Review: Servant to the Wolf by Sue Wentz

Pride goeth before a fall – even for a slave.

The year is 106 A.D. Marcus is a slave – an extremely fortunate one. He has good looks, a quick mind, and an owner who treats him well. Some slaves would kill to be pampered as he is.

Marcus does not know just how good he has it. Not until one wrong move ends with his “perfection” damaged and his sale to a barbarian. Only then does Marcus come to see that he might have overstepped his place.

For nothing is so dangerous as arrogance, particularly when that pride belongs to a slave.

The Story

The tale opens with Marcus running an errand for his owner, the patrician Gnaeus Oppius Flavus. It starts to rain, so he ducks into a local smithy and finds it run by a big barbarian from outside the city of Rome. Assuming the other man to be a slave as well, Marcus discovers to his chagrin that the blacksmith owns the shop in which he has taken shelter.

Still, the freedman is not a Roman. The beard he wears gives him away as a non-native and the two talk. Marcus worries what his master will say about the delay but, after confirming that his young friend won’t be beaten for being late, the blacksmith suggests he remain inside until the rain stops. Better to be scolded for being late than to be chastised for bringing in wet scrolls, right?

Marcus agrees and goes home once the rain stops. Flavus, his master, decides to visit the blacksmith to show his gratitude and is most upset that the smith refuses to offer him proper homage. His grumbling about the barbarian secures Marcus in his own prejudices against the man; after all, he may be a slave, but at least he is a civilized slave. Unlike this uncouth barbarian who works with his hands in the heat all day.

That night, though, Marcus makes a grave mistake. He recites some poetry for the other slaves, impressing one of the grooms. The young man goes to Marcus’ room to ask him for lessons and Marcus, offended to have the stink of horse manure in his chamber, insults the other lad.

Losing his temper, the slave throws an oil lamp at Marcus, which ruins his “perfect” good looks. Flavus won’t tolerate ugly things in his house and so has the wounded and feverish slave taken to the market to be sold. Certain at first that he will be sent to the Coliseum, Marcus instead finds himself bought by the very blacksmith he looked down upon: Caledonius Lupus.

Being a blacksmith’s slave is a far cry from the indulgent life which Marcus led previously. He soon finds that there is more to hard labor than he initially thought, and that barbarians can be just as refined in their own ways as the Romans. But what happens when Lupus’ own biases surface as the specter of revenge appears before the blacksmith’s eyes?

The Characters

Marcus’ arrogance drips from the first few chapters’ pages and only diminishes as time passes. Yet even so, part of a reader’s interest in him is that he is, at heart, a good man. While pride has hidden Marcus’ better qualities, it has not destroyed them. It just takes a while for him to clean his inner house of this menace so that readers and Marcus himself can see what he is truly made of and capable of accomplishing.

Lupus is a gruff, distant man at first. But his compassion, integrity, and understanding mark him as an exceptional man. Determined to be better than the Romans who enslaved him for the early part of his life, Lupus takes pride in the knowledge that he is not as bigoted as those who abused him. None of which means he goes easy on Marcus, who does occasionally need a good swift kick to learn his lessons, but it does mean that he is neither a cruel man nor an abusive master.

The World

The world is a well-researched presentation of second century Rome. It is not the modern world – the modern world might as well be on another planet when compared with this one. No mention is made of Christianity but, since both Lupus and Marcus are still pagans and their drama does not touch on wider matters, that is hardly a detriment. The novel is not concerned with history per se but the people who made it – people, in short, like Marcus and Caledonius Lupus.

Politics

No politics are present in the narrative at all.

Content Warning

There is some mention of torture, beatings, and at one point Marcus flatly refuses to describe what happened to him. Beyond this, there is nothing objectionable in the book at all.

Who is it for?

This is a boys’ adventure novel for sure and it will be appreciated by middle graders or advanced elementary readers for certain. Older readers interested in Ancient Rome or looking for a quiet journey that has low stakes for the world but imperative risks for the protagonists will find this novel gives them precisely what they want. Beyond that, readers looking for a good story about men who become brothers despite their disparate stations and differing views will love Servant to the Wolf. It is a novel for all ages and all times and should have wide appeal based on that fact alone.

Why buy it?

It’s a good novel. What other reason can there be?