Customer Reviews

Liberty

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rhyddes ferch Rudd is a member of an ancient Celtic tribe who had been dominated by the Romans. Hated and abused by her father for reasons unknown, Rhyddes is sold to Roman tax collectors as payment to settle the farm debts of her father. While Roman law states that a person acquired via tax collections must remain in the same condition in which they were purchased, the soldiers who bought Rhyddes torture her in vile ways. The woman that arrives at the Londinium slave market is not the young girl that unwillingly left her home weeks before. Bought by the owner of Londinium's gladiator school, Rhyddes has one lesson to learn - obey or die. This is a bitter lesson for Rhyddes who wants nothing more than the return of her freedom. The only bright spot in her entire existence is Aquila, the man she loves but will never be able to have.

Marcus Calpurnis Aquila is the son of a Roman governor as well as a highly prized and famous gladiator. Aquila, or "the Eagle" as his fans chant, hasn't the stomach for political office much to his father's dismay and ire. He would rather be performing and outshining opponents in combat in front of cheering crowds in the amphitheater. However, Aquila's father has other plans for his son and they don't include his risking his life for entertainment. Restless and opposed to his father's wishes, Aquila remains loyal to the gladiator motto - obey or die. That motto will haunt Aquila more often than he knows because against all odds and defying all laws, Aquila has fallen in love with Rhyddes, the Celtic gladiatrix slave know as Libertas.

LIBERTY is an epic historical romance with many facets. Not only was I treated to a thrilling story, but I learned important aspects of early Roman culture and customs. My heart ached with despair over Rhyddes' enslavement and then pounded with joy at the love shared by Aquila and Libertas. Both yearning to be free of the laws by which they are bound, these dynamic characters portray a selfless love by which legends are made.

LIBERTY by Kimberly Iverson was released in October 2006 by HQN. Fully anticipating a good read, the intensity, passion, and intrigue of LIBERTY was eye catching and completely enthralling. If you are a fan of well written, utterly entertaining historical romances, then LIBERTY is the book for you! I was spellbound.

I'm not kidding, either. Actually, I had been looking forward to reading this novel, set in the arenas and gladiator schools of ancient Rome. And I am always on the lookout for new writers, hoping to find someone new to pick up my interest.

Sadly, this novel was not going to fulfill that desire.

The time is that of Marcus Aurelius, Rome's philosopher-emperor, when the empire is at its heighth, and the province of Britannia is a rich outpost. But for Rhyddes, a Celtic girl who labours alongside her brothers on the family farm, Rome means nothing but drudgery. Her father takes pleasure in beating her, her mother has died long ago, and life is pretty miserable. After a raid from Picts, not only are two of her brothers killed, but Rhyddes finds herself sold into slavery by her father. Taken to Londinium, she is bought by an Egyptian, Jamil, and trained to become a gladiatrix -- a woman warrior -- to please the crowds in arenas.

Along the way, she attracts the attention of the son of the Roman governor, Agricola. Marcus Calpurnius Aquila is no stranger to the arena himself, but his father has skillfully manipulated him into giving up the life of a volunteer gladiator, and assuming a much more respectable life. Marcus also finds himself in an arranged marriage with the daughter of a prominent senator, and is chafing at the idea of marrying a stranger, a situation made worse when he spots the lovely Rhyddes, now known as Libertas.

The attraction between Rhyddes/Libertas and Marcus is mutual, but Rhyddes trusts no one after her treatment at the hands of Romans, and Marcus is too much of an honor-bound twit to ever get it together enough to convince the object of his desire to be with him, or stand up to his father. From arranged battles, the daily life of gladiators, social lives of the rich and idle, and other bits of trivia, the estranged lovers manage to survive until the inevitable ending.

For, sadly, this is not much more than a romance novel in historical trappings. Despite basing the character of Rhyddes on an actual archaelogical find -- the Great Dover Street Woman found in London -- no one in the novel ever really grows or changes. Marcus stays rather bumbling and inept, more like a teenager in lust than a savvy Roman, his father Agricola a hardnosed tyrant, and only Jamil gets any sort of backstory to give him interest. Rhyddes isn't much better, stoically bearing up through gang-rape, beatings, abuse, near-death, witnessing crucifixions, and any sort of nastiness that the author can dish up, all the while being lovely, admired and a heroine in the best Mary-Sue fashion. She is loved by all -- except for nasty men who want to rape her, doesn't bear a grudge, suffers through torments, unrequited love, and comes through it all smiling.

Urf. It's enough to make one hurl their braised peacock tongues, it does.

Iverson tries to bring the Roman Empire to life, but can't seem to shake off her modern sensibilities as to what she wants true love to be. I found her getting Marcus to agree to monogamy laughable -- it's a very modern concept, and not one that would have ever entered the typical Roman male brain -- or woman either. Honor, too, is more of the medieval chivalry type, than anything that a Roman would have done either. Characters use modern idiom and slang -- one person is described with a duffel, for crying out loud. Villians all leer, lick their lips, and fondle -- Iverson really enjoys using that word -- while trying to rape our heroine, and generally she is saved by some good-hearted fellow male gladiator who yearns for her chastely.

Even the historical characters aren't given much to work with either -- Marcus Aurelius and his family, including Commodus, are pretty flat, along with Galen, the physician, and even Agricola, who was noted for his leadership in Britain. For nearly five hundred pages this clanging bore of a story grinds on, with scarcely any humor, lightness or cleverness to lift the story beyond a dull roar. In fact, I kept setting the book down out of tedium, and finding housework to do.

