The Impossible Gladiator: Join the Time Keys on their Roman adventure!

'A complete triumph of imagination... readers are going to fall in love with this brilliant series.' A. F. Steadman, bestselling author of Skandar

The action adventure of Gladiator meets the time travel of Doctor Who in the third title of this blockbusting epic series by bestselling award-winner M. G. Leonard. Perfect for fans of Hunt for the Golden Scarab, Beetle Boy and the Adventures on Trains series.

Sim, Jeopardy and Nelson are enjoying an amazing holiday in Rome, until they they are swept up in the mysterious disappearance of world-famous illusionist Kinetic. He vanished during a live, broadcast illusion in Rome's famous Colosseum, but he never reappeared. When Kinetic’s sister finds a strange description of a Roman gladiator in a history book who sounds uncannily like her brother, the friends are determined to help.

They travel through secret time doors to the spectacular – and deadly – Colosseum in 80 CE. Facing fierce gladiators, rhinos, hungry lions, and the ruthless Chairman of the Council of Keys, Kane Wolfe, can the brave trio survive the ancient games and bring Kinetic – and themselves – back to their own time?

The Impossible Gladiator can be listened to as a stand-alone story, or enjoyed as part of the thrilling Time Keys series written by M. G. Leonard. Follow Sim, Jeopardy and Nelson's adventures in the first adventure in the series in Ancient Egypt, Hunt for the Golden Scarab, and the second in Viking Norway, The Legend of Viking Thunder.

Praise for the series:

'Classic and fresh – a breathtaking adventure.' – Eoin Colfer, bestselling author of Artemis Fowl

'A spellbinding, seat-of-the-pants adventure . . . fabulous, fast-paced and thrilling.' – Jonathan Stroud

'A note-perfect, time-travelling blockbuster.' – Jack Meggitt-Phillips, bestselling author of The Beast and the Bethany

'Fast, dramatic, exciting' – Hannah Gold

© 2026 Macmillan Children's Books (Audiobook): 9781035039111

Release date

Audiobook: 12 February 2026