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Gladiatrix (Paperback)

by Russell Whitfield (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Myrmidon Books Ltd; paperback / softback edition (18 Mar 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1905802099
  • ISBN-13: 978-1905802098
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 121,504 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

A great debut that shines an entirely new light on the glory and the bloodshed of the Roman arena. Whitfield paints a vivid picture of the fights and the passions of women combatants. It's exciting stuff, with well rounded characters, nail-biting duels to the death and vividly depicted settings. Gladiatrix makes Gladiator look very tame indeed! --Simon Scarrow, author of Under the Eagle and Centurion

What a brilliant novel! Whitfield has taken one of history's curiosities -- the role of the female gladiator -- and woven from it a savage and splendid tale of the Roman arena . . . a tale that, once sampled, cannot be easily forgotten. --Scott Oden, author of Men of Bronze and Memnon

Gladiatrix weaves a complex tale against the vivid background of Rome's far-flung Empire in the heady but dangerous days during the reign of Domitian. A must for anyone interested in Ancient Rome as well as for those who have yet to visit this fascinating era. --Paul Doherty, author of The Alexander the Great Mysteries


Product Description

Under the Flavian Emperors the Roman public's hunger for gladiatorial combat has never been greater. The Emperor Domitian's passion for novelty and variety in the arena has given rise to a very different kind of warrior: the Gladiatrix. Lysandra, member of an ancient Spartan sect of warrior priestesses, is the sole survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of Asia Minor who finds herself the property of Lucius Balbus owner of the foremost Ludus for female gladiators in the Eastern Empire. Lysandra's Spartan pride refuses to accept her new status as a slave. Her deadly combat skills not only enable her to survive but win the adoration of the crowds, the respect of her Lanista, Balbus, and the admiration of Sextus Julius Frontinus, the provincial governor. But Lysandra's hubris has stirred up the ethnic factions of the ludus attracting the enmity of the Dacian warrior, Sorina, Gladiatrix Prima and leader of the Barbarian faction as well as inciting the hatred of the sadistic Numidian trainer Nastasen. Meanwhile Frontinus and Balbus plan the ultimate combat spectacle for the visit of the emperor's emissary, Trajanus, that will involve Lysandra in her greatest and deadliest trial.
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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Easy to Admire but Hard to Like, 30 Nov 2008
By C. Green "happily low brow" (Faringdon, Oxon, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
Gladiatrix is a well written debut novel from Russell Whitfield which puts an interesting spin on that old staple of 'sword n' sandals'tales, the enslaved Gladiator fighting for honour and freedom, by focusing on female 'Gladiatrices'. It features well conceived and diverse characters, a sense of time and place that does not pander to contemporary expectations brutal action, a fair smattering of sex (mostly of the sapphic kind) and a well worked plot. It holds the attention for most of its not inconsiderable length and is by most measures a good book.

What it didn't do for me however, is prompt much in the way of a warm emotional response. As a book I found it to be like a well designed machine rather than a piece of art; practical, functional & precise but without any real beauty or soul to it.

Partly that is down to the setting. By avoiding any contemporising of the characters and the place they inhabit there is very little that is familiar for a reader to cling on to. The world depicted in Gladiatrix is a brutal one that utterly alien to modern sensibilities. With nothing even vaguely 'modern' with which to associate it also remains a remote and distant one.

It doesn't help that none of the characters on display are particularly likeable people. Even the nominal 'hero' of the piece, Lysandra, with her haughty Spartan manner is someone it is very hard to warm to or cheer for. Credit to Whitfield for trying to create characters of some complexity, but in doing so he has also succeeded in removing the reader's ability to really empathise with any of the individuals on display.

By the end of the book I was interested to find out what happened more out of curiosity than a burning desire for Lysandra to prevail over her enemies. When the book ended on what I found to be something of an ambiguous, anti-climatic and less than satisfying note I found that I didn't feel particularly cheated or disappointed because I really didn't care that much about any of the characters' fates, and that told me exactly how little a connection I had made with this otherwise admirable book.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Protagonista kicks backside., 19 Mar 2008
By Gareth Wilson "drosdelnoch2" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
Launching a new year with a new writer is always a good thing for me, it's a taster of things to come in a new generation of writers in much the same way that Janus looks forward and backwards at the same time. So I was more than pleasantly surprised when I picked up the novel Gladiatrix. As the name would suggest the principle protagonist (or protagonista) is a female gladiator which were originally seen as a bit of light entertainment. Knowing this did put me on edge to begin with until I started getting into the tale.

