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Set in late first century Rome during the reign of Titus Flavius Domitianus (referred to as Domitian), Mistress of Rome revolves around the fictional Thea and those who come in and out of her life.  Thea is a slave and as the book begins, she serves Lepida, a teenage girl about her own age who delights in putting Thea down and creating problems.  Thea is able to find a small amount of happiness with the celebrity of the day - a captive Briton gladiator named Arius.  But as Lepida is set to be married off to an older man, her jealousy of Thea and Arius forces them apart and Thea finds herself sold off as a whore - only to be saved by a man who appreciates her musical talent.

It is not long before Thea captures the attention of the emperor Domitian, setting her up for another competition and showdown with Lepida.  But Thea's life as the emperor's mistress is not all that it appears and there are those who are all too familiar with the emperor's darker side and want to bring him down.

 

The first third or so of the book was a little slow – I kept trying to figure out where the story was going and I even considered not finishing it. But I’m glad I kept reading and thought the second half was much stronger with a more exciting plot as the storylines begin to intersect and Thea becomes entangled in political intrigues as she tries to save herself and her family. Emperor Domitian was apparently somewhat of a psychopath and although Quinn alludes to his fondness for playing games with people (both physically and mentally), she avoids going into graphic detail. The same can not be said for her treatment of “the games” of which the Romans were apparently so fond, both as “entertainment” and as social events. The gladiator games are vividly described with a pretty good dose of blood, gore and violence (although a guy might not think it so bad!) but understanding the life of the gladiator is important to understanding some of the characters relationships.

Thea is likeable enough with a strong survival instinct and her path from slave to mistress of the emperor is an interesting and sometimes disturbing one. Lepida is wonderfully evil - a villianess who is bad to the core and who gets what's coming to her in the end.  Arius is a big, hulking man whose demons and blinding rage makes him a hero in the games but you get the sense that buried deep inside is a sensitive soul.  Quinn uses a combination of first (Thea and Lepida) as well as third person narration. At times the switch between first and third person was a little confusing and the transitions were not always smooth, but for the most part it didn’t bother me and I thought it added dimension to the story.

As indicated in her “Historical Note”, Quinn based several of her fictional characters on people who really existed but who were either nameless to history or very little was probably known about them. A list of characters is included in the back of the book but I wish it had been in the front since I didn’t realize it was there until I was almost finished. Despite the slow start, I thought Mistress of Rome was an entertaining read and it’s nice to get out of England once in a while!

Rating:  Good (3.5 stars)
 
In case the FTC asks:  I received a copy of this book from the publisher
*a modified version of this review also appears on Royal Reviews