Die by the Blade

De: James Mace

Narrado por: Jonathan Waters

Thus Valour and Skill Have Their Reward

The year is 77 AD. On the frontier of the Roman Empire, a Dacian man named Verus is captured and enslaved during an imperial raid north of the Danube. He is sent to a rock quarry known as The Pit, as one among thousands of fresh slaves needed to mine marble for Emperor Vespasian's new amphitheater. Funded by spoils taken during the Siege of Jerusalem, the Emperor promises it will be the largest gladiatorial arena ever; his personal gift to the people of Rome. Requiring years of herculean labor and millions of cubic feet in stone, Vespasian's son, Titus, worries whether his father will live to see its completion.

After months of back-breaking suffering and toil, Verus is taken from The Pit to become a gladiator. Whether by chance or fate, he knows that only by making a pact with death will he have a chance at life. In a savage world of blood, sweat, sand, and steel, his very soul is forged, until he no longer remembers the man he once was. As the Flavian Amphitheatre nears completion, with the possibility of fighting before the Emperor himself, Verus swears to either win his cherished freedom, or ignominiously die by the blade.

©2017 James Mace (P)2018 James Mace

Second attempt to review this fine audiobook

I really am interested in this time period of history. I am fully aware that most history books are written by the winners. But the fiction about this time period is written from all sides. I believe I am still living under a Caesar now. With the wealth accumulated would have spent to wipe out the death by famine of Roman citizens. There would have been no need for the arena. Anyway, I highly recommend this book . Now for the obligatory: "I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

Great story and action

having read another of Jame's books I was looking forward to listen to this one and I wasn't disappointed. The story of the main character was interesting,whilst the action quick and intense. The narration is done well with distinctive voices for the different characters. I really enjoy historic fiction such as this and I look forward to reading/listening to more of Jame's books in the future.


Please note that I was provided with a copy of this audiobook to provide a non-biased review.

A Little Slower than I had hoped

While I appreciate all of the research that was done for this book, I rather felt that it bogged the story down a bit.

Jonathan Waters does an admirable job and was quite impressed with how well he handled the ancient Roman name.

I didn't love it...but didn't hate it either.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Cool Gladiator story

I feel like we don't have a lot of these types of stories. After watching Spartacus and finishing I've never been able to scratch tat itch. I train in mma as well which is somewhat like a modern gladiator. So you know the premise of a gladiators would interest me. I did enjoy the story more than I expect other people to do, so keep in mind if gladiator type stories are not your thing.

I highly recommend this for people who are really in to this type of story.

Most entertaining story from Mace so far!

There were elements of this story I predicted early on, and at least one big surprise later. Either way, this was one of James Maces’ most entertaining stories to date, and I’ve listened to almost all of his novels.