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The Roman Mysteries #2
Secretele Vezuviului
Suntem in anul 79 d.H. In jurul Golfului Neapolis, pamântul se cutremura, iar animalele se comporta ciudat.
Muntele Vezuviu urmeaza sa erupa si sa provoace unul dintre cele mai cumplite dezastre naturale din toate timpurile.
Flavia Gemina, fiica unui capitan roman de cursa lunga, isi petrece vara la unchiul ei, care locuieste in apropiere de Pompei. Impreuna cu prietenii ei, Ionatan, Nubia si Lupus, incearca sa dezlege o ghicitoare care i-ar putea conduce la descoperirea unei uriase comori. Insa are loc erup]ia vulcanului, iar cei patru copii se afla in mare pericol.
Al doilea volum din seria MISTERELE ROMANE este un roman de aventuri care va arata cum se traia in Roma antica.
Muntele Vezuviu urmeaza sa erupa si sa provoace unul dintre cele mai cumplite dezastre naturale din toate timpurile.
Flavia Gemina, fiica unui capitan roman de cursa lunga, isi petrece vara la unchiul ei, care locuieste in apropiere de Pompei. Impreuna cu prietenii ei, Ionatan, Nubia si Lupus, incearca sa dezlege o ghicitoare care i-ar putea conduce la descoperirea unei uriase comori. Insa are loc erup]ia vulcanului, iar cei patru copii se afla in mare pericol.
Al doilea volum din seria MISTERELE ROMANE este un roman de aventuri care va arata cum se traia in Roma antica.
224 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2001
41 people are currently reading
727 people want to read
About the author
Caroline Lawrence
65 books320 followersCaroline Lawrence won a scholarship to Cambridge to read Classical Archaeology, then did a degree in Hebrew and Jewish studies at University College London. She now lives in London with her English husband and teaches Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Art and French to children.
Series:
* Roman Mysteries
Western Mysteries
Series:
* Roman Mysteries
Western Mysteries
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 150 reviews
August 15, 2023
The second book of the Roman Mysteries series follows Flavia and her friends on a trip to Pompeii. This story was much less of a typical mystery than book 1, but had plenty of action and historical events. One historical figure was also a cool surprise!
Content rating 5/5: mentions of the word jackass as part of a riddle
Content rating 5/5: mentions of the word jackass as part of a riddle
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February 12, 2023Not really a mystery tbh but still a vibe. Loving using my degree as an actual excuse to read these books hehe.
Also some slightly sus parts to this book, like who Miriam ends up with… hmm where tf did that come from and the age?? Hmm. Oh and I’m loving the Christian vibes running throughout, honestly think I was completely blind as a kid.
Also some slightly sus parts to this book, like who Miriam ends up with… hmm where tf did that come from and the age?? Hmm. Oh and I’m loving the Christian vibes running throughout, honestly think I was completely blind as a kid.
June 1, 2020
I wish these stories had been around when I was a kid- I would have loved them!
June 10, 2016
Normally I love books set in the Ancient World, and I did enjoy The Thieves of Ostia, the first book in this series, but sadly this one left me cold.
The one thing I did like was how it wove in the real characters of Pliny, Rectina and Pomponianus - the way this handles Pliny's death, is fairly accurate to the sources.
Everything else I hated - The ASINE riddle that kicked this off wasn't enough of a mystery and the answer failed to satisfy me. The mystery of who Miriam's in love with - when it's actually revealed is a complete surprise - all the 'clues' point elsewhere and that's actually annoying - I'd rather have worked it out - if you're going to set it up as some kind of guessing game, don't do that and then give the reader a completely out of the blue answer. I didn't like the way this handled the Vesuvius crisis - not enough was made of the tragedy and the death - and we never really find out what happens to Rectina and the children - I either want a daring rescue or to hear they died... not mount a rescue that fails and then hear nothing. The Classics scholar in me was also annoyed about the fact that Pliny is described twice wearing a PURPLE toga. He might have had a purple stripe to the edging at best - Purple being the most expensive dye it was a status symbol, he would not have had a full purple toga, only the emperor would have worn one.
This does a reasonable job of bringing the Ancient World to life, and showing Pliny's last days, but over all I was very disappointed with the actual story.
