Daughter of the Rebellion
In April of 402 AD, Rome captures young female Visigoth fighter Adelgard (called Adel) and sells her to one of several schools for gladiators. She becomes the most famous gladiatrix in Rome. However, treacherous overseers remind her that she remains their slave to use as they please. For example, they make her fight with a defective sword while betting she will lose her match. The second main character, Felix, a handsome Roman, has spent years in Alexandria learning how to treat wounds. He comes home to a job as a medicus for gladiators. Telemachus, a former gladiator now Christian monk, wants to save the captive Visigoths from certain death in the arena and get them back to their homeland. Chaotic events and dramatic family stories entangle these three main characters. Felix and Adel fall in love and help Telemachus liberate other gladiators. Christian values of peace and helping others grow ever stronger, but conflict with gladiator duties.
Secondary characters, including the immature Roman emperor Honorius, are well described. The novel’s realistic settings include private and public combat theatres, gladiator training grounds, jails, infirmaries and gladiator living quarters. Nauseating foods, crude medicines, wine laced with opioids ring true. The prose and dialogue usually fit the time and place though sometimes lapse into modern jargon with references to units of time or certain expressions. Over the top descriptions (blood thundered, pulse racing like a team of runaway chariot horses) will distract some readers.
The main storyline builds to Rome’s Victory Games, put on to celebrate Rome’s triumph over the Visigoths. Here the best gladiators from different training schools must fight each other and lions in front of Roman nobility. This novel presents a gritty and realistic portrait of the lives of gladiators, the Rome-Visigoth wars, and early Christianity’s growing influence.
