I really hated Fabiola and Romulas’s master. I like that Romulas forms a friendship with Brennus when he is sold to the school. I like how Brutus gets Fabiola and how in the end he frees her. I like how Tarquinius, Romulas, and Brennus meet on the battlefield and become fast friends. I like that Fabiola still remembers her twin when she is set free. I really enjoyed this book.

Ben Kane is one of those authors that I discovered by accident back in 2015 when I read and reviewed a book of his that I had discovered on NetGalley. I've read at least one book by him every year since then and I haven't been disappointed yet. The Forgotten Legion is a book that I randomy found in December of last year (2018) at a secondhand store. I never ever expected to find a Ben Kane book there so obviously my excitement knew no bounds. It still took me six months to finally get around to reading the book but now it's one of my favorites for sure!

The Forgotten Legion is a favorite of mine now but it took me one or two chapters (and these are pretty long chapters) to really get into the book, to be honest. I think I had to get used to the writing style but as soon as other characters got introduced and the story really started going I was hooked. It's a pretty big book at 659 pages but I finished it in only four days because I just couldn't stop reading and that's not something that happens very often to me lately.

There are a couple of different characters that feature in this book. They were all pretty different and that's why it really worked for this book. First of all there's Tarquinius who's a Etruscan soothsayer who also knows how to fight. He was probably my least favorite character but in the end I managed to start appreciating him more. Romulus and Fabiola are twins who are slaves who were born after their mother was raped by a nobleman. They're sold when they're thirteen. Romulus ends up at gladiator school and Fabiola ends up in a brothel. And last but not least there's Brennus, a Gaul. His whole family and tribe got murdered by the Romans and he became one of the strongest gladiators and mentor to Romulus.

The story takes place over a lot of years so we see the characters have bad things happen to them but they grow and learn as well along the way. This is a trilogy so there's a whole lot more to come that I just can't wait to discover. I don't have the books yet and since I'm on a book buying ban I'm going to have to wait until I can buy them but I'm already wondering about where the rest of the characters' different journeys will lead them.

This is a ‘complicated’ five star rating for this book. Ben tells a good story with a unique point of view not seen in many books set in this time period. The story has an obvious plot and the book is well organized. My main concern and issue about this book was that little effort was put into creating a connection between the characters and the reader, in my opinion this is a fatal mistake. If the reader does not care about the characters the reader wont care what happens to the characters and wont really enjoy the book. This rating is complicated because Conn Iggulden’s books are 5 stars hands down, and Ben’s book didn’t come near Conn’s in quality but it was still a great read, worthy of 5 stars only because of the plethora of books worthy of 3 or 4 stars under Ben’s book. The plot didn’t really pick up until the end, the last four chapters had me unable to put the book down, the rest of the book kind of dragged on. I do appreciate the length of the book, 525 pages, but he could of put more into those pages…

Another thing I didn’t really like about the book was that you had to use the provided glossary in the back. I love that Ben used Latin words just as the Romans would of used and he used them in the same context as the Romans, but he used them too much. I didn’t like reading a chapter only to have to stop at this unknown Latin word and have to flip to the back of the book to find the meaning. Sometimes I would have to flip back three or four times a chapter. Five or six Latin words would be ideal but seven pages of Latin words in the glossary is a bit much.

All in all I will be reading the second book in this series and then the third. Its good enough to continue the series.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were strong, and skillfully enough written to draw you into their world. It has been a long time since I was disappointed when I can to the last page, and am looking forward to the next chronicle.

Mostly historical fiction with a touch of fantasy, this book disappointed me at first, and at times I considered putting it down and retiring it to my could-not-stomach pile. It seemed that I was alternately reading a poorly written fantasy novel with over-used characters or getting lectured on the reality of ancient Rome, and oh-my-gosh-can-you-believe-how-bad-it-was!

But it got better. Although they didn't manage to completely shed their initial stereotypical roles, Kane developed the characters and managed to draw me into each of their stories. The writing seemed to get less awkward, and although the plot isn't really cohesive it definitely got more interesting.

I'm looking forward to reading the second book, and hoping I can give it more than 3 stars.

Almost a run-of-the-mill Rome-has-wronged-me-one-day-I'll-have-my-revenge-story. Some parts are interesting enough to want to read the next installment. More interested in his Hannibal series, though.

I really liked this one, once it got going, which took awhile. But be warned, it takes place during a VERY harsh time, so there is harsh... everything! (language, sex, and especially violence)