Young Quills reviews

1. Gladiator street fighter is a mind-blowingly gruesome book by Simon Scarrow about a young boy called Marcus. This book kept my hands glued to the pages, each chapter wanting me to find out more. The book is set in the times of the Romans, in Caesar's reign. Gladiators were very popular back then. The main setting is called "The Pit". It is a very gloomy and murky place where the gladiators` are taught to fight.

The characters are:

Marcus, who is the main character. He is a slave who is determined to find his kidnapped mother.

Caesar is the Roman leader. It is futile to mess with Caesar or he will order his men to kill you.

Milo, a wily character, is a friend of Caesar.

Portia, Caesar`s niece is a very quiet character with no sense of aggression at all. She hates all the fighting because she is a girl.

Brutios, a loyal and trustworthy friend of Marcus. Brutios is willing to risk his life to save Marcus anytime.

For me this book was a fairly easy read with very few problematic words. Considering the time in history there are not that many historic words or phrases.

I would have liked Simon Scarrow to put in fewer pronouns i.e. "he ", to make it less confusing. In that I was a bit puzzled at times because on one page it would say the person`s name and for the next few pages it would say he instead. However, overall I think this is my type of book because I like historical gruesome books.

Reviewed by Dan

 

2. I really liked this book because it is gory but not too gory where it makes you feel ill. It's also got a lot of interesting parts.

Reviewed by Alex

 

3. Gladiator Street Fighter is an action packed historical book. An extremely exciting book for anyone how is interested in the Romans and gladiators. 

The scene is set in the heart of Rome at a gladiator school, but little did young Marcus know that his dream was about to come true. Marcus was fighting a very challenging opponent. He was beaten, but that didn't stop Caesar, one of the most powerful men in Rom, from wanting him to be his niece's bodyguard.

In Caesar's household, Marcus undergoes hard training to become a bodyguard, but unluckily his first mission of guarding Portia (Caesar's niece) doesn't go very well. Portia is kidnapped and Marcus is involved in a street fight. After Portia is kidnapped, Caesar plans for a street gang leader to help him out with the fight against the other gangs. Marcus volunteers to spy on their main rivals; if he succeeds he will have his freedom!

On his quest, Marcus encounters many fights and he is involved in a few. Whilst eavesdropping, Marcus is caught and has to make an emergency escape. He reports back to Caesar that there is a plot to assassinate him. Marcus has saved both Portia's and Caesar's life.

At the end of the story, Caesar is nearly poisoned, but Marcus saves him for a third time. Finally, Marcus and his mother are saved, for which Caesar is very thankful.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it for 11 years and older. I think this book would be very appealing to boys who are interested in History.

 

4. I really enjoyed this book. It is not a book that I would normally read, which is why I found it fascinating. I highly recommend it.

The story is about a boy called Marcus from Porcinos Gladiator School. Caesar wanted him to look after his niece, called Portia , so no-one takes her away. Also Marcus is on a quest to free his mother from slavery.

My favourite part in the book was when Marcus had to fight Ferex, another boy in the story. I liked that bit because it had good descriptive words in. I didn't like it when Corvus died. I did not like it because it was sad.

Reviewed by Cameron