The one thing I did like was how it wove in the real characters of Pliny, Rectina and Pomponianus - the way this handles Pliny's death, is fairly accurate to the sources.
Everything else I hated - The ASINE riddle that kicked this off wasn't enough of a mystery and the answer failed to satisfy me. The mystery of who Miriam's in love with - when it's actually revealed is a complete surprise - all the 'clues' point elsewhere and that's actually annoying - I'd rather have worked it out - if you're going to set it up as some kind of guessing game, don't do that and then give the reader a completely out of the blue answer. I didn't like the way this handled the Vesuvius crisis - not enough was made of the tragedy and the death - and we never really find out what happens to Rectina and the children - I either want a daring rescue or to hear they died... not mount a rescue that fails and then hear nothing. The Classics scholar in me was also annoyed about the fact that Pliny is described twice wearing a PURPLE toga. He might have had a purple stripe to the edging at best - Purple being the most expensive dye it was a status symbol, he would not have had a full purple toga, only the emperor would have worn one.
This does a reasonable job of bringing the Ancient World to life, and showing Pliny's last days, but over all I was very disappointed with the actual story.
December 24, 2025
Flavia Gemina and her friends dive deep into solving a riddle and reuniting a family on their visit to Pompeii, but being in the shadow of Vesuvius will bring them more trouble than they know.
A quick, entertaining read. Lawrence continues her in-depth exploration of life in ancient Rome. This book is more adventure than solving mysteries, and the Christian element is a bit more pronounced than I expected. But the whole sequence of Vesuvius's eruption was intense and dramatic, and I'm excited to see the aftermath in the next books.
A quick, entertaining read. Lawrence continues her in-depth exploration of life in ancient Rome. This book is more adventure than solving mysteries, and the Christian element is a bit more pronounced than I expected. But the whole sequence of Vesuvius's eruption was intense and dramatic, and I'm excited to see the aftermath in the next books.
September 4, 2020
What I liked most about the first book in this series was seeing life in an ancient Roman city through the eyes of everyday people. And of course, how clever Flavia was at solving mysteries. When I saw that they'd be traveling to Pompeii in the second book, I was excited to see that city from their perspective—all the sights and sounds and tastes that archeologists have uncovered.
Unfortunately for me, this book took a very different turn, with less of what I liked and more of what I didn't. I still liked it, but not as much. Right away we met the famous Pliny the Elder, and he becomes very important in the story. Dramatizing real historical people always makes me nervous: how would we know he would say that, or would have that reaction, or come off that way? Some people enjoy speculating, I get it. There's a little mystery, but they actually solve most of it early on.
What mystery is left ends up renewing the theme about the beginnings of Christianity. There's a fine line between exploring in fiction how characters feel about their various religions and the author proselytizing about how one religion is obviously better than the other. In my opinion, this series crosses over that line a bit too much. She wants to have it both ways, too: the Christian characters are portrayed as sympathetic because their religion is illegal and they are persecuted, and yet all of our other characters are totally accepting of Christianity because gee, those Christians are all so kind and generous.
Much of the story is about uncovering a secret that affects the relationships of the new people introduced in this book. In fact, most of the plot is about these other people, leaving Flavia and Jonathan and Lupus to mostly just react to it; Nubia got only a few lines of dialogue in the whole book. I would have liked more mystery, and more about my favorite four.
Other than the various relationship dramas (which were compelling and interesting, especially the one about the young blacksmith named Vulcan), the main story became a "man versus nature" plot of surviving the volcano eruption. Flavia and the rest of the characters journeyed to the region near Pompeii, but never got to tour the city, which profoundly disappointed me. It was interesting to live through the eruption of Vesuvius, with all the earthquakes and other symptoms building up over days, and seeing how various people reacted to it. The tension was high because I knew what would happen long before they did. When they realized the danger, it became quite a harrowing adventure-escape story!
There was one relationship drama that bothered me a bit, a romance between a girl (14 years old, barely a teenager) and an adult man. Yes, I understand that morals were different in Ancient Rome. But much like slavery, I think it's problematic to white-wash those behaviors as normalized and acceptable. And in this case, it wasn't even a major part of the story, and could have been omitted or changed quite easily, so it's especially odd that the author chose to include it.
