Gladiator Clash

Time Hunters #1

by Chris Blake

Join Tom on an incredible treasure hunt through time and battle history’s mightiest warriors. The first book in a new time-travelling series – perfect for fans of Beast Quest.

When ten-year-old Tom accidentally smashes a statue in a museum he releases Isis, a young Egyptian mummy who has been imprisoned for thousands of years. To break an ancient curse, the duo must travel back in time to find six hidden amulets - battling Gladiators, Knights, Greeks, Vikings, Pirates and Egyptian Warriors!

On Tom and Isis’s first adventure they arrive in Ancient Rome. To find the amulet they will have to fight the fiercest gladiator who ever lived!

Genres: Childrens, Fantasy, Historical

151 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 2013

Reviews

[Eloise · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 5 year old son enjoyed hearing this over a few bedtimes. Very satisfying to read out loud! He went and got the next one in the series from the library the next day.

[Jenny Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Promising series for emerging readers, will be popular with Beast Quest fans (it's about the same reading level as the Beast Quest and Rainbow Magic books). The series takes the children to various points in history and there are facts about the period in the back which is another plus point. I think this series will be popular with girls and boys if girls aren't turned off by the lack of a female character on any of the first six covers. Isis is a good character, my 5 year old self would have loved her, so it's a bit of a shame that she isn't more visible but I've read on the illustrator's blog that this was a deliberate decision by the publishers as they thought her presence would put boys off.... I'd be interested to know if there is any research to back this up frankly as I think that this kind of gender- targeted marketing is more damaging than helpful in the long term and must risk limiting your potential audience but that's an argument for another day...!
Anyway....my 5 yr old son discovered this series as apparently someone had it at school and he spotted the spines on a bookshop shelf. He also liked the top trumps cards in the back and needless to say we have had to buy the second book on the series now as it's a definite series designed to make you want to read them all. I don't mind this piece of marketing magic as that is half the trick at this point of their reading lives and I doubt there will be as many of these published as there are Beast Quest/ Rainbow Magic books so there is less chance of children getting 'stuck' on them.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boy releases young Egyptian girl trapped in a statue for thousands of years and they need to go on different quests to recover amulets -the beginning of a series with some humorous moments, it does feel a little calculated and lacks somewhat in actually feeling for the characters, but it was an ok adventure book.

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Isis has been a bad girl and tries to cheat Anubis which doesn't go down well. She ends up trapped in a statue for 5000 years, and now she's got to try to find the 6 amulets so that she can pacify Anubis. The boy who broke her out of the statue (Tom) agrees to help her. They end up in Ancient Rome, fighting a gladiator to try and get the amulet back.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ever

[Karen M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting and pacy read , with time travel, a mummy brought to life by a modern boy in a museum and found to be a princess ( and her cat) incarcerated by Anubis as a punishment …
Soon the quest unravels and the duo are off to Ancient Rome and ( hooray) a gladiatorial fight! I’m interested to hear how my young reader likes this book as I found it really well written with an awareness of the readership but still treating them seriously. The humour is well placed and the characters work well. It’s a great read for those stepping off into longer books without patronising the readers.
The historical facts at the end are well presented and accessible.
Right so I’m off to find out how well Tom and Isis get on at the court of King Arthur …

[Jake Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series explores quite a lot of interesting history/mythology through the eyes of a pretty interesting central duo. I would class it as an easy, engaging read for confident readers aged about ten.

This initial story manages to give an insight into the harshness and brutality of Roman gladiator fights without going too far in the actual narrative, and Tom definitely proves his bravery and strategical intelligence.

[Ayaan Kabir Julka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok

Ok book. Had a good gladiator fight part at the end of the book. Liked it because of that and ya

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

i like this book.

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

cool Chris Blake wrote a really good book

[Marwan Sarhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with funny events and amazing storyline

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read aloud to Henry

[Tracy Enright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows Tom, the ten-year-old son of a museum professor, and Isis, a mummified Egyptian princess who's been dead for thousands of years, as they travel back to Roman times. When she died, Isis attempted to cheat Anubis, God of the Underworld, of one of the six jewels that were supposed to pay her entry into the Afterlife. As a punishment, Anubis scattered the six gems throughout time and imprisoned Isis, and her cat Cleo, in a statue. Tom accidentally breaks the statue and frees Isis, and finds himself bound to help her in her search.

They are sent back to Rome to find the first gem which is in the possession of a famous gladiator.

This book gives an insight into the lives of the slaves who fought as gladiators as well as their weapons, fighting styles and even their living conditions. It was a good introduction to that part of history and generated plenty of questions from my five-year-old son. He thought this book was awesome and when we finished it I was wasn't allowed to get up until he'd gotten the next book off the shelf.

[Nicolene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story. We picked it up looking for something similar to the magic tree house books and we were right in the assumption it was similar though I feel these are targeted at a slightly higher age group or are more suitable for read alone than read to the kids. Either way it was a good book and we will be following the rest of the series.
Lots of historical detail which I love as it sneaks the info into their beds without them realising it. Interested to know where they end up on their next journey.

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

- I had to read this and review this for class-

Review coming soon.

[JAIJAI2844GOODREADS · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing!When I read the first chapter it's not fun yet but when the chapter 2 it's starting to get fun.I also like this book because it have time travel.

[Shermila B.]

COOL

[Rhea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read. Fun and informative. So good I bought the rest of the published series.