Review | Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

Mistress of Rome is one of those books that grabs you from the very beginning and never quite lets you go. Action-packed and filled with cliff-hangers, historical fiction doesn’t get more thrilling than this! There were god-like gladiators, scheming slave women, and emperors at their most licentious. There were wars, and whores, and love and lust…There were even times when I would be sitting at my desk at work, wishing I could go home early—not because I dislike my job (I love my job), but because I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next in the book!

Regular followers of this blog may already know that Latin was one of my favorite classes in high school, so Ancient Rome is truly a source of multi-faceted enthrallment for me. Some readers may be shocked to read about the gruesome gladiatorial games depicted in this book (though anyone who’s seen Gladiator should not be the least bit surprised), but as one who views historical time periods and the likes and dislikes of its people through a normative relativist lens, I could really dig in and enjoy the descriptions of the crowds watching the gladiators fight to the death in the Colosseum. Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant: “Hail Emperor, those who are about to die salute you”—a Latin phrase uttered by gladiators just before their match was to begin, and one that has been drilled into my brain since the ninth grade.

Mistress of Rome takes place in the 1st Century, during the rule of Emporer Domitian. I thought the author handled the characterization of Domitian perfectly – in the beginning, you never really know which way he’s going to go…is he slightly twisted but misunderstood, or is he truly just outright evil? And Thea is intriguingly complex; a Jewish slave girl whose spiteful Domina Lepida Pollia is relentless in her mean-spirited torture of the poor girl, whose only desire is to live in peace with her gladiator inamorato Arius “the Barbarian.” Other side characters of real historical origin make interesting appearances throughout the book: Empress Domitia Longina, Nerva, Trajan, Vibia Sabina, Flavia Domatilla (later made a saint in the Greek Orthodox Church), and Julia Flavia.

Contrary to many other reviewers, I liked that segments throughout the book switched between various character perspectives. I think this added to the author’s ability to leave us wanting more. Just as I thought Thea’s story could not get more interesting, something earth-shattering would occur and I would be left in suspense as that section ended and the whole tone of the next section switched to Lepida’s POV, picking up where her latest mischief had previously left off. The only aspect of this back-and-forth manner of storytelling that threw me off a bit was when it switched from first person to third person. The third person narration interspersed between the personal reflections certainly made things more interesting, but I received an ARC, and I hope that the final copy will contain more decisive section breaks, since the change in POV is not separated by chapters, but rather by multiple line breaks.

Much of the dialogue overall was deliberately modern (which I didn’t mind, since it was intentional – though it made me smirk to envision the Ancient Romans reciting lines like “I’ll run the bitch over with my chariot”), and some of the Latin misplaced. For example, Thea gives her son Vercingetorix the nickname Vix, which depending on context, in Latin translates to the adverb “scarcely” or “hardly” or “with difficulty”. Vix’s character is anything but scarce! Also, Ancient Rome was a rather big and busy city and empire, too large, in fact, for the characters to have conveniently bumped into each other as often as they did in this book. That aspect didn’t seem very believable…but I found the plot to be so good that I could suspend belief and forgive these minor distractions.

I must say, I had been waiting for this book to release since I first read about it maybe six months ago, and when I received a review request from the publisher, I was thrilled. Often times lofty anticipation can lead to a swift letdown, but Mistress of Rome far exceeded my already high expectations. The historical note at the end implies that a sequel is in the works, which I hope to be the case, as I’m eager to read more from this talented debut author! Check back later this week to win your very own copy of Mistress of Rome, and click here to read a fascinating guest post on women in Ancient Rome by the author Kate Quinn!