about a book

jaclynday:

What I’ve Read: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

Truth: I love reading slightly raunchy, historically inaccurate (yet compelling) historical fiction. This is a prime example of that genre and I enjoyed every second of this book.

For starters, this is a well-written and (yes, surprisingly!) well-researched book. (By historically inaccurate yet well-researched, I mean that Quinn has injected major characters into real events that they probably weren’t big players in. Well, definitely weren’t, because most of the characters are made up. ANYWAY!) It’s not a throwaway novel designed around “shocking” scenes of bloodlust and, well, regular lust. It does have these things, but incorporates them well enough into a nice, rounded story that feels like it’s right on the cusp of respectability but can’t quite make it because of that one part.

It has everything a proper Roman historical fiction novel should have: lots of gladiators, a slave girl, a slave girl in love with a gladiator, a slave girl separated from said gladiator. I cannot express to you how excited I was to read a book that completely embraced the campy, cliched story and actually made it a worthwhile, exciting read.

A total page-turner, I read it in exactly one day because, hey, Quinn made gladiators THAT enjoyable to read about and the gory, bloody scenes sprinkled in here and there made it feel like I was reading a book version of Spartacus: Blood and Sand. (Which is another campy, lusty Roman story in the TV genre that I love. Of course I do. That should have been clear by now!)

Anyway, yes, I highly recommend it. Duh. It’s Roman, it’s gladiators, it’s full of sex and violence and debauchery, and why wouldn’t you want to read it?