Simon Turney paints a portrait of Caligula as victim turned abuser. The novel depicts the transformation of a thoughtful and generous boy forced to endure a childhood as a virtual prisoner of the emperor Tiberius, all the way to his descent into paranoia and ultimate assassination. It's a more nuanced and credible characterization than Caligula is normally afforded. Slightly less credible, perhaps, is the profile of Julia Livilla who narrates the story. Her devotion to her brother, even after he has humiliated, imprisoned and exiled her for crimes of which she is entirely innocent, becomes increasingly hard to accept and she begins to feel more like a narrative device than a fully-fleshed-out character. That and the editing which overlooked too many errors detracted from my enjoyment somewhat. Nevertheless, this is an ambitious powerful and hugely, entertaining study of one of the great monsters of history.