In the end, I did enjoy the setting and the various dramas and tensions, but I'm less sure about continuing with the series than I was after finishing book 1.
Unfortunately for me, this book took a very different turn, with less of what I liked and more of what I didn't. I still liked it, but not as much. Right away we met the famous Pliny the Elder, and he becomes very important in the story. Dramatizing real historical people always makes me nervous: how would we know he would say that, or would have that reaction, or come off that way? Some people enjoy speculating, I get it. There's a little mystery, but they actually solve most of it early on.
What mystery is left ends up renewing the theme about the beginnings of Christianity. There's a fine line between exploring in fiction how characters feel about their various religions and the author proselytizing about how one religion is obviously better than the other. In my opinion, this series crosses over that line a bit too much. She wants to have it both ways, too: the Christian characters are portrayed as sympathetic because their religion is illegal and they are persecuted, and yet all of our other characters are totally accepting of Christianity because gee, those Christians are all so kind and generous.
Much of the story is about uncovering a secret that affects the relationships of the new people introduced in this book. In fact, most of the plot is about these other people, leaving Flavia and Jonathan and Lupus to mostly just react to it; Nubia got only a few lines of dialogue in the whole book. I would have liked more mystery, and more about my favorite four.
Other than the various relationship dramas (which were compelling and interesting, especially the one about the young blacksmith named Vulcan), the main story became a "man versus nature" plot of surviving the volcano eruption. Flavia and the rest of the characters journeyed to the region near Pompeii, but never got to tour the city, which profoundly disappointed me. It was interesting to live through the eruption of Vesuvius, with all the earthquakes and other symptoms building up over days, and seeing how various people reacted to it. The tension was high because I knew what would happen long before they did. When they realized the danger, it became quite a harrowing adventure-escape story!
There was one relationship drama that bothered me a bit, a romance between a girl (14 years old, barely a teenager) and an adult man. Yes, I understand that morals were different in Ancient Rome. But much like slavery, I think it's problematic to white-wash those behaviors as normalized and acceptable. And in this case, it wasn't even a major part of the story, and could have been omitted or changed quite easily, so it's especially odd that the author chose to include it.
In the end, I did enjoy the setting and the various dramas and tensions, but I'm less sure about continuing with the series than I was after finishing book 1.
August 16, 2022
This series is growing on me. The kids are asking a lot of questions about Roman times and it encouraged them to get out a history book which is a big win (?!). Although these stories are very short, the subject matter is intended for older kids.
May 31, 2016
I didn't like it as well as the first, even though, technically, it was probably better. And a little more consistent in tone/grimness level/whatever you'd want to call it. As the title suggests, it happens during a rather famous eruption of Vesuvius and anyone with some history knowledge is going to know that all will not go well with the character's vacation to Pompeii.
Two things made me not continue reading the series, though.
Two things made me not continue reading the series, though.
October 12, 2017
It didn't really have a good story and it had strange characters
April 11, 2023
the start was strong and most of it was nice immersion, but lost interest halfway through and had to force myself to pick it back up so…enjoyed pliny, the vulcan lore, and didn’t particularly like miriam’s romance arc but meh. and forgot how young the characters are.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 19, 2019
This was rather horrifying, with no actual conclusion... I don't need tidy, happy endings - but some sort of relevant resolution is preferred...
February 1, 2016
This book is okay in its way though there were one or two issues I had with it.
First of all is the relationship that develops between two characters.
I'm not sure about the heroine being strong, she comes across as rather weak to me. Also with one of the characters saying 'behold' before most sentences-did you know it gets boring after a while Ms Lawrence? There is such a thing as drawing the line at some point.
Then we have another scene where one of the main characters
You know if you're going to write about a possible friendship or relationship developing between characters, it might be a good idea to explain a few things, such as what they like about each other, or maybe what they did for one another before the interest developed.
Lawrence's idea of developing relationships is like somebody teaching a person to make a cake, they tell the person of some of the ingredients and an hour later-voila, the cake has been made!
No description of all the ingredients obviously, no description of the steps needed to prepare the cake, no description of how long to bake it for/oven temperatures etc...
