Title: Not all it could be
Product review: The problem with this novel is that the backdrop is more interesting than the foreground. We want to hear more about the Spartacan rebellion, its effects on slaves and how they felt about it, their temptation (to join in) and their fears of doing so. But the slaves in this novel, who are after all are at the heart of plot, are flat -- they are simply the objects that the patricians pretend, in their elaborate make-believe, they are. The result is a narrowly circumscribed who-done-it in a Roman setting ("Colonel Mustard in the Billiards Room with a Knife"), a slight entertainment that begs for more.
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