The Fight for Rome

Gladiators of the Empire #2

by James Duffy

Continuing the adventures of Quintus Honorius Romanus (a.k.a. Taurus)-legendary gladiator of ancient Rome-this second book in the series picks up in AD 68, when the emperor is dead, and the throne is up for grabs. Three contenders square off to take control of the government, and as civil unrest begins to build, Quintus and his friends, the beast hunter Lindani and the gladiatrix Amazonia, are forced to fight with the legionnaires of Rome in what will soon become bloody civil war. Meanwhile, in a remote corner of the empire, Quintusâ former slave, Lucius Calidius, plots another rise to power-and not even Quintus will stand in his way.

Genres: Historical Fiction

408 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

James Duffy is the author of a number of scholarly books on shipwrecks, slavery, African history, and a novel for young readers, The Revolt of the Teddy Bears. He has received fellowships from the Bollingen Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Jason Golomb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read James Duffy's first Gladiators of the Empire Novel, "Sand of the Arena", shortly after I returned from a visit to Italy with my wife this past summer. The story was fun and the characters were interesting. And Duffy's writing was clear, concise and terrifically descriptive. The surest sign that I enjoyed reading the book was when I found myself one Sunday morning, hiding in my office from my kids and wife so I could finish the final 50 pages.

Sure enough, I found myself sitting in my living room this past Saturday morning trying to burn through the last chapters of Duffy's sequel to "Sands" - "The Fight for Rome" - before the family descended upon me looking to launch into our days' activities.

"Fight" brings back all relevant characters from the first book: Quintus and his arena alter-ego Taurus, Lindani the venatore, Amazonia the gladiatrix, and the primary antagonists Lucius and Julia. Added to the mix, however, are Vespasian and a smattering of other key players (fictional and real) from the famed Year of the Four Emperors.

I think the smartest move on Duffy's part was to move Quintus and his friends out of the arena (although not exclusively as there are three or four well-written arena battles) and into a war scenario. I'm a big fan of historical fiction that works hard on the HISTORICAL part of the book and Duffy did just that. Duffy includes some historical notes as part of his afterward and is pretty clear on what's real and what's not. While I forgive Duffy' periodically hokey plot points, I think he did a terrific job working his fictional gladiators into historically true situations.

Make no mistake, neither of Duffy's books are particularly deep or strongly emotive. But they're extremely well written and he has a very strong flair for a fast-paced narrative. I'd put his stories up against Simon Scarrow's first two "Eagle" novels and I think in a blind "read-test" Duffy would come out even for pure action and adventure.

Duffy doesn't hold back on gritty exposition. He includes a couple of pretty intense sex scenes and a rather surprisingly brutal rape towards the end. The battle scenes are fun to read and good and gory.

If you can stomach the "realism", I'd highly recommend this book and it's prequel.

[Antonin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-written, entertaining book. But the graphic rape scene near the end added nothing to the story and was completely unnecessary.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sequel to "Sands of the Arena" by the same author. Our heroes: "Taurus" (male gladiator with the strength of Hercules), Lindani (an African hunter that's an expert with bow and spear) and "Amazonia" (a tall, voluptuous female gladiatrix with killer kicking moves). They live for the roar of the arena...the thundering applause of the audience (like celebrities today). A betrayal early in Taurus's life causes him to seek revenge against the perpetrator. His friendship with Lindani and Amazonia keeps them all alive during bouts in the arena. The behind-the-scenes manipulations of the betrayer adds to the suspense. WARNING: not a book for children as it contains a brutal rape scene near the end of the book.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in Rome this is a very fun book.