Arena of Shame

by Kate Benedict

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1903931185
• ISBN13: 9781903931189
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Chimera Publishing (GB)
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.4" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

Just wish it would have been longer

The problem with so many books like this is you just wish they were longer. You just get into the plot and become involved with the characters and the book wraps up. I really thought this was one of the better erotic reads - Branna suffered such shame but it was so intriguing how she hated to admit how much she enjoyed most of it. Now that to me is a great erotic read!

Erotica, almost as good as it gets

The strength of Ms. Benedict's books are her richly detailed and well researched historical settings. The opening pages, where Branna struggles along with the remains of a barbarian army routed and in retreat from their Roman conquerers, lets you know that this is more than just a collection of sex scenes shored up with filler. The heroine, Branna, is a typical Benedict protagonist, pretty, intelligent, strong willed, resourceful, and very sexually responsive, even under the most degrading circumstances. And there are no richer set of circumstances for a leisurely exploration of both the social milieu and zeitgeist, as well as the slow sexual downfall of the nubile Branna, than being a slavegirl in ancient Rome.The chief dramatic tension in most Benedict novels is how long our plucky gal can avoid the next even-more-humiliating ravishing by whatever loathesome troll is lusting after her, or his buddies as well. As a slave girl, Branna does not have a lot of chips to play with, but Benedict still makes her Pulchritude's Progress downward interesting with unexpected twists of fate that serve to whet the reader's appetite while delaying the inevitable next step in Branna's further debasement. Early in the book, after being captured by Roman soldiers, it seems likely that Branna will be gang raped in their encampment, but is reprieved when the centurion in charge of her turns out to be more interested in little boys and the price Branna can fetch as an unsullied slave.One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is Branna's journey into slavery, from the slave merchant who buys and first rapes her, followed by a sea and land journey to Rome, to the slave market, to the incredibly constricted conditions of a household slave's life. With many twists and turns, Branna gets to see a large slice of Roman life and makes some close female friends/lovers, while being forced to experience an increasingly humiliating and varied range of sexual encounters, all the more dispiriting to Branna because she is sexually responsive every time. Frigid is not part of Benedict heroine's vocabulary, even if she is strung up above a dias at a Roman sex club to be enjoyed by every male patron in the audience, singly or by pairs. After having been warmed up first by a hermaphrodite, of course.By the time Branna learns the full Latin meaning of "When in Rome..." she has seen the inside of a Roman brothel, become the mistress of a powerful Roman citizen, and reduced to a camp whore for the gladiators in the Coloseum. Like all of Benedict's novels, so far, Fate then smiles on our gal and her (emotional and mental) fidelity to her long lost betrothed pays off in a most unanticipated way. Like most Benedict novels, our spunky heroine does not yeild without a good deal of physical, er, "persuasion" to prepare her epidermally. Benedict however, has the good sense to keep the punishment in perspective and not let it overwhelm her sex scenes. What stops the book from being five-st

Gripping erotica tale set in the time of the gladiator ....

This is my third Kate Benedict book and she has certainly surpassed herself ........ Like her other erotica volumes the author seems to enjoy the portrayal of young women caught in dark and difficult times having to defend themselves against the world. The battles are fierce and the punishment severe for the looser .... and ... when the looser is our heroine, Branna, she will invariable get raped by the victor...

Beautifully written book by a very talented author

Kate Benedict's ability to combine historical accuracy, romance and erotica produces a beautifully told tale - one I highly recommend. I also enjoyed Ms. Benedict's "Sinful Seduction" and "Wages of Sin." More, please!