Spartacus: The Gladiator

Ben Kane manages to bring a freshness to the saga ... Told with Kane's usual panache and historical knowledge, this book is highly recommended

Kathy Stevenson, Daily Mail

There is much to enjoy in this saga of the downtrodden triumphing temporarily over their oppressors, and the portrait of Spartacus as charismatic leader is a vivid one

Sunday Times

Ben Kane is a master of blending action, storytelling, living characters and historical and military detail ... highly recommended

Historical Novels Review, Editor's Choice

Eyes are merciless, blows are wicked and screams are piercing, but this is a compulsive if relentless story, vividly recounted in muscular prose. Definitely one for the boys

Daily Telegraph, 4 stars

Like many choosing to read a book like this, I was seeking an active and exciting plot, and in this respect, Spartacus: The Gladiator delivers handily

Medieval Bookworm

Kane cleverly introduces characters of his own invention into his narrative… One of the great strengths of the book, the first of two volumes, is the portrayal of Spartacus. Here is a man of genuine charisma and complexity whose ability to inspire is made entirely believable… a brutal, blood-spattered novel. There is plenty of graphically described battlefield violence, s Kane reconstructs Spartacus’s extraordinary story with great energy and zest

BBC History Magazine

If you want to become familiar with the lanista and the rudus, to know your scutum from your licium, then Kane's your man ... plenty of action

Independent

Gritty, passionate and violent, this thrilling book is a real page-turner and a damn good read. It brings Spartacus - and ancient Rome - to vivid, colourful life

Steven Pressfield, bestselling author of Gates of Fire