Review – Die by the Blade by James Mace

I’m quite the fan of historical fiction, I love how it can breathe life and perspective into great characters and events that we know of, but will never really know. But that’s not all historical fiction can do. An author such as James Mace can take an obscure and mostly irrelevant piece of history, and create an enjoyable tale with characters and events that are mostly lost in the sands of the time.

Mace tells the tale of Verus, a Dacian blacksmith who in 77 AD takes up arms to help his people fend off the advance of the Roman army into his territory. Fine warriors though the Dacians may have been, they were no match for the Roman army, a fighting force with hundreds of years of experience. Verus is first sent to a marble quarry, but after spending time there, he gets sent to become a gladiator, a slight improvement on his current state of affairs.

The bulk of the story tells of Verus’ trials as a gladiator, and also his friend Prisus (audiobooks don’t help with spelling), a Pict (never read a book with a Pict before, as far as I remember) who is the combatant all combatants want to be. Prisus is a likeable character. He’s not the killer we expect from gladiator stories, and for the three years of the book, he mourns that he may never see his family again. Prisus on the other hand is a killer, but he’s the kind of likeable hardass counterpoint to our hero. The Romans are suitably ghastly, but they add colour to the story when in there, as opposed boo-hiss panto villains. The historical facts and the knowledge of gladiatorial history rings true, although I’m no expert on this matter. The story never goes quite as you’d expect, which is great, and the combat scenes are nicely done.

The narrator does a good job, adding distinct voices to characters, while moving the pace effectively.

4-4.5/5 stars – looks like I”ll have to add James Mace to my ever growing list of must-read Historical Fiction authors.