Heather’s Bookshelf: Celts and the Gladiator
Author: PC Darkcliff
Released: 07/13/21
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mythological
“All the muscles in her arms and shoulders screamed in pain, but whenever she thought she couldn’t go on, the reflection of the eclipsed moon filled her soul with determination. The waves pushed her along, and the cliff towered menacingly near, but she spotted a cove and swam toward it.”
“Celts and the Gladiator” is the sequel to Celts and Mad Goddess (review can be found here). This review is just of “Celts and the Gladiator” as an individual novel. However, this story begins where the first of The Deathless Chronicles left off and while the author does a brief review of the initial tale, I would recommend reading them in the written order.
Set in 54 AD Rome, it has been 50 years since the first novel and Rawena, her sister Arvasia, and Garux have not aged a day. Cursed by Pandemia, Rawena is cursed to release a plague, but only if her sister and Garux don’t stop her first. Rawena has managed to become a gladiatrix under the suspicious eye of Nero who believes her to be some sort of sorceress.
Rawena escapes from the watchful eye of Nero with the help of a fellow gladiator, Crimus. Arvasia and Garux continue their mission, but also fall under Nero’s wrath, convinced Arvasia is actually his murdered mother sent back for revenge. Countless obstacles interfere with their mission to save the world from Rawena who wants nothing more than to spend the time she can with her new love.
Trigger Warning: violence, animal death, adult language, sexual situations
Overall, I was a little torn about this book. I enjoyed following the characters from the original story. However, the author strongly relies on the character development of the first novel, with Pandemia and Garux barely gracing the pages in the first half of the book. Also, considering the title of the book, much of the story has nothing to do with Arvasia being a gladiatrix. Rawena is at the center of the character development and I liked how she progressed with her emotions throughout the tale. I also liked that the relationship between Arvasia and Garux was not depicted as perfect though neither really had a chance for character expansion. The main villain, Nero, is described as such- disgusting, covetous, and power hungry. He had absolutely no redeeming characteristics, which I thought was a shame considering it was one of the main things I liked about the other characters in the first book- their tendency to live in a grey world. The mythos of the original tale held true, but I missed a lot of the character flaws and emotional choices from the first. I did enjoy how the story ended and wrapped up the storylines of each of the main characters.
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
OVERALL REVIEW:
A sequel that expands on the mythos of the characters from the original story but doesn’t quite provide a needed emotional connection
Want to learn more about the author?
Check out my interview with PC Darkcliff
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