Salt & Sacrifice

This is an intriguing book with characters that are interesting and keeps the reader engaged. I was drawn into the story and cared about the characters. The book begins, and the first few chapters continues, by introducing different characters histories. This seems disjointed but it is woven together as the characters lives are woven together within the plot.
The plot involves slaves during the Roman era and the salt mines. There are slaves of different histories. Some are political prisoners, some sentenced to the mines for their religious (Christain) beliefs, some are criminals. They are made to live and work together deep within the earth and try to survive the brutality of the mines, the greed of the Romans in charge, and each other. As the story develops everyone has to try to survive the brutality of nature and each other.
The author's religious beliefs do bleed into the novel, at times in obvious ways, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Since this is a debut novel my guess is that this author will learn subtlety as time and editing go on.
This is a good historical read if you like Roman historical fiction. I am a fan of Steven Saylor and Lindsey Davis so this genre is to my liking. I can't compare this to them on exact levels , as I've not read their debut books. But I was as engaged by this story as I have been by Steven Saylor and Lindsey Davis.