Atticus is terrified. He has just been kidnapped by Roman soldiers, taken from his humble village and forced into slavery. His mother and sister have died in the fire his captors set, and he is now about to be separated from his father and thrown into a whole new world where freedom is for the rich. However, the glorious empire of Rome looks much more stable from the outside, Atticus starts to realize, and finds himself surrounded by treachery and power-hungry politicians who will let nothing stand in their way of the throne.

Atticus never wanted anything to do with Rome. He has lived his whole life with his mother, father, and sister until he is captured in the middle of the night by soldiers. Now, he must face what he has for so long ignored; the mighty Roman Empire. He is sold to Lucius Opimius, who has seen his potential and takes him in. He is given an education, and soon rises to the position of “master’s favorite.” While even though this makes the other slaves jealous, Atticus could care less. He has been asked to help his Lucius in an important mission; find out the truth behind a plot that may threaten the emperor’s life! Between spying on secret meetings to hiding in plain sight, Atticus’s life will never be the same.

While this book gave an insight into history and was, at times, well written, it had many things that needed to be improved. One thing that was a problem was the descriptions of the events and characters. Atticus’s recount of his family’s brutal murder, his capture, trip to Rome as a slave, and then separation of his last living family member was all of six pages, but was followed by a twenty page description of a dinner party. The author does this all throughout the story; quickly describes an important, plot changing event, and then jumps over and explains something the readers could care less about for pages and pages. There was also no internal struggle described of Atticus becoming a slave. The story jumps from him describing how he must always hide the pain he is feeling to being a loyal slave for his master. None of his emotions are well described and when they are, they are jumpy and confusing. The book talks more about other people than it does Atticus, which really leaves something to be desired for the reader. You feel at the end of the book that you really didn’t know any of the characters very well. The ending didn’t wrap up the story or answer any questions you had about the confusing plot either. All in all, it isn’t worth your while to read unless you enjoy books that don’t explain what is going on, the character’s feeling or thoughts, or don’t have a definite ending. I give it two and a half stars out of five. ( )