I received this book as a free giveaway, and I'm glad I did! Admittedly, I probably wouldn't have given this book a second glance if I saw it on the shelf. But, I have to say....I loved it! Like most people, I am only familiar with Spartacus from the Kirk Douglas flick and the cable series. This book hooked me early and kept me involved. It has violence, political intrigue, romance, and a good deal of suspense. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but Spartacus returns from serving wi More...

Curses to my old age, I wanted to keep reading but my eyes just couldn’t stay open. That’s how good it was. It was filled with action, a bit of love on the side, but well written that I now have to go look for other books by Ben Kane to keep reading them. They’re just THAT good.

Spartacus was good, and well written, the plot was well done and the action scenes were fun to read, and filled with blood that you’d expect in a novel such as this (not as gory as the TV show, thankfully.) Characters are More...

Once again the Roman Empire and the bloodthirsty, violent society it created has been brought vividly to life by Ben Kane in yet another excellent book. His painstakingly accurate, superbly researched novels have won him a "legion" of fans and he has - quite rightly - gained a reputation that ranks alongside the likes of Simon Scarrow and Harry Sidebottom.

The details of Spartacus slave revolt has been, for the most part, stricken from the records of Ancient Rome but the legend of the gladiator w More...

This is another excellent historical by Ben Kane. He has become a master of stories from ancient Rome, especially, the Republican era.

In Spartacus the Gladiator, using what limited information that is available (a total of approximately 4,000 written words from ancient writings) and produces in a very logical and methodical order about the life of this famous gladiator and rebel. The characters of Spartacus, his wife, the Dionysian Priestess, Ariadne, Crixus, the vicious Gallic gladiator, and Ca More...

Spartacus is a spectacle of a man for many reasons. Partially because little is known of his background, partially because what is known is that of great battles and epic quests, the man has a history that would rival that of any hero in any classic adventure story. Ben Kane takes this fact and runs with it in Spartacus the Gladiator, creating the first of two parts of an epic tale that chronicles the life and times of this amazing man.

We begin in a Thracian village, meeting Spartacus after he h More...

In the novel, Spartacus is a Thracian and veteran of the Roman legions who studies their tactics in the hope of going home and leading his own army against the hated Romans. When he returns to Thrace, however, Spartacus learns a usurper has killed the king, as well as his own father, and seized the throne. Spartacus plots a rebellion, but when the king discovers his plans, Spartacus is captured and sold to a Roman slaver. Despite this setback, Spartacus gains an unlikely companion in Ariadne, a More...

My Thoughts:
I was thrilled when the opportunity to read and review this book arose. Spartacus has always been one of my favorite movies (Kirk Douglas - need I say more) and this is the first book I have read about Spartacus and my first Ben Kane read as well.
I have to begin with - Wow! Ben Kane does a fantastic job of telling this story. The book reads like a movie playing on the pages, which seem to all but turn themselves. This was a thrilling, graphic, violent, gritty tale and Ben Kane has More...

What can I say about Ben Kane's Spartacus the Gladiator?
This book rocked my world for a little while.

In 74 BC Spartacus returns home to his village in Thrace after spending nearly ten years serving in the Roman army. The Thracian king sells him into slavery shortly after his return.
Priestess Ariadne, who has been living alone in the village for some months, narrowly escapes the clutches of the king.
In order to save herself, she claims that Spartacus is her husband. Ariadne is allowed to leave w More...

I must admit the reason I wanted to read "Spartacus The Gladiator" is because of a movie that I watched about the warrior. Not my normal genre to read,I really feared that the story may be about warring and fighting, but instead I was pleasantly surprised at how much depth there was to the story. Sure there are battles,killings and such but there is actually so much more taking place and that's what kept me reading.

The book opens up with Spartacus headed back home to Thrace after being gone for More...

What can I say about Spartacus the Gladiator but “WOW!” It is a gripping, gritty, loving, violent, graphic tale of one man that single-handedly led a rebellion that almost toppled the Roman Empire. The story begins with the return to Thrace of our protagonist. He finds things in complete disarray and is unceremoniously sold to a traveling slave trader looking for new combatants for the arena. This is where the story really takes off. I don’t want to go into anymore detail for fear of giving some More...

