Review: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Synopsis:

Thea, a captive from Judea, is a clever and determined survivor hiding behind a slave’s docile mask. Purchased as a toy for the spoiled heiress Lepida Pollia, Thea evades her mistress’s spite and hones a secret passion for music. Rome offers many ways for the resourceful to survive, and Thea remakes herself as a singer for the Eternal City’s glittering aristocrats. As she struggles for success and independence, her nightingale voice attracts a dangerous new admirer: the Emperor himself. But the passions of an all-powerful man come with a heavy price, and Thea finds herself fighting for both her soul and her destiny.

Content Warning: Physical and mental abuse, rape, violence, animal cruelty, torture, death, murder.

This book grabbed a hold of me and would not let go.

“Anyone can kill an Emperor. It’s living to tell the tale that’s the hard part.”

I’ve read a few of Kate Quinn’s books, and they are fantastic (I’m planning on writing about them in the future), but this is her first novel, and it just blew me away. It’s clear right away the level of research that Quinn did for the story, and as a result, she makes Ancient Rome come to life. I could see the roaring crowds and smell the blood of the Colosseum, and feel the stifling heat of Rome in the summer.

This book has everything: romance, political machinations, deliciously evil villains, battles (of the mental and physical variety), and gladiators. Are you entertained yet?

One of the things that really stands out in all of Quinn’s books is her character development. All of her stories feature intertwining narrative, which is hard to get right and as a result I’m not a huge fan of this device. But Quinn is masterful. The characters are rich and varied and have such clear, distinct voices. In the beginning of the novel, it’s hard to see how all these different characters—including a gladiator, a morally upright soldier, a Vestal Virgin, and a spoiled patrician woman—will come together, but it was this mystery, combined with my genuine interest in the characters that kept me reading. I devoured this book. It’s almost 500 pages, but I finished it in a day because I could not put it down.

The book was beautifully structured; it was fast-paced and extremely detailed, but never falls into the trap of offering up way too much exposition. There was, literally, never a dull moment in the story—no mean feat, considering that this is a large book. That, combined with the fact that Quinn manages to juggle a large cast of characters with such ease, makes this a dynamite novel. I haven’t stopped shoving this book into people’s hands since I read it, and I was so happy to discover that this was the start of a series!

Quinn captures Ancient Rome. I didn’t know a lot about the time period prior to reading this, and while not everything in the story is accurate, I still felt like I learned a lot after finishing the book. I think one of my favorite tidbits of information was a scene at the Colosseum where young Roman girls were sighing over portraits of their favorite gladiators, admitting that they slipped the medallions under their pillows every night, which was hilarious. I’m not sure if that actually happened (if anyone knows please tell me!), but it doesn’t seem like that far of a stretch considering how revered the Roman gladiators were during their short lives.

“Men who want to die usually do, and Fortune’s smile on gladiators is notoriously fickle.”

This is not a book for the faint of heart. Ancient Rome was a notoriously brutal place, and Quinn doesn’t shy away from writing about the more bloodthirsty aspects. As much as I raced through this book, there were times when I had to put it down because I was shaken by the events unfolding on the page. Especially when Emperor Domitian’s true colors start to emerge. This is a man who enjoyed killing flies by stabbing their wings with a pen, so that gives you some insight into his character. Not to mention, the gladiator games were incredibly vicious, and those are peppered throughout the story. I highly recommend that anyone interested in reading this proceed with caution, but I promise it’s well worth it.

There’s so much more I want to say, but I don’t want to rob you of the thrilling experience of reading it. I’m already almost done with the third book in the series, and I plan to write more about these books in the future!