It's more 3.5 stars than it is 4, but since that is not an option, I will round up.

I saw a blurb somewhere that says that I, Claudius is the best historical fiction ever written, and that may have been true up to the time of its publication, but for me, the Wolf Hall series is the benchmark against which all others should be measured.

Graves is pretty sneaky in that when you finish with this novel, you're almost compelled to read the sequel.

Other than the narrator (Claudius) and one or two others, Graves's characters are too many to spend much time fleshing them out. I did feel as if the novel helped me get straightened out many historical Romans who I knew little about, and also made me more aware of the political "system," the economic system, the social customs, the various wars, and the popular culture of the day.

The question remains, however, whether Claudius is a reliable narrator.