I have to say that although I like historical fiction, I've read very few novels like Spartacus: The Gladiator. Ben Kane combines extensive knowledge about the period with a fast-paced, daring writing style, a strong, fierce hero and a powerful plot. You can tell he's an experienced writer with his confident writing - the action scenes could be easily understood, the romance was short and sweet and the characterization remained constant.

I loved how Ben Kane took the widely known facts about Spar More...

Spartacus:

Ben Kane has been able to deliver and deliver and deliver when it comes to Historical Fiction, His excellent (and i hope not finished) Forgotten legion Series, the wonderful Hannibal: Enemy of Rome, and now Spartacus.

At first i was a little reticent about someone doing this in tandem with the TV series, The TV series that while it had started off with the 300 style filming soon settled in to a great portrayal of an iconic character, Andy Whitfield soon came to be the face that came to More...

Ben Kane does what research is possible on a real historical character and shapes it to his narrative, most of which follows the known history of Spartacus and the slave rebellion. Mr Kane makes Spartacus an leader, tactician and a unemotional killing machine but holds back on real character beyond that. Instead he uses a Roman fellow gladiator to provide deeper characterisation and to give us a slightly different perspective and view on the events as they unfold.
Most of what we read here happen More...

This is the 5th book of Ben Kane’s that I have read.

It is not the best one, for me that is Hannibal, but that does not mean this is not phenomenally good. Because it is.

Kane manages to write historical fiction that is exciting and emotional and never, ever boring. It is quite a feat. To write historical fiction that is pretty darn accurate without sending the reader to sleep is hard to do. For that I salute him!

His characters are real and easy to get behind, he doesn’t make them larger than life More...

I am a historical novel afficianado, so when I was offered a chance to read and review this book, I was interested. I have seen the very famous 1950's film, so I figured I knew how the book ended. I hadn't realized till the end that there were going to be two books int he saga. So I felt the book ended rather abruptly, but that was more a result of my expectations not being fulfilled.

Up to this point, I had never read anything by Ben Kane, and I did not find his writing style easy to read. Yes, More...

Original Post: http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/06/...


“Gritty, dark, action-packed, Kane drags the reader in and keeps them hooked until the very end.” ~The Founding Fields


After reading Simon Scarrow’s Under the Eagle and loving it, I wanted to explore more historical fiction set during the days of the Roman Empire, and Ben Kane is an author who I’ve been looking to read some stuff by for a while now. So I figured that I might as well start with his latest novel that he has avaliable, and that More...

Ben Kane returns to comfortable territory, ancient Rome, in his latest novel Spartacus: The Gladiator. Given the relative paucity of historical documentation on the ancient gladiator-turned revolutionary, there is considerable room for an author to present his own unique take on the man. Mr. Kane accomplishes that well, with a presentation of Spartacus that rings true to the few historical details we have about him while, at the same time, being distinct from the famous Kubrick/Fast/Douglas vers More...

Spartacus, c. 109–71 BCE, was a Thracian by birth, who had once served as a soldier with the Romans, but had been a prisoner and was sold as a slave and forced to become a gladiator at Capua. Ariadne, a Dionysian priestess, goes along with Spartacus claiming to be his wife. They eventually escape with 70 other prisoners, a few of them women, and flee to Vesuvius. The escaped gladiators chose Spartacus and two Gallic slaves—Crixus and Oenomaus—as their leaders and they proceed to defeat the Roman More...

Almost everyone has heard about Spartacus due to the classic movie and the now popular television show, but who was Spartacus really? In the first of an epic two-part series, Spartacus: The Gladiator follows Spartacus throughout his historic rise from slave to the man who almost defeated the Roman army. It begins when Spartacus has escaped from the Roman army and returned to his Thracian home. The Thracian king has his eye on Ariadne, a Dionysian priestess, but becomes outraged when Spartacus ta More...

No…. I’M Spartacus

I’ve waited until I finished the second book to review these two, since I read them back to back and a 2-part series is relatively rare. Given that, I will not be writing a separate review for each book. This review is for both Spartacus the Gladiator and Spartacus: Rebellion.

