Striking an accomplished balance between comprehensive research and page-turning historical adventure, Frances Hendry's Victoria: Born to Be a Warrior, the first novel in her Gladiatrix series, packs a thrilling girl-power punch with a difference. Ancient Britain was home to the oldest, meanest, girl-with-an-attitude of all time—the Iceni warrior Queen Boudicca and it is into this world that the author has woven her story so well and with such dramatic effect. Victoria is a 16-year-old girl with big identity problems. Born to a mother from one of Britain's indigenous tribes, but living under the roof of her Roman stepfather and among the trappings of Roman civilisation and occupation, Victoria does not find life easy. Instinctively tough, and handy with a sword, her life nosedives for the first time when she is promised in marriage to an ugly and cruel Roman merchant of her step dad's choosing—mainly for profit and not love, of course. Rescued from this fate by her Iceni uncle, she moves far away to begin another kind of life in the flat wilds of Eastern Britain. Sadly, Victoria soon discovers that she has swapped one kind of confusion for another and her new existence is no less arduous. Caught up in Boudicca's revolt against Roman oppression, she must fight alongside her new compatriots as they fight for independence from effective slavery. Unfortunately, her loyalty is tested to the limits when she is torn between saving her family in London or fighting alongside her new friends. Hendry's contemporary style gives this historical action story a great degree of readability and authorial panache. Her central character is strong and resolute, facing real hardships and authentic questions of faith in her own ability and will to survive. Sometimes brutal and bloody, the narrative is nevertheless enthralling and exciting to read. Suitable for readers aged 12 and over. —John McLay

Having survived the ravages of the Roman war against the Iceni people, Victoria finds herself a tougher, if embittered heroine. She has lost her Roman relatives and alienated her remaining Iceni family. Now she means to avenge her true tribe, even if that means going to Italy where she will train to become a female gladiator. Feared and despised by most, Victoria, or Victrix, as she is known now, and her fellow trainees, endure rigorous training, flirting with death on a regular basis. But despite general disapproval amongst the 'profession' (few survive to become fully-fledged gladiators) passionate bonds are formed, and Victrix grows dangerously close to Pulcher, her ruthless genius of a trainer. With his help, she builds herself a fearsome reputation for her skill in the arena, as well as her breathtaking tattooed scalp. But when she catches the eye of the cruel, psychotic Emperor Nero, he demands she come to Rome to be his personal muse, and Victrix faces her toughest ever battle, and a heartbreaking challenge. Has Victrix got what it takes to infiltrate the Roman aristocracy and thereby seek her revenge, or will her hardened heart ultimately rule her head?

Having sucessfully avoided taking the blame for the great fire that has destroyed much of Rome, Victoria continues to humour the increasingly insane Emperor Nero, while securing herself her freedom. Together with her brave Roman accomplice, Caenis, Victoria is certain that soon the only decent ruler, Vespasian, with whose army her step-father fought back in Londinium, will come to rule at last. Nero's days are numbered, so his summons for her to return to Rome from her house outside the city fills her with foreboding.And Nero has a surprise waiting for a British bard has joined his group of entertainers, none other than her cousin, Cram. Though a part of her is pleased to see a familiar face, Victoria remembers Cram's final treachery back in Britain, and is certain he is here to further his own misguided plans for retribution. But Cram is her flesh and can she really betray him in the name of dead Queen Boudicca? And will Victoria survive to tell the tale?