I have a confession to make. I have never watched Starz’s Spartacus series. Nor have I seen the 1960 film version, starring Kirk Douglas and directed by Stanley Kubrick. Deep down inside, I’m a PG-13 kind of girl. A testosterone fueled film/show with sexual overtones starring a bunch of sweaty guys never quite appealed to me. However, when the call came to review Titan Books’ latest Spartacus novel, I leapt upon it. As a former English major, I’m always interested to see if novelistic adaptations can stand on their own. Can a person who never watched the show, the film, read Howard Fast’s original novel, or read the previous novelistic adaptation released by Titan Books, Swords and Ashes, truly understand and enjoy a Spartacus novel? My answer? Yes. Yes. They can.

Mark Morris did a good job writing Morituri. The novel surrounds the inability of Spartacus and his fellow gladiators to withstand the untrained might of a new gladiator camp while fighting a mysterious plague. This definitely takes place before the Spartacus: Vengeance finale. If you’re a lover of the Starz series, the novel incorporates the sex and violence you’d expect. However, if you’re lover of strong, sci-fi writing then you’ll enjoy Mark Morris’ style even more. It’s densely textured and well-plotted. He ably switches between the main characters’ Spartan grammar and the contemporary English third person narrative form.

The novel nicely conveyed series relationships and Gladiator culture. If you’ve never watched the series (like me), worry not, you can easily follow along. The novel primarily takes the perspective of Batiatus, Spartacus’ owner; Spartacus’ rival, Crixus; Batiatus’ Lady MacBeth-esque wife, Lucretia; as well as Doctore, a wise, former gladiator turned gladiator caretaker. I learned to view Batiatus as a cross between a boxing manager and a football team owner whose empty propaganda inexplicably inspired his fighters. Despite his clear greed, his childish glee when watching his gladiators and his reliance upon the enslaved Spartacus showed an unexpected side, which I appreciated. I doubly enjoyed Lucretia’s uber-aware cunningness and wished she could’ve run the Ludus in lieu of her husband. Finally, Crixus’ bed-ridden fighting nature and Doctore’s retired fighter wisdom made me hope to see them both within the ring some day.

Admittedly, there are some weaknesses in the story. There was one resolution I had issues with and if you’re a mystery lover, you’ll easily untangle the story’s center. But, I didn’t read the novel for the mystery. I read it for the writing and the writing kept me reading. I loved that Morris’ text hinged less on sex and violence, after the initial two chapters, and more on the characters and their interactions.

For an excerpt of the initial pages, check out Titan Books’ site. For a sneak peek provided just for CliqueClack, keep on reading!

This review based on a complementary review copy provided to CliqueClack by Titan Books.

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