I'm not a fan of sickly sweet 'I wuv you' 'no I wuv you more' kinds of over the top romances, but if you're going to put one in your book, people would like some pointers.
There are also some scenes that are not suitable for children. I'm an adult and I found some of those scenes disturbing.
I am hoping that the next book in line would be better, as I like reading historically based books...
First of all is the relationship that develops between two characters.
I'm not sure about the heroine being strong, she comes across as rather weak to me. Also with one of the characters saying 'behold' before most sentences-did you know it gets boring after a while Ms Lawrence? There is such a thing as drawing the line at some point.
Then we have another scene where one of the main characters
You know if you're going to write about a possible friendship or relationship developing between characters, it might be a good idea to explain a few things, such as what they like about each other, or maybe what they did for one another before the interest developed.
Lawrence's idea of developing relationships is like somebody teaching a person to make a cake, they tell the person of some of the ingredients and an hour later-voila, the cake has been made!
No description of all the ingredients obviously, no description of the steps needed to prepare the cake, no description of how long to bake it for/oven temperatures etc...
I'm not a fan of sickly sweet 'I wuv you' 'no I wuv you more' kinds of over the top romances, but if you're going to put one in your book, people would like some pointers.
There are also some scenes that are not suitable for children. I'm an adult and I found some of those scenes disturbing.
I am hoping that the next book in line would be better, as I like reading historically based books...
August 25, 2011
I was very excited when I discovered Caroline Lawrence because in my view she is the Robert Harris of children’s fiction and Robert Harris is one of my favourite authors. There are certainly similarities in the quality of writing and underpinning depth of knowledge which is evident in Lawrence’s The Secrets of Vesuvius and Harris’s Pompeii.
The Secrets of Vesuvius is a beautifully written book, full of interesting vocabulary, both English and Latin. Lawrence manages to effortlessly develop her characters, particularly Flavia and her three friends, and she achieves this in such a subtle and interesting way. For example to Lawrence her character Nubia didn’t simply like swimming and come from Africa, she ‘had grown up in the African desert, where water was rare and precious’ and ‘had been shy of the sea at first’. Everything is so well written. There are also hints of danger throughout, such as slave catchers, sea monsters and wild dogs to help keep the reader interested.
With historical fiction there is always a risk that the author comes across as conceited or big headed, constantly demonstrating that they have done their research and will now prove it to the reader at every opportunity. Lawrence on the other hand manages to serve up history like greens carefully hidden on a plate, such as her introduction of Pliny or description of Vulcan. The riddle given to Flavia is also interesting and credible, for the simple reason that it is real.
The book works on three levels: a good Blyton-esque style mystery, a way of bringing ancient Roman history to life, and as a science aid to liven up lessons on earthquakes and volcanoes.
On the downside the pace of the book is quite slow, further editing would have been helpful to make the book shorter and more punchy, and the few that will not have heard of Mount Versuvius erupting will find out in seconds from the cover picture and blurb. Consequently, I am not sure that even older children will remain interested and engaged to the end.
Altogether a very very well researched and written book and I have little choice to now read Lawrence’s first book, The Thieves of Ostia. Lawrence has me hooked.
January 6, 2019
I was initially nervous that the inclusion of real, famous Romans (like Pliny) would not work, however Lawrence does an extraordinary job of merging fact and fiction. I loved how little facts and words Pliny spoke were weaved in. I learnt a huge amount and I also was inspired to go off and research loads of different things about Roman life and the eruption.
I can see beginnings of character development forming which will hopefully develop over the series as we find out more about their pasts. In particular I thought we learnt a lot about Lupus's personality and at one point I could really understand and empathize with all his frustration and anger at the world. Lawrence also developed the faith storyline and this was well balanced with showing the Roman's beliefs, which was very interesting with the backdrop of the eruption and the exploration of the prophesy and punishment aspect of this.
One of the difference in this novel is that the mystery is not a crime that needs solving and is more mature in nature than Thieves of Ostia . Although this would have not have worked well in the first novel I personally enjoyed the mystery aspect more this time.
