Review: Condemned by Brette Wolfe

https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/condemned-brette-wolfe

Title: Condemned Author: Brette Wolfe Format: Advanced Reader Copy (E-book) Start Date: 03/05/2025 Finish Date: 18/05/2025 Summary: Day in and day out, Spiculus fights in the Great Circus. All he’s allowed is worn armour and a rusted weapon, yet he always senses death. Why he has this power, he doesn’t know. Perhaps today is the day he finally understands it? Review: Wolfe’s Condemned is like Nero’s Rome novelized and combined with Darksiders: The Abomination Vault in the subtleness of its magics, and focuses on Death magic. Spiculus is a simple man who finds himself unexpectedly thrust from the depths of the slave pit to heights of the Imperial palace. Spiculus suddenly has to figure out a whole new way of life; he has the trust of the Emperor and more Denarri than can ever spend. Locusta of Gaul is a noble of Nero’s court, and a teacher of alchemy to all who wish to learn. Spiculus and Locusta regularly butt heads and become friends despite their different opinions about Nero. I find their friendship wonderful and a nice change of pace where others would have made it a romance. I do wish there would’ve been more interactions between Nero and Pythagoras as I found them cute. Also, how Spiculus and Nero influence Rome’s politics together is as smooth as could be and fits seamlessly into Rome’s real history. Here and there are a few minor spelling errors but they’re easy to forgive with the nuances of Wolfe’s prose. My only criticism would be that while the ending fits, I feel that it could have used some fleshing out to not seem as abrupt. Recommendation: I fully recommend Wolfe’s Condemned if you’re a fan of in-depth historical fiction. I love the simple descriptions of Spiculus’ family’s home and the contrasting opulence of Nero’s palace. The tiny detail of Roman nobles eating dolphin is a nice inclusion, although I admit I hadn’t heard of dolphin meatballs before this. If you want to live in Ancient Rome for a day, I encourage you to pick this up as soon as possible.