I mentioned in the recent Whatcha Reading post that I think it was flchen1 (Hi! Thank you!!) who posted about Blood of a Gladiator in the comments a week or so ago, but I inhaled this book. I wrote in the post:
“Ashley Gardner aka Jennifer Ashley writes great mysteries with very slow connections and growing emotional depth between the characters, and this book was excellent. It got me through some insomnia (perimenopause can fuck right off) and I found myself thinking about it constantly while I wasn’t reading but hadn’t finished – a sign that it’s grabbed my brain in a good way. I really liked the historical details, such as the length of time it took to walk everywhere in ancient Rome, and the glimpses of character history for the leads, Leonidas and Cassia.”
I wanted to expand on that for a review because I’m still thinking about this book and have queued up the next one to read asap. There are three novels and one novella in this series – woot woot! There isn’t a romance in this book, but there is a wonderful development of friendship and slow healing from trauma that I think a lot of romance readers will enjoy. The mystery isn’t as strong as the character development but wow, wow is the character development exceptional.
I’m going to paste the cover copy here because I don’t want to reveal too much by trying to write my own summary:
Leonidas, champion gladiator of Rome, is set free from the games by a mysterious benefactor who grants him freedom, a place to live, and a servant—Cassia, a scribe—to look after him. But the benefactor is only so generous—Leonidas must pay his own way and Cassia’s, which means hiring himself out. The sharp-witted Cassia quickly lands him a post as a bodyguard, escorting a retired senator to Ostia.
The trip soon turns deadly, as Leonidas and Cassia find themselves squarely in the middle of intrigue that reaches from the slums of the Subura to the Palatine Hill and the emperor Nero himself.
I loved the historical detail, particularly the geography of Rome. It took forever to get to some places on foot, and the characters trudge and get tired as they investigate a murder for which Leonidas fears he will be blamed (it’s happened before, poor guy). Horses or carts are not within reach financially for either character, and they walk everywhere. When Leonidas is guarding a rich senator on a journey to Ostia, that senator’s inherent kindness is revealed by how often he stops the caravan of his household walking behind him so that they can rest. I love when fictional characters, and the larger morality of the world they are in, are revealed in tiny moments like that.
The social status of each character is fixed, and at times a hindrance. Cassia is a slave, born to a slave, and due to the rules of recognizing or even seeing an enslaved person, she is often rendered an invisible non person. Cassia is expected to disappear into the background, even though she’s persistent, tenacious, and extremely intelligent and educated. She’s a scribe, and is constantly writing down events, what time things happened, and what evidence she notices – and she notices many, many things.
As a former gladiator, Leonidas is a famous local hero who has won people a lot of money, but socially is at or near the bottom of the hierarchy. He gains entry to extremely rarified spaces because of his fame, but is often treated as a tool to be used or as a novelty who should entertain. Leonidas doesn’t necessarily know who he is, really, now that he’s no longer a gladiator, but he is not able to avoid how his social status affects his treatment from other people.
(Also of note: ass kissing of powerful people is expected/endured no matter the era. The more things change….)
Because they are thrown together by Leonidas’ anonymous benefactor, Leonidas and Cassia need one another for survival, even though they don’t know each other at all. Leonidas has no idea how to live as a freed person; as a gladiator, everything from schedule to food and care were provided for him. His mysterious patron has provided housing and a small amount of money, but he needs to work. How does he find work? Cassia is on it.
Cassia is on it for all of the logistical details – finding food and drink, finding Leonidas job opportunities as a guard, bartering or bickering with vendors, and questioning household servants. One hallmark I love about Gardner’s writing that is present here and in other series is that the boundaries of class are both fixed and somewhat permeable: Cassia cannot escape her status, but she can talk to people and gain information that Leonidas cannot access, and the same is true for Leonidas.
My favorite part about this book, and the aspect that made me want to review it, was the slow and tentative friendship between Leonidas and Cassia. He hasn’t had many friends, he mourns the ones he did have, and he is very vague about his life before he was punished for a crime he didn’t commit by being forced to compete as a gladiator. The vagueness of his memories suggests repressed trauma, and the same is true of Cassia.
Their personal history is hinted at, especially Cassia’s, and I love, love love LOVE how careful Leonidas is with her. He’s massive and strong, trained and intimidating. He can kill people and has done so in many violent ways in order to survive. He is so careful with Cassia. He understands how precarious her life was before they met, and how precarious her safety is now. He takes his responsibility to protect her very seriously, and their mutual sense of honor was among the most interesting parts of their characters.
A few TW/CW notes regarding Cassia, and very important info regarding the next novella and novel:
I want to look out for potential readers’ experiences so please note that Cassia was sexually assaulted in her past, and she and Leonidas discuss it briefly as he figures out what her life was like before she was assigned to him by his benefactor. There aren’t details or on-page depictions, but her hesitation and vulnerability are heartbreaking to read.
In the novella that follows this book, Blood Debts, Leonidas befriends a young boy who is undernourished and lives at a brothel. There are details about child sexual assault, sex trafficking, and brothel practices involving children at the time in Rome that are very upsetting – and are the reason why Leonidas won’t send him back. Further, there is sexual assault on the page of one of the leads.
This novella was written before the series – Blood of a Gladiator was published in 2020, while the novella was published in 2017. The novella is tough reading, and if these are subjects that are upsetting for you to read (I’m struggling a lot with this one) I’d advise skipping it.
I also want you to know that the series doesn’t shy away from the brutality of punishment and death sentences at this time period. There are descriptions of cruelty and body horror and horrific corporal punishments mentioned in the subsequent books, and the viciousness of the way Roman society dealt with criminals and traitors is not hidden or elided.
The mystery itself was populated with enough potential villains that I didn’t guess correctly, and it was structured in a way that the reveal was a surprise, but one that made sense with all the other clues lining up clearly once the culprit was identified.
A small note about the ending
My biggest problem with the mystery plot was that the motivation of the villain for their very convoluted crimes didn’t have much emotional heft for me because it was revealed so late in the story.
Leonidas and Cassia’s story carries great emotional resonance, and their gentle, newly-born connection is so fragile, supported beneath by the determination of both characters. I’m very eager to read where their friendship will go, and I’m excited to read the next book in the series. If you like historical mysteries with a very strong sense of place and time (it was so dusty at times in the story I needed water to keep reading) and with characters who you get to know slowly but authentically, you’ll probably like this book.
