Book Review: The Victor Part I by Andrew Meade

ISBN: 148199042X
Published: July 25th, 2013
Publisher: self-published
Read from August 8th to 11th, 2013
Synopsis from Goodreads:

Adir is a gladiator. He is revered for his killing, but after escaping his captivity, he is reduced to the gravest humility when he is helpless to save his own life. Then he does something he's never done before. He prays. His journey of faith and persecution will ultimately lead him back to the bloody sands of the arena where he will have to face his death with only a prayer to this unseen God.

Review:

I'll start off by saying that Andrew is my cousin, so excuse any bias in this review. Still, I'm so unbelievably impressed by this book. When I was Andrew's age I was writing Harry Potter fanfiction that I would abandon after two or three chapters because I got bored of it. Not only did Andrew actually write a book, the book itself is really good. I can't imagine how good of a writer he's going to be when he gets older.

It's interesting because I've never really read anything about gladiators, which is weird considering how much I've read about this time period. I tend to read mythology stuff more than fiction actually about people at the time though, and I'd never realized how little I'd read about ancient Rome other than mythology until this book. I think Julius Caesar is it actually. I should really fix that... I think Andrew did a great job writing with setting because it was very clear that he knew what he was talking about, and I really loved the attention to detail in the story.

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. I'm sure it will be just as great as this one!