'Holland, who co-hosts the podcast The Rest Is History, is at his best when having fun with Rome's bloody history. He has a novelist's vibrant writing style and turns a good phrase. Familiar elements of this period, such as the destruction of Pompeii, still feel fresh in his retelling and he avoids the temptation of so many joyless modern classicists to moralise about what rotters these Romans were with their slavery and their bloodshed and their lack of a proper safeguarding mission statement. He judges them purely by their own values'
- Patrick Kidd, The Times
'This is not an underexamined period of history, but Holland handles his material (his sources are primarily Roman: Pliny, Tacitus, Suetonius, Cassius Dio) with rigour and elan. He has a compelling narrative style and an eye for diverting detail. This is a book for lovers of traditional, grand sweep narrative history'
- Gavanndra Hodge, Sunday Times
'For all the years that have separated the publication of each book in his trilogy, Holland is a surprisingly consistent writer, one whose style you could recognise at a glance. There may be less back-stabbing and court intrigue in this book than in Rubicon and Dynasty; but in allowing us to tread the further reaches of empire through the eyes of the men holding the reins, Pax provides a deeper and more complex vista on Rome... a masterful blend of subtle politics and carnal colour'
- Daisy Dunn, Sunday Telegraph
'A sweeping, colourful history of Rome at its swaggering, superpower zenith by The Rest is History podcaster and bestselling author. Hail Caesar! Hail Tom Holland!'
- Robbie Millen, The Times
'A triumph... Holland has a talent for drawing out the character and concerns of the age, whilst neither omitting nor being overwhelmed by the facts and dates. His account of the eruption of Vesuvius is dramatic, moving and rivals the set-pieces of the classical historians'
- Independent
'Holland is a master of immediacy... [a] fascinating time, skilfully sparked into life'
- Spectator
'Holland's superb storytelling takes us right into this era as viewed from every standpoint, offering fresh insights into well-worn history'
- Observer
'Masterful and engaging... The idea of death as the foundation of life, chaos as the foundation of order, war as the foundation of peace, is central to this outstanding book'
- Aspects of History
'Pax is a superb conclusion to Holland's trilogy. There's no other historian who can bring the ancient world before the reader in all its sights, sounds and smells, its pomp, magnificence and martial glory, its strivings and sufferings and horror. Riveting from first page to last'
- Christopher Hart, Daily Mail