Thursday 16 August 2012

HISTORICAL FICTION REVIEW: Spartacus 2: Rebellion - Ben Kane

Release Date: 16/08/12

SYNOPSIS:

The mighty slave army, led by Spartacus, has carried all before it, scattering the legions of Rome. Three praetors, two consuls and one proconsul have been defeated. Spartacus seems invincible as he marches towards the Alps and freedom. But storm clouds are massing on the horizon. Crixus the Gaul defects, taking all his men with him. Crassus, the richest man in Rome, begins to raise a formidable army, tasked specifically with the defeat of Spartacus. And within the slave army itself, there are murmurings of dissent and rebellion. "Spartacus", on the brink of glory, must make a crucial decision - to go forward over the Alps to freedom, or back to face the might of Rome and try to break its stranglehold on power forever.


REVIEW:

Having read the first instalment of Ben’s Spartacus series, I was hoping that this book would carry on in the same vein with character growth, solid pace and of course cracking combat. What unfurled within was not only that but so much more as the slave rebellion continued after the fractions within as some of the previous occupants met their deaths at the hands of the Romans in the opening pages of this book.

As with Ben’s other writing, the characters not only stand out vividly but the reader develops sympathies that allows them to care more which aids them to devour the pages as the tale unwinds from the authors imagination. Back that up with a whole host of logistical problems alongside some cunning, double dealing and politics and this series really is Ben’s best to date in my opinion. Great stuff.



No comments: