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The Far Arena cover art

The Far Arena

By: Richard Ben Sapir
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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Summary

While conducting exploration in the frozen Arctic, Texan Lew McCardle, a geologist working for the Houghton Oil company, discovers something remarkable: a body encased in the ice. More remarkable still, the skills of Russian researcher Semyon Petrovitch bring the man miraculously back to life.

This strange visitor from the distant past has an amazing story to tell. Translated from his native Latin by Nordic nun Olava, Lucius Aurelius Eugenianus reveals that in the era of Domitian he was a champion in the Roman Colosseum, a gladiator known far and wide as the greatest of all time.

An ingenious amalgam of science fiction, fantasy, and history, Richard Ben Sapir's The Far Arena is a breathtaking work of literary invention, at once thrilling, poignant, and thought provoking.

©2016 Richard Ben Sapir (P)2016 Dreamscape Media, LLC

What listeners say about The Far Arena

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Loved this.

Read this as a teenager and really enjoyed it in this form. Very well narrated.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A good listen

What made the experience of listening to The Far Arena the most enjoyable?

I first read this book over thirty years ago, and have re-read it several times since: it is one of those books that stays with you. It is a little uneven in pace and parts may be questionable, but it is nevertheless still a good story ... listening to it rather than reading it actually succeeded in evening out some of the pace issues, and the narration was, I thought, excellent. I hadn't really thought much about the characters' accents when reading it, but the narrator captured them brilliantly and the whole thing came more alive for me than when on the printed page.

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3 people found this helpful

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highly recommended

great story, well read, different accents for the characters well done, good narrator. was surprised it had been done as an audio book, it's a little obscure, I read it as a teenager many moons ago and was worried this would dissapont, not to fear. Salvate Eungeni!

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2 people found this helpful

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Loved this book

The narrator truly brought this fantastic story to life. The story brings you along on a happy yet tragic life

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Strange story

I obviously liked the synopsis otherwise I would not have downloaded this book. But after listening for sometime I found it quite bewildering and only wished I could have returned it, but as I had recently returned my last choice I ploughed on. I will let others decide for themselves as we each have our individual taste and whilst it may appeal to one listener it may not to another.
The story content started well enough, but then became inconsistent with the 21st century conversation the author gave to the lead character, (those who listen will understand what I refer to), which for me ruined the entire audio.
I dislike giving a negative review as I prefer constructive criticism, but I really feel aggrieved that I have wasted a precious credit on such a silly theme. Perhaps others will find the deep meaning the author intended, hidden in the content.
The narrator did a terrific job with pronunciation as he attempted to make a very strange story interesting.
Sadly not my cup of tea!

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3 people found this helpful