Reviewed by Annika
AUTHOR: N.R. Walker
NARRATOR: Joel Leslie
PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books
RELEASE DATE: August 27, 2019
LENGTH: 12 hours, 24 minutes
BLURB:
Quintus Furius Varus is one of the best lanistas in Rome. Tall and strong in build, fearsome in manner, and sharp of wit, he trains the best gladiators bound for the arenas of Rome. When Senator Servius Augendus seeks personal guards, he attends the Ludus Varus for purchase of the very best. He puts to Quintus an offer he cannot refuse, and Quintus finds himself in Neapolis, contracted as a trainer of guards instead of gladiators.
Kaeso Agorix was taken from his homelands of Iberia and delivered to Rome as a slave. Bought by a senator to be trained as a guard, his fate is handed to the man who would train him. Absent free will, Kaeso knows his life is no longer his own, though he soon realizes the gods have favored him when he learns his new master has a kind heart.
Quintus and Kaeso forge a bond that far exceeds the collar at Kaeso’s neck, and together, they discover the senator’s move for promotion has an ulterior motive. Thrown into a world of politics and conspiracy, of keeping enemies close, they move against time to save Rome before traitors and the gods themselves see to their end.
And in doing so, see the dawn of the nova praetorian – the new guard – rise.
REVIEW:
I was a bit hesitant to pick up Nova Praetorian when it was first released. I mean I love a good historical romance when I’m in the mood for it, but we’re talking the Victorian era, or maybe a western or two – not the Roman era with gladiators, emperors and slaves. Then again it was a N.R. Walker book. I was torn, I’m not going to lie to you, was undecided for a long time. Then, the audio was released and I was asked if I’d be willing to review it. So I decided to go for it – for better or worse. You have to push limits every now and then – how else will you know if you missed out on something?
In a way this book was everything I expected it to be – and more, but also less – if that makes any sense to you. The era fascinated me, I loved the political intrigues, the plotting and planning. I also loved the characters. They were full of flavour and colour (and collars) strong wills and minds to take on any fight. Homophobia seemed to be a non-issue, which was really nice. On the other hand, the use of slaves and the treatment of the same dimmed any romantic feeling I could have had for this time period.
The first half or maybe two-thirds, it’s hard to tell with audios, of the book felt kind of repetitive to me. Nothing much happened, it was the same thing over and over again, with some minor variations. Train, bathe, eat dinner, hate on Servius and fuck – rinse and repeat. Did I mention fuck yet? The amount of on page sex scenes stalled the forward movement of an otherwise great story. They added words and pages to the story, but nothing else.
But the last part of the book was great! It was intense, with a lot of twists and turns and violence. Faint-hearted might want to be prepared for a lot of gruesomeness and details. It’s not overly done or OTT, it fits the era and anything less wouldn’t have been credible. And in the end, we got that sweet happily ever after Walker is so famous for delivering.
This was a Joel Leslie I didn’t quite recognise. His narration wasn’t as flawless and on point as it usually is. With forgotten re-takes and repeated sentences along with hesitations over the (many) unfamiliar words it wasn’t as effortless as it could have been. It wasn’t a bad narration by any stretch of the imagination, but I’ve come to expect more from him than what he delivered in this book.
At its core Nova Praetorian is a love story between a Roman man who trains gladiators for a living and a slave ordered to become a trained fighter against his will. I’m glad that I gave this book a chance, gave this adventure a chance. It’s a story I recommend anyone who’s a fan of a lot of action (of all kinds) with their romance.
BUY LINKS: