Severus: The Black Caesar cover art

Severus: The Black Caesar

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Severus: The Black Caesar

By: Steve Exeter
Narrated by: Ifeyinwa Unachukwu
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About this listen

Severus follows the amazing true story of a rebellious boy who grew up in an African province and became the first Black Caesar of the Roman Empire, the head of a dynasty that would lead Rome through bloody civil wars and rapidly changing times. As a young man, Severus hates the Romans and conspires to humiliate them. What begins as a childish prank unfurls into a bloodbath that sends Severus careening into his future. Through a tragic love affair, dangerously close battles and threats both internal and external, Severus accrues power - and enemies - in his unlikely rise to become the most powerful man in the ancient world.

©2019 Steve Exeter (P)2020 Steve Exeter Fiction Historical Fiction World Literature

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How do they miss these important milestones when talking about Rome? It never ceases to amaze me the amount of African history that is hidden in plane sight.

Choose this book, you will not be disappointed.

Must read

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Despite not usually being a fan of historical novels, I thoroughly enjoyed this story based on the true events of the unprecedented rise of Septimius Severus, who went on to become the first black Caesar of the Roman Empire.

Unexpectedly, I found myself looking forward to each new chapter. Before this book, I had very limited prior knowledge of Roman history and so cannot say how historically accurate the story was, however it was packed full of action and I found myself greatly admiring and empathising with the main character. Despite covering over 30 years of history, the author mostly managed this well in his writing, and avoided what could have been a dull retelling of an amazing rise to power.
However, at times the story skipped on by months or years right in the middle of a chapter, or changed to a new setting with different characters, without making this immediately clear. Perhaps these changes in time and place would have been more obvious had I been reading a hard copy and in fairness, despite not knowing anything about the story beforehand, I was able to follow it relatively easily.

Unfortunately, I feel the story itself was let down in two main ways, the first being the author’s decision to write in the present tense. This worked well during battle scenes or dramatic moments of betrayal, making them intense and exciting, but for the rest of the story it almost sounded like a play script being read with stage directions included. Additionally, the story became quite confusing at times with so many different characters, some with very similar sounding names, although of course being based on a true story this was not the fault of the author.

Secondly, the narration was very disappointing, mainly because it was incredibly slow and quite monotone, although the narrator does have a lovely clear speaking voice. It was quite difficult at times to keep up with which character was speaking, as the narrator didn’t vary her voice much at all. She did not seem particularly invested in the story and it felt in many chapters like she was simply reading mindlessly out loud from the book. I was tempted to give up on the audio version during the first chapter but then discovered I could speed up the narration to 1.4x which did help. Out of curiosity I slowed back down to regular speed in the final chapter, and can confidently say I would not have been able to continue with this book being read at this painfully slow pace.

To summarise, this was an incredible story that has not quite been done justice by the narration and style of writing. Having said that, I would still definitely recommend reading it, although probably as a paperback.

A fascinating true story let down by poor narration

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not a bad read
but I struggled a bit keeping in the story.
the narrator was ok.

quite good

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Listener received this title free

Loved it. I have the physical book as well. I noticed Severus The Black Caesar got a few bad reviews and I can't help but wonder if some people are bothered by the politics of history more than the book. It's a very nice story. Action and character driven, just how I like my Roman history!

The story of the black caesar is fascinating!

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Listener received this title free

I really enjoyed the pace, the plot, the individual story arcs in the overall story line, and the characters. Narrative was well done and clear. Overall, very enjoyable

Very enjoyable, easy listening

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How apt for black history month.
thank you for this book. I enjoyed listening to it

excellent writing

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I have read a lot of Roman books, and this is the 1st on this topic. I think it was a good and interesting story, although I think there was an opportunity to go into more detail, as it seemed to jump around a bit, and there were some important parts to the book that more time could have been allowed for, but overall I enjoyed the story. The narrator for me did not seem to fit with the book, so that would be my only real negative.

I was given a free review copy at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Good Story

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Listener received this title free

This reader has a great fondness for all things Roman, so was delighted to find a novel about Serverus, the black Caesar of the later second centuary, an era more frequently overlooked by novelists. Unfortunately, the narration by Ifeyinwa Unachukwa was dreadful: although her voice was pleasant, it was hard to listen to it, being too slow and jerky, rather than a smooth delivery. Speeding the play back to 1.25 helped, but did not solve, the problem. Some pronunciations were unusual, as in 'Gau-us' rather than the more frequently used 'Gye-us', and, although her intonation was good, she seemed to have no involvement with the text, and there was no attempt at individual character voicing.

The failure of the narration to hold this reader's attention could certainly have been mitigated had the written test itself been of high standard. Sadly, it was not, reading, as another reviewer has already suggested, more like the script for a film than a novel, with directions such as, "General Protinax sits alone" and, " The Praetorian guard escorts him out". Overall, the story of the life and rise of Lucius Septimus Severus Pertinax from younger son of an aristocratic Punic family in one of the richest parts of the Roman Empire to Emperor of that Empire from 193 to 211, is simplified and made bland despite the inherent drama of the realities.

My thanks to the rights holder of Severus, the Black Caesar, who, at my request freely gifted me with a complimentary copy via Audiobook Boom. The underlying story is a fascinating one and would certainly make an excellent and exciting film. As a n audiobook, however, it is not so good: better to read a print version

"Emperors are now chosen by blood."

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This listen is about the life of Septimius Severus, .You will be completly emmersed in Roman times, living every battle, seeing every garrison and feeling the passion to be a strong selfless leader.

I am sorry but couldn't cope with the narration

History

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Listener received this title free

As a lover of historical fact and fiction, I was looking forward to this. On balance, I wish I had gone for the book, as disentangling the narration from the story wasn’t easy.

In my view, the narrator let the author down. Although clear, her delivery is flat, robotic and accents are either inconsistent or missing. A small but noticeable feature was the mispronunciation of certain words.

Overall then, something of a mixed bag. For an audiobook, the onus of responsibility really rests on the narrator to do their best for the author and in this case, it’s missing.

I was given a free review copy and have voluntarily left this honest review.

Mixed Bag

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