A War Within: The Gladiator

A War Within #1

by Nathan D. Maki

As a thunderstorm sweeps the streets of Rome, Emperor Commodus sends a young man named Antonius into the night with a sealed message for his Praetorians. Antonius's father, who is both steward to the Emperor and the secret leader of a small church, learns that it is an arrest warrant for his church, including his wife and daughter.  Antonius races back into the storm to warn them, but the resulting tragedy leaves him bitter and angry toward God and vowing vengeance on the Emperor.  The brutal gladiator master Scipio plans to mold this angry young man into a fighter, leaving Antonius warring within.  Will he forsake his faith and fight or will he refuse?  If God is truly faithful how could this happen?  And how could God demand that he forgive?

Reviewers say...

"A fast-paced, heart-stopping page turner. From the first page you are thrustinto a time long forgotten , atime when persecution of the saints meant more than a volley of words ordivergent beliefs, but real lives held in the grip of a society bent on violence."

"Nathan has easily managed to keep my mind enthralled with the richness of hisworld. I love the Christian aspects of this work and highly suggest the read!"
 

"Wellthought out, well written, and difficult to put down once you enter into thestory."

314 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

I live in Prescott, Ontario, with my beautiful wife Rachel, my rambunctious son Xander, and our two fun-loving but very lazy pugs Pandora and Portia. I graduated with Highest Honors from Ottawa's Carleton University with a double major in Journalism and History. Writing has always been one of my passions and I write in my sparse spare time when not doing pastoral work or managing and operating my own business. I like to say I pastor a church to touch souls, write books to touch hearts, and mow lawns, well, to keep food on the table.

Reviews

[Canuck Snoozie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I love historical fiction, I've not read a lot dealing with the Roman era. However, since this was in my local library and the author lives in my community, I decided to give it a read. I found it to be quite a good read. Packed full of action, with the characters developing nicely. For anyone who loved Jack Whyte's Dream of Eagles series, I would recommend giving this series a read. I enjoyed it.

[Acn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely cringy drivel. Just awful but unintentionally funny in a painful sort of way. I'd tell you not to quit your day job mowing lawns but frankly you aren't very good at that either.

[Lexi Billick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book because I was really excited for a Christian writer adventure story. I was a little disappointed. The writing was just bad and I had to force my way through it. I was still really invested in the characters and that's why I gave it two stars instead of one. I'll probably continue on with the series because I still wonder about what happened to the characters.

[Rachel Maki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Action and romance all packed in one book. That doesn't come along every day!