The Left Hand of Calvus (Warriors of Rome, #1) in Riptide Publishing

Aug 24, 2012 DayDreamer rated it liked it

Shelves: lgbtqa, angst, meh, reviewed-or-kinda, fucking-finally, arrogant-mofo, absofuckinglutely-nuts

Errr... what?

Not what I expected, to be honest.

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Aug 12, 2015 Elisa Rolle rated it it was amazing

2013 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)

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Sep 09, 2012 Adara rated it really liked it

This story is a game of cat and mouse, only it has a cat, a dog, several rats, a chameleon, and a couple of mice. And it is just as intriguing a read as that makes it sound.

Saevius is just 3 bouts in the Roman arena away from earning his freedom when he is purchased to be the bodyguard of Calvus Laurea, a politician in Pompeii, just his luck. Only instead of being a bodyguard, he is given falsified papers to join a ludus across town and discover the lover of Calvus's wife, Verina. Not exactly an This story is a game of cat and mouse, only it has a cat, a dog, several rats, a chameleon, and a couple of mice. And it is just as intriguing a read as that makes it sound.

Saevius is just 3 bouts in the Roman arena away from earning his freedom when he is purchased to be the bodyguard of Calvus Laurea, a politician in Pompeii, just his luck. Only instead of being a bodyguard, he is given falsified papers to join a ludus across town and discover the lover of Calvus's wife, Verina. Not exactly an easy task, because no one in the familia of gladiators is even going to talk to him before he's earned their trust.

The lanista of the ludus, Drusus, also takes a liking to Saevius and his quick-thinking mind and makes a request of him. Drusus needs Saevius to figure out the traitor in the familia working against Drusus. While the two requests are not exactly at odds with one another, working on both proves difficult at best. And when Verina finally shows up at the ludus with her grandson, she looks at nary a single man among them.

Eventually both Calvus and Drusus pressure Saevius for results, which poses problems from all sides. When Saevius finally finds out what Calvus wants to know, he gets more than he bargained for, because Saevius isn't the only one chasing shadows. Saevius has to determine which man he's willing to betray, and once he makes that decision, even tougher decisions remain if he's really going to follow through. Any decision is likely to get him killed, either by Calvus, by Drusus, by the other gladiators, or by the Gods themselves.

I wasn't sure at first whether I would like this story in first person present tense. But once I got past that and started reading, it really worked. The story flows quickly and the tense makes sense in the end. We follow Saevius because he is the one caught in the middle of these two men, and ultimately his decisions all make sense.

I really liked Saevius. He has an excellent head on his shoulders, and he is intelligent in a street-savvy way that can only come from having been a surviving gladiator for many years. I wasn't sure what direction the romance aspect was going to take when this started, but I am thrilled with the direction it went. Saevius always knew he liked men best, even though as a slave he would bed women and men to earn his masters coin, but his attraction to (view spoiler) is both perplexing and dangerous for many reasons. I have to say that I really appreciated Saevius's intelligence when everything was revealed. His reaction fit what we knew of him by that point.

The story is very enthralling and I read through most of it in a single night because I didn't want to put it down once I really got into it. I'm giving it 4.5 stars, and I'll round up once I determine rereadability.

And if you're looking for Mt. Vesuvius to explode during the story because this is Pompeii, (view spoiler) ...more

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