A fun foray into a very interesting period of history. Young readers will enjoy the fast paced plot that is action packed and leaves no room for boredom. It works in different aspects of everyday life, leisure and Ancient Roman societal structure and expectations, in a manner that is palatable and age appropriate

Unfortunately I wasn’t aware that this was a book in a series and I don’t think I was able to appreciate the story to its full capacity as a result.

Return of the Champion by Annelise Gray is the stunning conclusion to Circus Maximus - the epic Roman chariot-racing adventure series.

Dido remains the most incredible female hero defying the constraints of her time by challenging her family and society to carve out her own destiny. She truly is a living legend: she disguised herself as a boy, raced for the Blues at the iconic Circus Maximus arena, defeated the emperor in a chariot race and became “Queen of the Circus”. In Return of the Champion, Dido’s journey comes full circle as she is reunited with her past and faces a new challenge – to train the greatest racing team ever seen at Circus Maximus.

Damon dreams of being one of the next greats. Working as a stable boy in the emperor’s household, he would give anything to become a driver for the Greens and change his life forever. When he’s sent to train with Dido, a new path is formed for them both.

Annelise Gray’s world-building is incredibly immersive. Readers are fully transported to the ancient past. The narrative plunges them into the sights, sounds, and sensations of ancient Rome, capturing the grandeur and danger of a bygone era. As characters travel across Italy and North Africa, the richly detailed settings draw readers deeper into their world. The horses are just as important as the human characters – beautiful, powerful and part of the team.

The Circus Maximus series explores the reality of status and class. Who you are is everything. This Ancient Roman societal belief is turned on its head as Dido and Damon prove that who you are really does matter – your strength, determination, courage and belief in your dreams means more than anything.

RETURN OF THE CHAMPION is another thrilling adventure that passes the torch onwards to the next generation.

The focus of this book is Damon, a slave boy in the orbit of the empress and her son, who wants to be a charioteer but his friendship with the emperor's stepson makes him appear dangerous to those in power. I've really liked how this series has explored Roman politics (and how deadly it was) while also having the excitement of the races in there. This book provides a very interesting look at two notorious figures in Roman history - Agrippina and her son Nero (here known as Lucius.)

This book also explores the psychological damage from racing through a secondary character and the pressures put on people to perform for the bottom line. It also gave Dido a nice chance to have her victory and show how much she'd grown since the last time she'd had the same opportunity.

This is a torch-passing book. RIDER OF THE STORM feels like it finishes a trilogy with Dido's story coming to its primary conclusion. RETURN OF THE CHAMPION picks up with a new primary protagonist, and Dido is here as his trainer - while facing a few ghosts of her own past.

This is the final book of the series and this "next generation" feel to the book helps it land nicely. It is looking to the future and giving Dido a farewell that isn't a wrench but closes out with her on the cusp of adulthood and all that entails stretching before her.

As I got to the end of Rider of the Storm I assumed it was the final volume and was surprised to see that there was another book to come. I wasn’t quite sure where the story could go. Well, that has now been answered.
This story has a different main character, Damon a stable boy with big dreams. Dido is still present and plays an important role, although it is about a third of the way in before she steps forward. It doesn’t always work when a new character takes a centre stage in an established series, here it works beautifully. We have all the elements from the previous stories, the horses, the racing, the plotting, but we also get to see how our favourite characters have developed a few years down the line. As a bonus there are a few loose ends satisfactorily tied up. A fitting end to a fantastic series.