The tension is brilliantly built throughout the novel, tying in the eruption and the mystery story lines very cleverly. The book ends with a satisfactory conclusion, however still with enough of a cliffhanger to successfully leave the reader eagerly waiting to read the next in the series, which starts where this one ends.
I can see beginnings of character development forming which will hopefully develop over the series as we find out more about their pasts. In particular I thought we learnt a lot about Lupus's personality and at one point I could really understand and empathize with all his frustration and anger at the world. Lawrence also developed the faith storyline and this was well balanced with showing the Roman's beliefs, which was very interesting with the backdrop of the eruption and the exploration of the prophesy and punishment aspect of this.
One of the difference in this novel is that the mystery is not a crime that needs solving and is more mature in nature than Thieves of Ostia . Although this would have not have worked well in the first novel I personally enjoyed the mystery aspect more this time.
The tension is brilliantly built throughout the novel, tying in the eruption and the mystery story lines very cleverly. The book ends with a satisfactory conclusion, however still with enough of a cliffhanger to successfully leave the reader eagerly waiting to read the next in the series, which starts where this one ends.
December 4, 2017
Author, editor, publisher, audience fail.
The lack of narrative voice about females marrying at 14 to 30 year old [at least] men was appalling for modern fiction to today's young kids, who I find are being referred these [baldly violent and child-marriage and affluence-filled books] at age 8. That irresponsible lack of rising to a teachable gender-history moment is just one failure. The other dimensions of failure include, but are not limited to, the intense and regular episodes of violence [graphically described in some gratuitously vivid, and regrettably key to mystery, plot points in book 1, a flaw in children's late fiction being inappropriately escalated as murder mysteries, and in more historically relevant, but not-reflected-upon, points in book 2], the mawkishly inauthentic characterizations, and flimflam treatment of religions from mythological god worship to Jewish and Christian sects, represented merely as new-age-treatment sound-bite and tableau versions of minor tenets excised from each faith and world view, presented merely as cartoonish representations of crucible times for various peoples brought together in uncomfortable ways. I leave the critique of plot and tone to others who have accurately pointed out flaws I agree with. The only 'sense' amid the dangerous 'noise' in this book and the first one are factoids that ought to be learned elsewhere, in conclusion.
I was pre-reading and will not be giving these print versions of bad TV cartoons and bad movies to my geek child who can figure out Roman history, and the historiography of living in any different place and time, better from his own imagination and historical texts and museums [including online curation and presentation], including, for example, the series for children called 'You wouldn't want to be a ...'
Lawrence's first three in this series were bad enough on these measures, and others, about which our society with misogyny and violence problems are still not vigilant enough, with respect to the need to avoid desensitizing children to these trends and horrors in human species, that I made a GoodReads acount just to come leave a review for each of these books, and to vote up any other commenters who point these things out also.
A classicial researcher who fancies herself a children's story writer may indeed, sadly, sell books and get good reviews from those who are asleep about real societal dangers to women and children, but is doing kids and the future of human society a horrible disservice to put this tripe out and call it an educational offering. The problem is that it is in a lot of similar [poor] company on school and library shelves, any more. No narrative voice exists, just being bald 'adventure' scaffolding for factoids, with fast cut scene interleaving like the problematic format of neuroscience/psychology-ignoring television, video games, and movies. It's platitudes, then drama drama drama, rinse and repeat, ad nauseum, as if human beings will never have long arc and real riddle solving attention span, again. Bosh. Keep setting this stuff as the bar, and kids who consume it won't know they could have developed more chops for better analysis and discernment *and* learn geek facts, along the way, too.
Would have been better for Lawrence to have consulted to a better writer and supplied the factoids she so dearly wanted to insert into modern awareness.
We knew all these facts already, as it happpened, from museums, other books on classics. For those who have not had the privilege for access, and have not taken the time yet to dive into such topics to learn facts and feel rather immersed in ancient times, they deserve and really require better treatment with out the damaging flaws in these books. There is a historiographical responsibility toward children, I would argue, to present it in a realistic and healthy way, not with blythe scenes of graphic violence, child sexual predation, enslavement terrors that could not have been dodged so easily, and the rest of the flaws in this presentation.
