Nothing less than the full 5 stars for this story. It was one of those books I wanted to devour in one sitting but kept putting down because I wanted to stretch it out and savour each moment of it.
My own plans for a Roman slave story are now firmly on the back burner, since anything I attempt will surely pale into insignificance by comparison.
Beautifully evocative details, characters you care about and obviously bags and bags of research to back it all up (although it never feels like it is forced into the story).