Prissy Noble Learns What Love is From Gladiator
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Warning:
There will be spoilers for the novel or novel series Bowing to Love: The Noble and the Gladiator.
Content Warning: There may be references to social gap, power imbalance, slavery (including enslaved children), death, sexual assault, mentions of pedophilia, mentions of sex work, gossiping, commentary on body weight, attempted mugging, violence, execution, prejudice, mentions of capital punishment, mentions of cheating (not between the main couple), mentions of war, incest (not between the main couple), forced animal fighting, mentions of hunting, mentions of animal death, mentions of bribery, corruption, homomisia, kink-shaming, slut-shaming, sexual assault, drugging (faked, but depicted), dubcon/noncon, murder, religion (polytheistic), and excessive drinking, as they appear in the novel or novel series.
Synopsis:
Lucianus is now head of his illustrious family’s household, and though that allows him to take part in the senate and work in politics, having seen how his father deteriorated in that position has turned him off from such a venture. Honestly, beyond studying and reading in the isolation of his home, there isn’t much Lucianus enjoys. But in the city of Dyna, it’s hard to avoid all the raucous and debaucherous goings on. That becomes perfectly clear when, after offending a brothel owner in the slave market, he is attacked by thugs paid to get revenge. Though Lucianus is trained in swordplay, his skills just aren’t up to par, and he’s on the cusp of being beaten.
But then he’s rescued, and none other than by the famed gladiator Dominatus.
Dominatus is everything Lucianus isn’t. He’s hypermasculine, he revels in the attention he gets in the colosseum, and he’s disgustingly sexual. He’s everything Lucianus should hate, but then why can’t he stop thinking about the hunky gladiator?
Review:
I feel like the art in light novels is hit-or-miss, and I honestly wasn’t planning on bringing it up if it was the same here, but I have to admit that the art in this is breathtaking. It is very simple black-and-white drawings, with very clean lines and well-defined character depictions, which makes it so enjoyable to view. I do wish more moments received this treatment, because some of the ones chosen I don’t think were powerful enough to deserve it, while others didn’t get a drawn scene. Regardless, the scenes in this novel are very lovely (and, in many cases, very sexy), and they were a very welcome addition.
But the important part of this is the writing itself. Having just come off the high that was The Despicable Duke Settles His Affairs, I was looking forward to another strong novel translation. However, I don’t think this is as well done. Of course, with translations and edits, it’s hard to say whether the issues I have are with the edit and translation or just the writing itself, since I can’t read the original text. But I will say this one is hard to enjoy. It’s not like it has a bunch of errors (there are a few, but hardly enough to even bring up), but the voice of it is rough.
It has that corniness to it that I think can be common when trying to write in that haughty, historical voice. Maybe that doesn’t make sense, but I feel like in historical settings, there is a strong effort to make the voice much more antiquated in both exposition and dialogue. To be honest, I don’t care for it in the dialogue either, but it makes sense there. With the exposition written in that same way on top, it is just too much for me. I don’t think it is well done here, and it just makes everything so much cornier. This title also has occasional thoughts written as dialogue, which I’ve mentioned in previous reviews that I dislike, so this was an overall tough read for me.
But I have to give credit where credit is due. The smut in this is delectable. The descriptions are nice and explicit, which I like, because overly poetic language can be a bummer when I just want to get down to the dirty stuff. And some of the illustrations are during their sex scenes, which was an absolute treat to see. While the story itself may not be my favorite thing in the world – whether due to poor translation or otherwise – the smut is very well written. I certainly can’t fault it on that front.
Results:
As a story, this was a miss for me. As much as I wanted to love it, because it has so many elements that I enjoy, the voice just wasn’t for me. It very well could just be the translation, rather than the original writing, but either way, I didn’t care for it. Thankfully, the smut was near-perfect. Those scenes definitely carried me through, and they were plentiful.
Have you read Bowing to Love: The Noble and the Gladiator? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
