This post was most recently updated on June 30th, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Category: Historical Fiction
Tour Dates: June 2012
Available in Print and eBook, 480 pages
Long the stuff of legends, Spartacus is known to most modern readers through the classic Kubrick film version of Howard Fast’s novel. Now bestselling historical novelist Ben Kane returns to the source material and presents a lively and compelling new vision of the man who was Spartacus—Roman army auxiliary, slave, gladiator and ultimately the leader of an army of slaves who nearly brought Rome to its knees.
Ben Kane’s brilliant novel begins in the Thracian village to which Spartacus has returned after escaping from life as an auxiliary in the Roman army. Jealous of his attachment to Ariadne, a Dionysian priestess, the Thracian king betrays Spartacus to the Romans who take him, along with Ariadne, into captivity and to the school of gladiators at Capua.
Against the background of the unbelievable brutality of gladiatorial life, Spartacus and Crixus the Gaul plan the audacious overthrow of their Roman masters. They escape and flee to Vesuvius, where they recruit and train an army of escaped slaves that will have to face the conquerors of the known world, the most successful deadly army in all of history in a battle that will set in motion the legend that is Spartacus.
Praise for Startacus:
“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, colorful life.” — Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire
“The story of Spartacus, and the slave uprising against the Romans in 73 BC is well known to many readers and cinemagoers. Yet 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, UK Daily Mail
“Not so mysterious as Warbeck, nor so canny as Catherine, Spartacus did one thing really well, and that was fight, and he does a lot of it in Ben Kane’s tremendously direct frill- (not thrill) free novel, which describes how Spartacus is betrayed and sold to be a gladiator in the arena. Eyes are merciless, blows are wicked and screams are piercing, but this is, vividly recounted in muscular prose.”- Toby Clement, UK Sunday Telegraph
“Ben Kane fills in the plentiful gaps in the historical record with some lively imaginings. There is much to enjoy in this saga of the downtrodden triumphing temporarily over the oppressors, and the portrait of Spartacus as charismatic leader is a vivid one.” -Nick Rennison, Sunday Times UK
“I have read all of Ben Kane’s books and have thoroughly enjoyed them all but, I have to admit that this novel would have to be his best. Therefore I am delighted that there will be a sequel out later this year. Ben Kane does a brilliant job in bringing to life the character of Spartacus. He has inserted a considerable amount of historical information into the storyline and has tempered it with a fine balance of fictional input to produce a very enjoyable and believable novel. The novel is full of action, conflict, romance, enmity and much more . Reading it has been most rewarding.”- Aristotle Spencer, Amazon.com Reviewer
About Ben Kane:
Ben Kane was born in Kenya and raised there and in Ireland. He qualified as a veterinary surgeon from University College Dublin, and worked in Ireland and the UK for several years. After that he travelled the world extensively, indulging his passion for seeing the world and learning more about ancient history. He drove around the USA in a camper van, trekked the Inca trail and took a ship to Antarctica. Seven continents and more than 65 countries later, he decided to settle down, for a while at least.
While working in Northumberland in 2001/2, his love of ancient history was fuelled by visits to Hadrian’s Wall. He naïvely decided to write bestselling Roman novels, a plan which came to fruition after several years of working full time at two jobs – being a vet and writing. Retrospectively, this was an unsurprising development, because since his childhood, Ben has been fascinated by Rome, and particularly, its armies. He now lives in North Somerset with his wife and family, where he has sensibly given up veterinary medicine to write full time.
To find out more about Ben and his books visit: www.benkane.net
You can also find him on Twitter: @benkaneauthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/benkanebooks
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