I’ve been a fan of Ben’s writing from the start. His Forgotten Legion series was groundbreaking in a number of ways and quite astounding as a debut. I was then fairly stunned by Hannibal, which I consider More...

In full disclosure I won a free copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

*** 1/2 Stars

It should be noted that this book is only suitable for adults, there is a lot of violence and swearing, as well as quite a lot of sex much of it non consensual. Do not read this book if you are disturbed by such things.

The plot itself is very good and enjoyable to read. It starts off at a fast pace and rarely slows for most of the book, which makes for a quick read. The story seems to be accurate to what we kn More...

4.5 stars

Compelling reading, Spartacus The Gladiator was an absolute page turner. Ben Kane covers the well known story of Spartacus with a brilliant balance of historical detail and fictional flare bringing the story to life in fascinating, horrifying and brutal glory.

Spartacus is known as one of the greatest military commanders in history, a master tactician, a man of strength, intelligence, honour, loyalty and while understanding the inhumanities and cruelties inflicted during war he possesse More...

I received this book through a First Reads giveaway.

I entered the giveaway because: I like historical fiction, I like the Roman era, and I've been enthused about the story of Spartacus lately due to the excellent TV show. I was interested in seeing another take on the story.

I'll start with the good. Ben Kane writes action scenes, violence, and military tactics very well. This sort of thing, on the written page, often bores me; I often have trouble picturing exactly what's happening or I just don More...

Mr. Kane provides an excellent, enjoyable read. This book has a little of everything, violence ( both gladiatoral and warfare), political infighting (the Roman Senate, his home in Thrace and between the rebelious gladiators themselves)and even a little romance (between Spartacus and his wife and one of his followers and his love interest)

I personally thought the battle scenes were very well written and drew me in. Spartacus in presented a man who has an abiding hatered for all things Roman and j More...

As someone pretty much obsessed with the story of Spartacus, I was really excited to read this novel. But the viewpoint was so confusing that I just had a hard time getting into it. One second I'd be in one person's mind, then another person's a minute later, and then yet another person's, and then the first again. I tried to read it for as long as possible because I was hoping that when it got to the action, it would get better. Unfortunately, it didn't. The action was seriously just saying tha More...

These books are becoming a staple in my reading. A heroic, historical figure slashes his way into history overcoming odds and evil men.

I found the characters a little on the flat side. Spartacus is always honorable (almost boringly so). Crixxus is the warrior thug bent on getting booty (both the valuable and women) contrasting with Spartacus. Carbo is supposedly the underdog gladiator who we are supposed to care for ... but didn't quite get there for me. The Ariadne character fit more as a prot More...

This is well worth the read for anyone interested in Roman history in general and gladiators in particular. I'm ready to read the sequel. I enjoyed it all the more for having visited in the area of Mt. Vesuvius during the summer of 2011. During the middle of the night Spartacus and his slave army lowered themselves from their camp in the crater using ropes made from vines. This tactic enabled them to surprise and defeat the Roman soldieres prepared to starve them out of their hiding place. Spart More...

I think the author did a great job on his historical background homework – and mind you, this is extremely important for me. Parts of Spartacus’ life are no longer well known, and the author is very clear at the end of his book, explaining where and why he needed to go beyond known historical data.

As for what is known, he really managed to incorporate the data in a very lively way. The book is never boring, you keep wanting to know how long Spartacus will be able to lead the rebellion against th More...

Well, I finally made it to the Austin central library. I am impressed. Huge fiction collection, eclectic, up to date. It is nice to have a big stack of books to go through again without having to drop 400 bucks a month to keep the supply rotating. This was a strong take on one of the great stories of all time. I was wondering through the whole thing whether he got the idea to do this book from the crazy HBO tv series. He actually admitted it and said "yeah" at the end. Ben Kane is a serious hist More...

First off, I would like to mention that I got this book in a giveaway on Goodreads, so thanks Goodreads and Ben Kane! Secondly, this book is amazing! Full of action right from the start, this book is non-stop action and adventure. You will meet a ton of Historical figures, and unforgettable characters. The only thing I disliked was the viewpoints, (forgot what it's called) they changed from character to character between paragraphs. This isn't a terrible thing though, just not my favorite way t More...