In 74 B.C. the gladiators, led by Spartacus, revolted against Rome, quickly winning victory after victory against the mighty Roman Legions. The Servile War is finally quelled by General Crassus and finalized by crucifixion along the Appian Way of thousands of gladiators and slaves. The novel begins after the revolt has been suppressed, but bounces back and forth in time in many chapters. There are gruesome details of the treatment of slaves and gladiators, but it lacks the fierce detail of battles that punctuate Homers Illiad. Read carefully or you may lose the time frame. Good English prose without the use of flowery twenty-dollar words that are uncommonly used. Not too many preposition at the end of sentences.

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