is achieved and what it does to a man. And at the same time he is funny, roaringly funny. . . . Julian is a brilliant beacon of light in the dim grey landscape of the historical novel. -Louis Auchincloss A brilliant study of Julian's era. . . . That rare historical novel which enjoys all the virtues of good history and good fiction. - Washington Star No odder figure ever guided the destinies of the Roman Empire than the Emperor Julian Augustus. Here was a recluse and a scholar who became a great military leader, an ascetic who preached the life of the senses, a fatalist who believed he would remake the world. . . . He is endlessly fascinating. - Time