A creature from a planet that breeds killing beasts is brought to Earth in the expectation that it will survive and breed (and incidentally destroy all intelligent life on the planet) in order to provide an interstellar entrepreneur with a source of killing-creatures for interstellar sport-hunting. The excitement rises as we root for the Roman gladiator to catch this female animal before it has a chance to give birth. And the satisfaction is great as we see the hero use only what was available to him to hunt and kill the semi-sentient animal. No deus-ex-machina here; no surprise twists--just the bare basics. A David Drake masterpiece. ( )

Could really have been predator. But the main protagonist, the hunter, I wished he had died.

Shallow and boring. ( )

A crackling what-if...a professional ex-Roman gladiator, pitted against a reptilian slayer from space in a battle in the Latin countryside. Lycon, a Roman bestiary who supplies animals for the Coliseum, is ordered to recapture what is actually a creature from the stars bred for killing, to perform in the arena. Set a task that is nearly impossible, Lycon is aided by a business associate by a hunter who is actually a disguised humanoid alien wanting the creature to illegally breed a planetful of the creatures... sustained by human flesh. Great premise, well-handled, violent, with excellent research and tidbits for those with a taste for adventures set during the Roman empire. ( )

My reactions upon reading this book in 1991. Spoilers follow.

I'm not sure what Wagner (this is the only of his works I've read) brought to this book unless it was the gruesomeness. This is sort of Alien goes to Rome. However, in all fairness, portions of this novel pre-date the movie Alien, and Alien was certainly not the first sf work to use the ichneumon wasp's -- here explicitly referred to -- life cycle as an inspiration for horror.

The grim tone of the book seems to match the tone of Drake's Birds of Prey. I've noticed Drake writes grim, gory prose with metaphors appropriate to the time and somewhat stilted at times with what seems to be (perhaps) a recourse to some rhetorical devices of his classical training and a type of humor (for which I don't have a technical term) which often involves making a statement than ironically modifying it.

Drake does a fair job of bringing Rome alive especially Domitian -- one of the more interesting Emperors, but he didn't mention Domitian's love of gladiator fights between dwarves and women. His descriptions are sparse usually except when describing a locale or item important to the story. This leanness is no doubt due to the requirements of the action story.

The plot was relatively simple but effective. I particularly liked Lycon's dispatch of the phile and the last chapter where RyRelee is in the arena -- and the tribune Lacerta about to head there. It was grimly humorous, a biter-bitten twist for most of the evil characters except, of course, for Domitian. It also has an interesting of parallelism. Lycon and RyRelee are forced to serve imperial masters in similar ways, both wish to subvert their ruler's wishes (Lycon has been ordered to spare the phile but wants to kill it; RyRelee wants to protect what he is to destroy), and both (and this point is hammered home repeatedly) phile and Lycon are creatures of the arena. I don't think it quite worked stating that Lycon quit the arena because he was tired of killing people but then to repeatedly emphasis his fascination with killing.

To Drake's credit, he doesn't try to give his characters modern sensibilities. Lycon is ruthless, not nice to slaves, and prepared to beat wife and kid.

No great new ideas here but a pleasant enough, fast reading story. ( )

This was certainly a book that was difficult to put down. Non stop action, a blend of SF & almost Sword & Sorcery as only Wagner & Drake could do. It will never o down as a great classic, but it's certainly one of the most enjoyable reads I've ever had.Most of all, it was well written. The characters were well developed, the scenes vivid & story's progression logical. I was a bit put off that one character's motives were revealed too early & bluntly, IMO. I think the book would have been better if that had developed through the story's progress. There was certainly opportunity for it. Still, it wasn't a major shortcoming & the only flaw in an otherwise wonderful work. ( )