The combat which appears within the pages is simply written alongside being short descriptions which allows the reader to envision the fight as it takes place. No complications are thrown in as otherwise it could have easily detracted from the scene and lost the key element that made it so gripping. Its brutal, fast paced and at times short, but then again that's the typical life of a gladiator. With the principle protagonist coming from Spartan stock it's a bit of a giveaway as to the toughness and inherent combat skills that we would come to expect from such and with her freeness of speech it endears her to the reader.

Well written with a touch of wry humour and a number of nods to past masters of writing within the pages it's clearly a novel of love and one that has been painstakingly researched. A great first novel and one that the passion clearly shows through allowing any errors to be ignored by the reader due to the sheer enthusiasm and gusto within. I look forward to reading future novels from this author.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting novel, 4 Jul 2009
By J. Cronin "dudara" (Ireland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
We all know about the gladiators of ancient Rome. Slaves who found a kind of freedom because of the adulation of the crowds for whom they fought, often to the death. However, this historical novel focuses on the female gladiators or gladiatrices.

Lysandra is a Spartan prietess (think of the 300) who is sold into slavery when washed up on a beach following a shipwreck. She is an arrogant, detached person, who views anyone who is not Spartan as practically barbarian. But she has been trained since childhood in the arts of war, a fact not lost on her new owner.

She is sent to training camp for gladiatrices, where her attitude sets her apart from the others. Her unwillingness to submit to slavery drives her and ultimately depresses her. I just could not warm to the character of Lysandra. She appears cold, aloof and without sympathy for those around her. Even when she loses her lover, it's hard to be sympathetic.

The novel is packed full of activity - from graphic scenes of fights in the areans to emotional outbursts between the main characters. There's a definite lesbian hint to this novel - it's full of strong, independant women who can fight. It's got plenty of historical detail but ultimately, it's devoid of emotion and the ending is so abrupt and anti-climatic that you'll wonder where the rest of the book went.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Lame ending
Bought this on the basis of the great summary on the back. Book started out well but mid-way through deteriorated into a predictable romance. Read more
Published 5 days ago by Ammonite132

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read
I have an interest in reading novels from the ancient world and came across this book by chance when it was given to me by a friend. Read more
Published 4 months ago by H. Waite

5.0 out of 5 stars A debut novel
I have never been entertained as much reading a debut novel, the book works on every level.

The story is well crafted, centred on a shipwrecked Spartan Priestess. Read more
Published 7 months ago by M. J. Tilbury

5.0 out of 5 stars Roll on book two!
As someone fascinated by all things Roman and particularly anything about gladiators, I picked up Gladiatrix with a real sense of expectation. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Ben Kane

5.0 out of 5 stars Gladiator meets Sadistic Jilly Cooper !!
Gladiatrix is Russell Whitfields first novel, and is a story set during the reign of Emperor Domitian, where a Spartan Priestess is taken into slavery and forced to fight for her... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mr. R. Coleman

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Roman drama - well written
This is an incredibly well written and engrossing book. I enjoyed it thoroughly and highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in historical fiction. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Vic Van

5.0 out of 5 stars Gladiatrix
An excellent book. A plot that keeps you engrossed to the end, well drawn and believable characters and enough action to ensure the pages keep turning. Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. Forester

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastix Book
A fantastic book which holds your attention to the end. An insight into the lives of female gladiators seen through the eyes of one of its participants. Read more
Published 16 months ago by J. B. Thorne

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant debut novel
I have to admit that I only bought this book because I know Russell (I know, I'm shameless when it comes to namedropping! Read more
Published 16 months ago by S. Hanson

5.0 out of 5 stars Moves at a cracking pace
I picked this up four days ago having spotted the cover in a book shop, purely by luck (how rare is it to have a cover that accurately illustrates a scene from the book?! Read more
Published 17 months ago by Legatus Hedlius

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