I read “First Man in Rome” and enjoyed it though I thought it dragged here and there. I’m not sure I can get through 5 more books so I was considering jumping right to “Caesar,” or perhaps “Fortune’s Favorites” if it chronicles his young life. Will I
miss much that is important to the story of “Caesar” by skipping “The Grass Crown” and “Fortune’s Favorites?”
Do not, do not, do not, DO NOT skip anything!
I’ve read the entire series several times. Yes, all the Roman names can be hard to track, but the Grass Crown and Fortune’s Favorites chronicle Gaius Marius and Sulla’s falling out, Sulla’s rise to dictatorship, his scheme to get rid of Caesar, and the Italian Civil War.
Trust me, you don’t want to skip them. If you need help getting through them e-mail me. 
I second that. Sulla and Marius are really interesting characters. I guess one of the reasons I enjoyed the part of the series about them is that I really didn’t know much about them. Everybody knows how the Caesar story ends, the boat sinks. But with Sulla and Marius there’s a lot more tension/suspense.
I third it - the series is worth the investment of time. I just finished the October Horse a couple of months ago and can’t believe I won’t have future volumes.
(not to betray the others, but you could read Caesar and The October Horse and not be completely lost; I just wouldn’t because the middle books are completely worth it.)
Colleen McCullough did twelve years of research before putting pen to paper on these novels.
The detail is excellent. Don’t deprive yourself of the pleasure. Sulla’s retirement and death scene, Servilia as a child, her mother’s unhappy marriage, the Gold of Tolosa…trust me, you won’t regret it.
I’m not the least bit surprised given the detail and subtle understanding of the ways of the Romans. I just kept forgetting who was who.
Keep a crib sheet of who is who. I do that often with books that have many characters.
I could keep track of who’s who. It was the way they were related that gave me a friggin headache. With all the adopting, divorces, cognomen… She spent a lot of time with this, maps, portraits ASF - why not a family tree or two.
Also, Ceasar’s Women is very good, perhaps the best of the series.
Yes, it drags at times. I get the feeling that C McC wants to prove to scholars that she really did the research, so sometimes she gets lost in her own narrative, spending too much time on details and exposition.
Agreed.
Well, I think you’re going to get this with any epic series. Since this one is historical, there’s going to be more to keep track of. Don’t let the plethora of names turn you off, though. It’s more than worth it.