Chuyển đến nội dung chính

Curses and Smoke

by Vicky Alvear Shecter



   Set in Pompeii just before the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Lucia is about to be married off to a much older man so her father can get money for his gladiator school.  Just weeks before the impending marriage, however, Tag, one of her father’s slaves, returns from Rome where he had been studying medicine so he could heal hurt gladiators, and an old friendship rekindles between them.  The relationship blossoms into something more, but both Lucia and Tag know it wouldn’t be able to cross their class difference even if Lucia weren’t already engaged to someone else.
     I liked the story and found that I was engaged in the characters and the story and wanted to know what would happen even without the element of Mt. Vesuvius adding the sense of impending doom.  Although I’m not an expert in Ancient Rome, from what I’ve read of other reviews, the book is historically accurate and should appeal to those interested in historical fiction.
     Tag was a good counter viewpoint to Lucia.  Lucia was somewhat ignorant and probably would have come off as whiney if the reader were not also given the other side of the story to balance it out.  Tag could point out her mistaken assumptions and he broke many of her beliefs about her father that were fairly clear to the reader as wrong.
     This is a 3.8.  I liked the story right up until the end.  I won’t give details because it’s the end, but I felt cheated and it wasn’t what I wanted at all.  But the writing and story were good and the setting was made well.  It is whipped cream.  It’s tastes good as you’re eating it, but when you’re done, it has dissolved away without leaving much

Nhận xét

Popular Posts

Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler

Rapture Practice opens with a note from the author, Aaron Hartzler: "Something you should know up front about my family: We believe that Jesus is coming back." This initial detail introduces us to Aaron's family, a family that believes in the rapture, the idea that Jesus is going to come back down to earth and bring good people up to heaven. Aaron has been a part of his family's religious lifestyle for his entire life. He performs in plays of Bible stories with his family. They don't go to movies, don't have a TV, don't listen to many kinds of music. They are focused on living properly so that when Jesus comes back, they will get to go to heaven. At first glance, Rapture Practice probably seems like one of those sensational stories that we see nowadays, books about someone's abusive childhood or crazy cult. What's so refreshing about this book is that it isn't sensational. The entirety of the book can be summed up in one conversatio...

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (5/26/19)

Welcome to this week's round-up!  Please let me know if I missed your post. BREAKING NEWS:  Kidlitcon 2020 will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan March 27th and 28, 2020!  The organizers this year are Katy Kramp @alibrarymama, Maggi Rhode, @mama_librarian, and Nekenya Yarbrough.  If you have any ideas for panels, or want to know more about being on panel, email kidlitcon@gmail.com.  A website is coming, but until then visit @kidlitcon on twitter. The Reviews Anya and the Dragon, by Sofiya Pasternack, at Hit or Miss Books  Aru Shah and the End of Time, by Roshani Chokshi, at metalphantasmreads (audiobook review) Boot: Small Robot, Big Adventure, by Shane Hegarty, at thereaderteacher The First (Endling #2) by Katherine Applegate, at Say What? The Girl with the Dragon Heart, by Stephanie Burgis, at Say What? Lalalni of the Distant Sea, by Erin Entrada Kelly, at Abby the Librarian The Library of Ever, by Zeno Alexander, at J.R.'s Book Reviews and Charlotte's ...

Black Helicopters

By Blythe Woolston Black Helicopters  is narrated by a girl named Valkyrie.  Her father raised her and her brother, Bo, away from civilization, and they fear other people.  They believe that everyone is out to get them, and, during the "present" chapters of the books - intermingled with flashbacks - Valkyrie goes out with a bomb strapped to her chest to blow something up.  That's pretty much the whole story. This book was one of the most unfulfilling stories I have ever read.  At the end, I knew about as much as I did at the beginning; there was no discovery.  Valkyrie was barely a character.  I could not relate to her in any way.  Her motivations were completely lost on me.  I never really understood what she was trying to do, and even after I finished the book, I still couldn't figure out where it had been trying to go.  Valkyrie was ageless in that anywhere-between-eight-and-eighteen way; it states that she's fifteen, but her characte...