What is the author's style in The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough?

The First Man in Rome is told from the point of view of a omniscient, third person, though not impartial, narrator. The narrator knows a wealth of facts about the character's backgrounds and seems to know facts about the future, though the narrator does not foreshadow events very often. The narrator clearly has options and opines about the relative worth of certain characters or the importance of certain situations in the novel. This is sometimes disconcerting as it makes the hand of the author too visible and takes the reader out of the novel from time to time. The narrator is reliable, though part of the reliability of the narrator stems from the fact that it is clear that the voice of the narrator is also the direct voice of the author.

The plot is also moved forward by two other devices: epistolatory narration and dialogue. There are many instances in the novel, at least one or two per chapter, when the plot is moved forward by one character relating events to another character through a letter. This allows the author to literally tell the reader, through the voice of one of the characters, what is happening without having to show all of the action directly. Given the epic scope of this novel, this device is very useful. The author also uses dialogue to tell the reader what has happened. Characters casually recount to each other important events occurring around them, keeping the reader up to date on important happenings. This device is commonly used and much of the "action" in the novel is told through conversation of two or more characters.