Spartacus: The Gladiator by Ben Kane

This is the first of two books that covers Spartacus’ life from when he left the Roman army to his death. The first book follows his life as his is traded as a slave in his home village, through to his escape from the Ludus (House of Batiatus) and onto commanding a huge slave Army.

Most of us are aware of the story of Spartacus, mainly thanks to the TV series and this book looks at his life from the same angle, but without all the sex scenes. Many will be aware of the names in the book, as they were actually real people that are also used within the TV series. However unlike the TV series, the author doesn’t rely on blood and gore to get the reader to understand the horror of the situation.

The book starts with a lone figure walking the road home after being discharged from the Roman Army after 8 years of service. It isn’t long before the first fight scene, with many more to follow. The book is gripping that gets you turning the pages, just to see what happens next. All the characters come to life and are well written enough to make you love or despise them.

I did however; start to get a bit bored about 3 quarters of the way through the book. The book seemed slow down in tempo and I one point I felt like skipping pages, just to get to the next fight scene. The book soon redeemed itself by the time the next battle commenced. In each battle you got the sense of being there, being in the thick of the battle, the sounds and smells almost jumping out of the page and into your mind.

Overall I found the book to be thoroughly enjoyable and a page turner. I am looking forward to the second book in this series to see where the author takes us next (even though we all know what happens).

I would award this book 4 mushroom heads.

TATP



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