Wolf's Empire

Gladiator

By: Claudia Christian, Morgan Grant Buchanan

Narrated by: Claudia Christian

In the Galactic Roman Empire, eight noble houses fight for power. One gladiator fights for justice. This is Wolf's Empire: Gladiator, by Claudia Christian and Morgan Grant Buchanan.

When her mother and brother are murdered, young noblewoman Accala Viridius cries out for vengeance. But the empire is being torn apart by a galactic civil war, and her demands fall on deaf ears. Undeterred, Accala sacrifices privilege and status to train as a common gladiator. Mastering the one weapon available to her - a razor-sharp discus that always returns when thrown - she enters the deadly imperial games, the only arena where she can face her enemies.

But Fortune's wheel grants Accala no favors. The emperor decrees that the games will be used to settle the civil war, the indigenous lifeforms of the arena world are staging a violent revolt, and Accala finds herself drugged, cast into slavery, and forced to fight on the side of the men she set out to kill.

Set in a future Rome that never fell but instead expanded to become a galaxy-spanning empire, Accala's struggle to survive and exact her revenge will take her on a dark journey that will cost her more than she ever imagined.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without digital rights management (DRM) software applied.

©2016 Claudia Christian and Morgan Grant Buchanan (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Enjoy yourself!

This book is a delightful form of the historical "what if" format. In the vein of The Man in the High Castle. The authors spent enough time understanding the Roman Empire to catapult it into the interstellar future. This makes for a formidable combination when combined with Ms. Christian's acting ability as narrator, makes for a delightful experience. Here's to a first of many. Bravo!

Excellent first audio book

I really enjoyed listening to this book and Claudia Christian's performance. The story is original and by linking it to existing Roman stories help pull me into the story line. I could have used a list of characters at the start to help sort out the characters as I am not good with names. I was sad to see the story end, it seemed to go by so quickly. Just really enjoyable, thanks!

Great Performance, Decent Story

This is basically an excellent yarn of a novel. I'm a huge Claudia Christian fan and her voice work is top notch throughout. She shows her range as an actress using her talent on a wide range of characters and attitudes. Story wise it's a bit ridiculous and (even for a sci fi novel) far fetched with it almost jumping the shark at a few points and delving into fantasy. Still it's a fun novel that I had no issue reading throughout and enjoying. Good vacation read and listen. audible20 #audible20

Ummm...Unexpectedly Awesome

I chanced on this book by recommendation and can not believe that it remains relatively innate as far as popularity goes. Adjectives: New, Original, Captivating, Exciting, Believable, Accurate, relevant, etc.
I loved it! As an Audible Sci Fi junkie (I travel a lot) I would recommend this among my top 3 out of over 100 listened in the past 2 years.
I looked up Claudia Christian and am amazed that her narration is not more common. She is a veteran Sci Fi actor as well as the voice of a plethora of animated movies. I want more!

Claudia Christian is an outstanding narrator and

Author wow just when you think this book is done twist comes along and not yet. I throughly enjoyed this book and story.

Wonderful performance, weak characters

What would have made Wolf's Empire better?

The plot would have been less shaky if the characters were less shallow. If you give the author the benefit of a doubt and presume that the main character acts and thinks the way she does because of her addiction or a weak willed person with ADD, then the main character is a creditable job.
I spent the last 60% of the book frustrated and a bit mad that the main character could not seem to maintain her course or reasons for pursuing it more than a chapter or so. Between that and the way, during combat scenes most frequently, one action that followed another would have been physically or anatomically impossible to perform, I did not enjoy the book.
If Wolf's EmpireGladiator was a $2-4 audio book, these lapses would have been forgivable. As it stands, I plan on skipping any other books by this author that are not touted as being excellent by the masses. Claudia Christian's performance was quite good.

Has Wolf's Empire turned you off from other books in this genre?

No. There are many other books that go down the 'what if X had happened at Y point in time' that just one failure wouldn't cure me of my interest in it.

What about Claudia Christian’s performance did you like?

Her voice inflections gave a good solid break from one character to another so that I did not lose track of who was doing or saying what which sometimes plagues this format. I quite enjoyed the performance.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Frustration.

Any additional comments?

If this book is ever on sale for less than $5 and you really like the Roman setting in sci-fi, you might give it a shot. Till such comes to be, I would pass on this book because I can think of at least 2 other series that are alt-history sci-fi or fantasy/sci-fi which are leagues beyond this work. This is just my opinion though.