In light of the quick poll results (overwhelmingly historical fiction), I figured this would be as good a place as any to ask. I am currently in the middle of Colleen McCollough's series of novels on the end days of the Roman Republic, and I am enjoying them a great deal, though the writing is not really to my taste and I take issue with her positions vis a vis certain characters. The real attraction of those novels is the depth of detail and background for the characters as well as the breadth and scope of the narrative, as well as the completeness of the work (I am currently 2/3 through Fortune's Favorites, and my biggest gripe was the way it simply skipped over Sulla's campaign against Mithridites and went from his departure and the death of Marius right to his return to Italy). Also, I am in the "middle", so to speak, of Robert Harris' incomplete trilogy, having read Imperium and Conspirata. Though necessarily much more narrow in scope, I find the writing much more to my taste, and Harris to be a more intelligent and mature writer, while McCullough gives the impression of a scholar who is inept at relating her material in a narrative fashion. Her characters come across as caricatures shoddily assembled in Frankenstein fashion from a collage of historical data and extrapolations. Harris' characters are more human and comprehensible.

So can anyone recommend novels on a similar subject of similar quality (as regards historiosity)? Even alternate history might be interesting (I liked Harlan's Oath of Empire, but disliked Roberts' Hannibal's Children, if that is any help)
Are there any other comparable