A Roman gladiator found frozen in the Arctic ice is successfully defrosted alive.

The first 2/3 of the book is mainly taken up with Eugenianus's memories of his life from his childhood to how he came to be in the far North, while the rest of the book shows how he reacts to the 1970s. The book has a variety of narrators:Eugenianus himself, a Russian doctor, an American geologist, and a Norwegian nun. It was very well done, showing how different his thought processes and motivations were from a modern person's. ( )

This is one of the few books that I remember even when I forget the title and author, which I have done multiple times since I first read it.
I gives a very compelling view of what the life of a star gladiator in Rome might have been in the very early Christian era, and what a Roman might make of the Roman Catholic Church. ( )

This novel is a clever combination of history and science fiction. The author brilliantly puts you into the mind of a remarkable, and unlikely gladiator of Rome from the early years of the Christian era, as he struggles to assimilate into modern society. ( )

One part Gladiator, one part Jurassic Park. Eugeni was a Roman Gladiator (in fact, the best) under the emperor Domitian. Until he fell from favor after failing to kill a friend during a gladiatorial contest. The Praetorian guard was ordered to take him to the North Sea and kill him, but succeeded only in causing him to be frozen, and awakened two millenia later by cryogenic techniques. He’s discovered by Lew McCardle, Ph.D. texan hunting for oil. To keep the discovery secret, Lew enlists the aid of Semyon, a Russian cryonics specialist, and Sister Olav, a non who speaks fluent latin.

(see The Far Arena on The Hawaii Project)

The book alternates between Eugeni’s life in Rome, and his experiences coming to grips with being alive, and being in the modern world. The scenes from ancient Rome are simply brilliant — historically accurate, by turns gripping and harrowing, and capture the intrigue of Rome. Interesting details (the Legionnaire’s equivalent of “combat pay” was called “nail pay” — because they wore out the nails in their sandals during long marches) are interspersed with wonderful characterizations. Eugeni is a brilliant character — he has the black humor of soldiers (“How are your pains?” — “My pains enjoy themselves immensely. I do not.”). The interplay between the worldly-wise Eugeni and cynical, aging Lew are priceless. The scene where Eugeni demonstrates in the modern word how brilliant a swordsman he is, is harrowing and devastating.

The modern scenes are done equally as well as the Rome scenes. So it’s hard to characterize the book. It’s one part fantastical historical fiction and one part modern day thriller, combined with a morally compromised realpolitik that drives the plot. It’s a great book, and the writing is smooth as glass. Can’t recommend this book more highly if you are interested in Rome or Gladiators.

As a bonus, here’s a list of other great books about the Roman world

Happy Reading! ( )

After reading this one, I'll stay away from Roman historical fantasy. This one was so-so, despite several interesting episodes.
A nude man is found encased in ice by an American oil man/geologist. A Russian doctor thaws out the man, who turns out to be from ancient Rome at the time of Emperor Domitian. The doctor replaces his poisoned blood with fresh blood, and a nun translates his classical Latin for the two men. The part where the Roman, Eugeni, remembers his life in Rome as gladiator, freedman, rich man, and with his family was fascinating. But after that, an ancient Roman stranded in present-day Norway did not gel for me and was too outlandish. I thought Eugeni's description of modern clothing to himself, analogizing them to what he knew; e.g., neckties like torques, was clever. I thought the scene where 'garum' was mixed together for Eugeni, out of disgusting ingredients, was humorous. The novel was poignant when he visits modern-day Rome with the nun and sees the ruins of things he knew and realizes without a doubt that his beloved wife and son have been dead for close to two millenia. But as a whole the novel was mediocre. ( )