about the book
In Rome, nothing is more important than the gods and nothing is lower than a slave. I am a slave and my misery is the gods’ entertainment. My life is one disaster after another. My sister, Livia, and I were captured five years ago and now labor in the gem mines where Sal, the cruel slave handler, hates me the most. Someday, I will be free again. My name is Nicolas Calva.
My tale starts when a sealed cavern is discovered in the mine, a cavern rumored to contain Caesar’s lost treasure. Sal is determined to get to the gold before General Radulf can claim it for the Emperor. The only way into the cavern is a small shaft. The first slave who went down died screaming, and the second one came back raving mad. I run when Sal orders me to go down.
While I’m hiding in a crevice, General Radulf arrives before I can make my escape. I hear him talking treason before he catches me. He whispers to me that the gold belongs to the emperor, but a special bulla stamped with a griffin is his. A bulla is a good luck amulet worn by wealthy Roman boys. If I fail to retrieve it for him, he’ll leave me to die in the cavern.
Lowered into the shaft in total darkness, I land on a pile of skulls. Deeper in the cavern, I find the amulet when suddenly I am attacked by something a huge winged creature. As it claws my back I scream to Caela, the god of the sky. The creature stops its attack and the wounds mysteriously heal into a curious marking. Although reluctant, she allows me to climb onto her back and we soar out of the cave, stealing the amulet. Caela is a griffin—part lion, part eagle.
Caela and I are recaptured and sent to the Colosseum. Now here’s the thing: I think the gods are finally smiling on me. The markings on my back and the bulla have given me magical powers. Somehow, if I can control them and Caela, I can survive the gladiator battles, stop the Praetor war, and save myself, my sister, Emperor Tacitus, and the Empire!
about the author
Jennifer Nielsen grew up in northern Utah, and learned to love chocolate and mountains early on in her life. She also learned to love books. For as far back as she can think she has had characters in her head, and so far they have not started talking to her. That’s a good thing.
In elementary school Jennifer began writing, first about a girl whose daydreams became real and trapped her inside them. At the time she liked the idea, but she didn’t write very well so the idea never stuck. At the age of eleven she was researching how to pick locks and decided to call a locksmith—when the guy at the other end of the line learned he was talking to a sixth-grader, he hung up.
Her goal was to be published by the age of seventeen. That’s the age the author of The Outsiders was when that book—Jennifer’s favorite—was published, so she thought to match it. She didn’t, not by many years. Theater, school, debates, and life got in the way.
After realizing all her writing attempts were with adult romantic suspense characters, she switched to YA fantasy adventure. Then Elliot and the Goblin War was published. That turned into the Underwold Trilogy which was successfully followed by the Ascendance Trilogy and the Infinity Ring Trilogy. And there you have it.
Sources:
Author website
Book trailer: Mark of the Thief
Also by Jennifer Nielsen:
Rise of the Wolf (Mark of the Thief, Book 2). Scholastic. 2016.
A Night Divided. Scholastic. 2015
The Shadow Throne (Ascendance Trilogy, Book 3). Scholastic. 2014.
The Runaway King (Ascendance Trilogy, Book 2). Scholastic. 2013.
The False Prince (Ascendance Trilogy, Book 1). Scholastic. 2012.
The Underworld Chronicles series. Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. 2010-2012.
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Gladiator : Fight for Freedom (Gladiator, Book 1) by Simon Scarrow
After his father is murdered and his mother is kidnapped and enslaved, Marcus flees but is captured, sold into slavery, and imprisoned in a gladiator school. During the barbaric training, he secretly plots to avenge his father’s death and rescue his mother. When it comes time to put his training to the test, will he survive?
Rise of the Wolf (Mark of the Thief, Book 2) by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Nic has escaped the mines outside of Rome, but his troubles continue. The Praetor War within Rome is raging and Nic is caught in the middle. The Praetors are determined to unlock a power of the amulet strolen by Nic from Caesar’s sealed cave, and they have captured Nic’s mother. If he can win a chariot race by harnessing the amulet’s magic, he might be able to save his mother. But if he loses, his mother will be lost and Rome will be destroyed!