El destino de Marco, un joven romano hijo de un veterano centurión, está marcado por un oscuro pasado del que apenas conoce las claves, pero, poco a poco, las irá descubriendo en un duro y doloroso proceso. Su padre se distinguió durante la lucha por acabar con la rebelión de Espartaco, y parecía encaminarse a una vejez cómoda y apacible. Sin embargo, cuando la familia cae en las garras de un prestamista sin escrúpulos y éste asesina a su padre, empieza para Marco un azaroso recorrido como esclavo que le llevará hasta Halicarnaso, a una granja en el Peloponeso y, finalmente, a convertirse en un gladiador destinado a morir para disstraer a los ciudadanos romanos.

3.5 stars

Big warning about spoilers: Don't look at the titles of the rest of the series before you finish this book or you'll be able to guess the big reveal at the end very easily. It is predictable anyway, but still.

This is the kind of book that would have been much more believable if Marcus, the main character, had been two years older. His age works at first, because he still has a lot of childhood innocence and believes that people will believe him if he tells the truth and that people will fight for what is right. However, as soon as loses that, he starts behaving in a much more mature way, a way that is a bit too mature for a boy who just turned eleven.

Even though most of the plot was predictable and unsurprising, this book is written in a way that kept me reading until I reached the last page and left me wanting to read the rest of the series.

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Rom, 61 v. Chr. Der junge Marcus wird nach einem brutalen Überfall auf seine Familie versklavt und in eine Gladiatorenschule verschleppt, wo er zum Elitekämpfer ausgebildet werden soll. Aber Marcus kann seine Vergangenheit nicht vergessen: den Mord an seinem Vater und die Entführung seiner Mutter. Marcus weiß, dass es nur eine Möglichkeit gibt, um Rache zu nehmen: Er muss den mächtigen General Pompeius finden und ihn um Hilfe bitten den Mann, der tief in der Schuld seines Vater steht. Doch Marcus Herkunft ist von einem dunklen Geheimnis überschattet - ein Geheimnis, das so gefährlich ist, dass seine Aufdeckung den sicheren Tod bedeuten würde

Simon Scarrow expands his literary (Roman) empire into the realm of children's books, with the first in a new series: "Fight for Freedom".

Scarrow is most well-known for his action adventure "Eagle" series which focuses on a pair of Roman Legionaries fighting the good fight for the Emperor during the early years of the first century. With "Fight for Freedom", he steps back a century back in time, centering around the years following the Spartacus rebellion. A young boy's father is killed, and he and his mother wind up at a slave auction setting up a this nice adventurous tale.

After being captured and sold as a slave during a bungled attempt to stow away on a ship, the hero Marcus listens to his introduction at his new residence - a gladiator training school south of Rome. "This is your new home. This is the only home you have from now on. Where you came from is no more than a memory, and it will go easer with you if you try to forget your past lives. That is all dead to you now. All that remains is to learn how to fight and survive."

The plot is cliched and most conclusions are obvious. Scarrow does a nice job, however, of embuing the story with a strong sense of historical "place", as well as dealing with the issues of slavery and how much it impacted ancient daily life.

Overall, the book is a solid three. BUT...it scored very highly with my 12-year old son who loved the action, the melodramatic cartoonish violence, and the relatively realistically portrayed ancient roman themes of honor, citizenship, and gladiatorial/warrior glory. He can't wait for book 2 which move it's focus to Rome itself.

The story is violent by the nature of its topic, but it's not over the top and shouldn't shock a modern, TV-hardened boy of 11 years and older. This comes nowhere near the depth of Sutcliffe's "Eagle of the Ninth", to whom Scarrow dedicated this novel, but it's a good-hearted young adult tale and a fun read. ( )

http://cloverhillbookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/04/gladiator-fight-for-freedom-by... ( )