Let's also comment upon the artificiality of kids doing all this stuff independently, which is a theme she rather plagiaristically copied from the great writers who came before, in shallow, brazen imitation, like Boxcar Children, and Enid Blyton's protagonists. The false diversity is misleading to kids and not historical at all, not showing the real frictions and divides between peoole, and, as another reviewer points out, is 20th century humanism inserted artificially for nominal feel good aims which are hollow, to say the least, and troubling in the casual references to a slave girl being lucky to pal around with her 'owner', the other elementary age girl, and a tongue-excised 8 year old [who by the way is written as falling in love with a 7 year old.] Just stop, already.
Give kids the originals about true organic trios and foursomes of kids doing neat things. The psychology of character development in those originals [not after ghost writers took over] and even in Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were much better, if one is going with old cis hetero tropes only. Set the bar higher. There are also many recent authors with proper character development, diverse characters realistically and dimensionally portrayed, interacting authentically, *and* even containing historical or science facts woven in, to turn to, instead. This assembly line approach is intellectual junk food and rated R dangerous exposure for the psychology of children.
Find other ways to learn the classical information. This is a failing, and insidiously dangerous one for it being cheap and available, tasty in an artificial way, to those with undeveloped palates, thus being processed-food, cartoon-tripe consumable, with the damaging result that lasts a lifetime for a kid, and generations for society, by creating academic-obesity and academic-malnutrition, and adventure- and humanistic- sloth in the readers and their parents and teachers. Stop supporting the decline of reason, intellect, healthy psychology development, and true historical review in children.
The lack of narrative voice about females marrying at 14 to 30 year old [at least] men was appalling for modern fiction to today's young kids, who I find are being referred these [baldly violent and child-marriage and affluence-filled books] at age 8. That irresponsible lack of rising to a teachable gender-history moment is just one failure. The other dimensions of failure include, but are not limited to, the intense and regular episodes of violence [graphically described in some gratuitously vivid, and regrettably key to mystery, plot points in book 1, a flaw in children's late fiction being inappropriately escalated as murder mysteries, and in more historically relevant, but not-reflected-upon, points in book 2], the mawkishly inauthentic characterizations, and flimflam treatment of religions from mythological god worship to Jewish and Christian sects, represented merely as new-age-treatment sound-bite and tableau versions of minor tenets excised from each faith and world view, presented merely as cartoonish representations of crucible times for various peoples brought together in uncomfortable ways. I leave the critique of plot and tone to others who have accurately pointed out flaws I agree with. The only 'sense' amid the dangerous 'noise' in this book and the first one are factoids that ought to be learned elsewhere, in conclusion.
I was pre-reading and will not be giving these print versions of bad TV cartoons and bad movies to my geek child who can figure out Roman history, and the historiography of living in any different place and time, better from his own imagination and historical texts and museums [including online curation and presentation], including, for example, the series for children called 'You wouldn't want to be a ...'
Lawrence's first three in this series were bad enough on these measures, and others, about which our society with misogyny and violence problems are still not vigilant enough, with respect to the need to avoid desensitizing children to these trends and horrors in human species, that I made a GoodReads acount just to come leave a review for each of these books, and to vote up any other commenters who point these things out also.
A classicial researcher who fancies herself a children's story writer may indeed, sadly, sell books and get good reviews from those who are asleep about real societal dangers to women and children, but is doing kids and the future of human society a horrible disservice to put this tripe out and call it an educational offering. The problem is that it is in a lot of similar [poor] company on school and library shelves, any more. No narrative voice exists, just being bald 'adventure' scaffolding for factoids, with fast cut scene interleaving like the problematic format of neuroscience/psychology-ignoring television, video games, and movies. It's platitudes, then drama drama drama, rinse and repeat, ad nauseum, as if human beings will never have long arc and real riddle solving attention span, again. Bosh. Keep setting this stuff as the bar, and kids who consume it won't know they could have developed more chops for better analysis and discernment *and* learn geek facts, along the way, too.
Would have been better for Lawrence to have consulted to a better writer and supplied the factoids she so dearly wanted to insert into modern awareness.
