Customer Reviews

The Gladiator's Honor (Harlequin Historical)

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was very entertaining. The story was familiar, yet different. The heroine was gutsy but vulnerable. The hero was flawed but redeemed. I read this book in one sitting. I could not put it down I look forward to other books by this author. It kept me on the edge of my seat.

I picked up this book at the library because I like novels set in ancient Rome but this one was boring from the beginning. I don't read many romance novels but have read some good ones by Kathleen Woodiwiss years ago, but this author's writing style is banal to say the least. I recently read a romance novel called, "Gladiator" by Carla Capshaw which was beautifully written and this one pales in comparison. Save your money and borrow this book instead.

Finding this book, initially, was like a breath of fresh air. Rome, year 65 B.C., is certainly a world away from the Regency/Victorian romances I've been reading for the past year. And the Roman Empire is not an era frequently used (if at all) by romance writers. So, I had high hopes for a story that would match the unusual setting.

Well...the story is intriguing. Valens, the gladiator of the title, is actually Gaius Gracchus, the son of a Roman senator. Thanks to a plot engineered by his adopted brother Lucius, Valens was kidnapped by a pirate and sold into slavery, eventually becoming a famous gladiator. The kidnapping has left Valens thinking that his father ignored the ransom demand, and Valens' absence has left his father thinking that his son and heir had been killed.

In this mix is Julia Antonia, Lucius' ex-wife, who has been beaten and terrorized by him to the point of finally demanding and receiving a divorce. The scandal of the divorce causes Julia to be extra cautious of her reputation. Also, she's on the cusp of being betrothed again to a man her father and stepmother are very anxious for her to wed. All the more reason to avoid that sexy gladiator.

So far, pretty good. The author builds a potentially great story. The problem is, we don't learn anything about the betrayal of Valens and his kidnapping until the middle of the book. In the meantime, we have to plod through wooden, lifeless exchanges between Julia and Valens. I almost gave up on the book by page 7, because their first meeting is just so awful. Valens is alternatively smirking at and flirting with Julia, thinking she's nothing more than a bored Roman matron looking for a good time, and Julia's struck dumb by her instantaneous attraction to Valens. She's twittering and jittery as a heroine in a Harlequin Presents novel.

Julia calms down somewhat, and Valens gains some depth as a hero, but at least 70% of their characterization remains flat and uninteresting; therefore, when they finally have "that moment", they'd already lost me. I hadn't learned to care about these characters because they didn't give me reason to care; I wasn't emotionally involved in what's going to happen to them.

At one point, in her near-constant (over)emphasis regarding Valens' physical attractiveness, the author describes Valens as having shoulders as wide as a door frame. For me, reading this, it was: "OK, I get it -- he's a big, well-developed guy, please stop going on & on about his body!" As a reader, I prefer to project my own picture of a hero's looks.

Also, there are those modern touches that creep into the story. Julia twice refers to Lucius as her "ex"; a fellow gladiator talking to Valens refers to Julia as "your girlfriend".

I give the author credit for an original and gallant attempt to use the intrigues of the Roman Empire as the setting for a romance novel. Unfortunately, she still needs to work on creating absorbing, lively characters who can live up to her settings.

The year is 65 B.C. and Aedile Julius Caear is assembling the largest troop of gladiators Rome has ever seen. Julia Antonia couldn't help but look at heart-stopping sexy man standing in the portico of the baths. A Roman matron she might be, a woman not caught up in the gladiator cult like her friends, but some men are more than eye candy. Even before they meet, the pure maculinity of this man awakens the woman in Julia, inspiring her to act in ways she never has before. Valens the Thracian, a hardened gladiator survivor, is accustomed to the idolization of women everywhere he goes. One sentence spoken by Julia, however, unnerves him more than the mist strenuous gladiator match. With scandal from her past already threatening Julia's position in upper eschelons of Roman society, Julia nevertheless feels irrestibly drawn to this man, a man considered no better than a slave by the Romans. Sold into slavery, Valens left all his past behind when he was initiated into the Strabo school of gladiators. Determined to finally win his freedom and gain the rudius, a wooden sword with all its rights and priviledges, Valens cannot afford the distraction of the passion he feels for Julia or the sedrets of his past her presence threatens to unveil. To claim her as his own, he must risk his very life in a test that will challenge body and mind alike.

THE GLADIATOR'S HONOR is a wonderfully intense romance! Michelle Styles takes the reader right up to the edge until the very last pages. The passion between Julia and Valens runs so deep that both are drawn to each other despite the inner and outer obstacles in their path. As magnetic chemistry draws Julia and Valens together, the political undercurrents and inner wounds of these two characters add several intriguing twists to their romance. For those put off by the bloody noisy gladiator movies, Michelle Styles' THE GLADIATOR'S HONOR is a refreshing look into the culture and politics of the time without the assault on the ears. Michelle Styles does not gloss over the realities of the gladiator life. Indeed, she does an excellent job at delving into the reality of that job from the politics, to the entertainment value, to the social place to the games within Roman society. Hearing the crowds within the imagination is entirely different in THE GLADIATOR'S HONOR than the gladiator movies that make me reach for the mute button. THE GLADIATOR'S HONOR is the perfect example how books can be more satisying than television at times. Indeed, Michelle Styles well researched historical details instill a curiosity to learn more about a culture whose distance in time often feels alien and remote. Michelle Styles does an excellent job at detailing the differences in Roman society while also making the period accessible to modern readers by showing the similarities that transcend time. For example, the dog Bato is an integral part of both her plot, the character building, the emotion and even a bit of the humor. In addition, Bato creates a connection with readers who live in a very different world and time by allowing today's readers to see the common loves and concerns people share throughout the ages.

In her debut romance, Michelle Styles' THE GLADIATOR'S HONOR foreshadows some of the trademarks that readers will discover in some of her later romances --- a deep understanding of the peiod in which she writes, romance that reaches into the darker areas of family and the heart, truly wicked villains who raise the danger level, and a special place for pets within the families of her characters. Moments of tenderness and riveting dark danger combine to make THE GLADIATOR'S HONOR a deeply emotional romance. In THE GLADIATOR'S HONOR, Michelle Styles keeps the reader in suspense until the very last page as the final gladiator games have several surprising twists. No skimming over those last pages because the resolution is lackluster with this romance! Fantastic!

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