Spartacus: The Gladiator by Ben Kane - Blog Tour, Book Review and Giveaway

About the Book:


Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Category: Historical Fiction
Tour Dates: June 2012
Available in Print and eBook, 480 pages

Long the stuff of legends, Spartacus is known to most modern readers through the classic Kubrick film version of Howard Fast’s novel. Now bestselling historical novelist Ben Kane returns to the source material and presents a lively and compelling new vision of the man who was Spartacus—Roman army auxiliary, slave, gladiator and ultimately the leader of an army of slaves who nearly brought Rome to its knees.

Ben Kane’s brilliant novel begins in the Thracian village to which Spartacus has returned after escaping from life as an auxiliary in the Roman army. Jealous of his attachment to Ariadne, a Dionysian priestess, the Thracian king betrays Spartacus to the Romans who take him, along with Ariadne, into captivity and to the school of gladiators at Capua.

Against the background of the unbelievable brutality of gladiatorial life, Spartacus and Crixus the Gaul plan the audacious overthrow of their Roman masters. They escape and flee to Vesuvius, where they recruit and train an army of escaped slaves that will have to face the conquerors of the known world, the most successful deadly army in all of history in a battle that will set in motion the legend that is Spartacus.

About the Author:

Ben Kane was born in Kenya and raised there and in Ireland. He qualified as a veterinary surgeon from University College Dublin, and worked in Ireland and the UK for several years. After that he travelled the world extensively, indulging his passion for seeing the world and learning more about ancient history. He drove around the USA in a camper van, trekked the Inca trail and took a ship to Antarctica. Seven continents and more than 65 countries later, he decided to settle down, for a while at least.

While working in Northumberland in 2001/2, his love of ancient history was fueled by visits to Hadrian’s Wall. He naïvely decided to write bestselling Roman novels, a plan which came to fruition after several years of working full time at two jobs – being a vet and writing. Retrospectively, this was an unsurprising development, because since his childhood, Ben has been fascinated by Rome, and particularly, its armies. He now lives in North Somerset with his wife and family, where he has sensibly given up veterinary medicine to write full time.

To find out more about Ben and his books visit: www.benkane.net
You can also find him on Twitter: @benkaneauthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/benkanebooks

My Opinion:


I do love me a good Ancient Rome book. And this new look at Spartacus certainly filled the bill. Spartacus was a warrior from Thrace (modern day Bulgaria) who through circumstance ends up sold into slavery to a gladiator school where it is kill or be killed. He lived in a violent time and while not much of his life has survived history the fact that anything did shows that he was a remarkable man. Especially since he took on the might of Rome; history is written by the victors and Rome was a force to be reckoned with and it did not allow defeat so the fact that this slave created an army that brought down its vaunted legions it is surprising that his actions weren't wiped from the history books.


Fortunately for Kirk Douglas fans and lovers of a good "kick it to the rich and powerful" tale the Spartacus story lives on. Most of what I knew before I began this book WAS that Kirk Douglas movie and turns out it was mostly NOT based on historical record. Mr. Kane takes what little there is and creates a masterful accounting of life for slaves, gladiators and soldiers at the height of the Roman glory. The small details about weapons, armor and training are interesting. I do admit that I have read quite a few books from this time period so the discussions of the breakdown of the Roman army and how it works made sense to me but someone who perhaps had not been familiar with the basics might have been back and forth to the glossary in the back for definitions. 


Given the time and the tale there is a fair bit of blood and guts but not as bad as some current spy novels I've read. This is a story of war and war is not pretty in any sense of its practice. Mr. Kane is never gratuitous in writing the battle scenes and he does not revel in the gore. The story moves along at a fast pace and I found myself turning pages at a rapid clip. The writing is that kind I like so much that truly wraps me up into time and place and I often had to shake my head to bring me back to current day Montana. This is the first of two books telling Spartacus' life story and I truly hope I get to review the second. His life, even though quite fictionalized, is a fascinating world to get lost in. 


You can see the Tour Schedule HERE


You can purchase Spartacus:  The Gladiator on Amazon.com


The Giveaway:


One lucky reader will win either a hard or e-copy of Spartacus:  The Gladiator. How do you win? It's easy! Just hop on the Rafflecopter. Good luck!




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Disclosure:  I received a copy of Spartacus:  The Gladiator from VirtualAuthorBookTours.com gratis. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free book. I received no monetary compensation for this post.