Now that's a sign of a bad novel.

While the bits about the gladiators is certainly interesting, and the author kept that part of the plot going, the overall effect is flattened by the lackluster romance, modern posturing and one note characters. Even the sex scenes are pretty boring. If I want to read a novel about ancient Rome, I will probably return to the works of Colleen McCullough, who knows how to tell a story with historical characters, plenty of details, and knowing to stay with the right attitudes for the time.

So don't be tempted by the provocative premise of this one, and don't bother. Unless tepid moonings by dimwitted teenagers is really your style. Barely three stars, and that's mostly because the author tried really hard, but I'm being more than generous.

Not Recommended.

When I first heard about "Liberty" I thought it sounded suspiciously like my favorite book of all time "The Light Bearer" in which a female Germanic freedom fighter is made a gladitaidor and then rescued by a wealthy and enlightened roman man. Fortunately this is not a copy of "The Light Bearer" because that would mean that the characters in this novel have personality, character and integrity, and the book has something resembling a plot.

Perhaps you can tell I didn't like this book. This tells the story of a woman named Rhyddes, who is an 18 year old Celt abused by her father and then sold to pay of a tax debt to the Roman occupiers of Britain. None of this, including being gang raped by the Romans who take her to London to be sold seems to bother her to much. In London in the slave markets she is bought by a gladitaidor trainer named Jamil who went to the market on the hunch that he just might find a women to be a gladiator for him (what a lucky day for him!) In the market she is also bid on and fondled by a man named Marcus Aquila, the son of the governor of Britain who likes to be a gladiator for fun and hates his responsibilities. Though she is offended by this she can't help but be aroused by the touch of the handsome nobleman while she is completely naked and for sale in a public place. How romantic!

The book continues in this vein with Rhyddes being a ridiculously good fighter and lusting after Marcus, Marcus lusting Rhyddes though he is to be married and for some reason respecting her, though he never scrupled to by slaves for sex in the past. Their story is pasted off as love yet at one point Rhyddes begged Marcus to buy her because her new owners are literally going to rape and kill her and her refuses because of some stupid reason. Then there is some nonsense about a plot to overthrow the emperor using gladiators and bla bla bla.....

In short this book is awful. The history is inaccurate and poorly articulated, leaving the reader with a false image of the time and a completely skewed grasp of the social structure of Roman sonority. What eventually happened to Rhyddes, especially in terms of status, is not possible. Though this is supposedly a romance novel there is no love expressed here, only basic lust. Rhyddes is an offensive character to any woman because of her obvious lack of self-respect, and I say this knowing the societal pressures she would have been under at the time. For all extents and purposes she acts like a modern woman except when it comes to forgiving anyone, particularly men, for doing terrible wrongs to her and then taking the blame for all problems any men have caused her. In fact all the women in the book do this. Marcus is equally offensive, a spoiled rich kid who in his career as a gladiator obviously had special protection (who could kill the son of the governor or even wound him seriously without being killed himself?) who only thinks about himself and doesn't really seem to care if the supposed love of his life is killed of raped. All of this made this novel a nasty chore to read and I surprised I managed to finish to it. I just can't really recommend this book. Read "The Light Bearer" instead. Read anything instead.

Two stars, just because I did manage to finish it.

This novel was a wonderful story about love and freedom. It dealt with liberty, or freedom, on many levels and leaves the reader feeling satisfied. I also liked how it dealt with freedom from hate and anger over wrongs. The story was fast paced and kept my attention at all times. I absolutely love historical novels about ancient Rome and in the medieval time period. I have not read the novel other reviewers have mentioned by Gillespie, but I plan to. All in all, it was worth staying up late into the night to finish this book.

This was a wonderful book. I do not usually select this kind of literature. It was a great surprise. I thoroughly enjoyed the complete theme. A lady gladiator overcoming the life she had to endure at the expense of others greed. Marcus Aquila was an awesome man who stuck to the love of his life despite his status. He even went as far as staying respectful to a woman he was engaged to for political gain. This book is an inspiration for people who have been living their life according to what other people want for them, not what or who they want for themselves.
I was looking for another book by this author. I cannot wait to find one.

Just turned eighteen, Rhyddes ferch Rudd realizes that her father loathes her though she has always been obedient and hard working. When raiders arrive, he calls the names of seven of his children to help him defend their home; he leaves out only Rhyddes. Not longer after successfully defeating the Picts, her dad sells Rhyddes into slavery where eventually Gladiator Master Jamal buys her and renames her Liberty.

She proves to be one of the best gladiators inside the ring as no one matches her ferocity and prowess. However, she remains a slave craving freedom and the love of the son of the Roman Governor of Britannia Marcus Calpurnius Aquila. They met because he also fights inside the ring as a gladiator though he volunteers unlike the woman he loves, a taboo for a Roman politician.

LIBERTY is a more a historical tale than a romance as the deep tidbits bring to life the ancient Roman occupation of Britain. The story line focuses on the forbidden love between the female Celt and the male Roman, but that takes a back seat to the era. Based on a real archeological find, Kimberly Iverson provides an intriguing tale starring a woman warrior (now if Hollywood can find a female to Crowe about).

Harriet Klausner