We knew all these facts already, as it happpened, from museums, other books on classics. For those who have not had the privilege for access, and have not taken the time yet to dive into such topics to learn facts and feel rather immersed in ancient times, they deserve and really require better treatment with out the damaging flaws in these books. There is a historiographical responsibility toward children, I would argue, to present it in a realistic and healthy way, not with blythe scenes of graphic violence, child sexual predation, enslavement terrors that could not have been dodged so easily, and the rest of the flaws in this presentation.
Let's also comment upon the artificiality of kids doing all this stuff independently, which is a theme she rather plagiaristically copied from the great writers who came before, in shallow, brazen imitation, like Boxcar Children, and Enid Blyton's protagonists. The false diversity is misleading to kids and not historical at all, not showing the real frictions and divides between peoole, and, as another reviewer points out, is 20th century humanism inserted artificially for nominal feel good aims which are hollow, to say the least, and troubling in the casual references to a slave girl being lucky to pal around with her 'owner', the other elementary age girl, and a tongue-excised 8 year old [who by the way is written as falling in love with a 7 year old.] Just stop, already.
Give kids the originals about true organic trios and foursomes of kids doing neat things. The psychology of character development in those originals [not after ghost writers took over] and even in Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were much better, if one is going with old cis hetero tropes only. Set the bar higher. There are also many recent authors with proper character development, diverse characters realistically and dimensionally portrayed, interacting authentically, *and* even containing historical or science facts woven in, to turn to, instead. This assembly line approach is intellectual junk food and rated R dangerous exposure for the psychology of children.
Find other ways to learn the classical information. This is a failing, and insidiously dangerous one for it being cheap and available, tasty in an artificial way, to those with undeveloped palates, thus being processed-food, cartoon-tripe consumable, with the damaging result that lasts a lifetime for a kid, and generations for society, by creating academic-obesity and academic-malnutrition, and adventure- and humanistic- sloth in the readers and their parents and teachers. Stop supporting the decline of reason, intellect, healthy psychology development, and true historical review in children.
September 5, 2017
I picked up this book because I love anything about ancient Rome and particularly like to read about Vesuvius. Loved it. It is juvenile fiction. But very well written. Story follows four young friends through a few days before the eruption and ends after Vesuvius erupts. It include Pliny the elder trying to rescue friends and dying while attempting the rescue by ship in Stabiae.
October 27, 2020
Flavia and her friends travel to visit her uncle just in time to be there when Vesuvius explodes. I enjoyed this one as well. I didn't find the mystery that mysterious or that big of an element in this one. Part of it was knowing that the mountain was going to explode, which detracted from everything.
March 12, 2021
Simply thrilling, I read it in one setting. It struck an excellent balance between fast-paced action and some beautiful moments of description, cleverly undfolding the mystery against the backdrop of the impending doom of the eruption. I loved the involvement of Pliny.
January 4, 2018
You'd be surprised how much this taught me when I was ten
February 4, 2024
This book is just wonderful!
The storyline is great! The writing style is very rich, with wonderful descriptions of people and places which made many of the scenarios seem so vivid that I felt like I was watching a movie.
It also contains a very beautiful moral that has forgiveness as its main theme.
I really admired Vulcan and I found that he was a young man with great character and a lot of common sense. The book seems to imply that Vulcan might be a Christian based on the things that he says to the protagonist. To be honest, he was one of my favorite characters! I was also captivated by his looks *small chuckle*
Another character that I like so much is Miriam; she has such a sweetness and an innocence to her that makes her so special!!
Eventhough this is often seen as fiction for tweens (and teens?), there are profound elements that make this book mature enough for someone who has surpassed their teenage years.
So far, the Roman mysteries have appealed to me a lot! I love reading about ancient roman history and I am happy that these books are written by someone who is an expert in this field; I feel like I can learn so much just by reading these books!
The only thing that I didn't care for about this book was the description of the pagan ritual that took place in Vulcanalia, but I also acknowledge that this too was a part of history that the author wanted to inform us about.
Overall, this book was a fantastic read!
The storyline is great! The writing style is very rich, with wonderful descriptions of people and places which made many of the scenarios seem so vivid that I felt like I was watching a movie.
It also contains a very beautiful moral that has forgiveness as its main theme.
I really admired Vulcan and I found that he was a young man with great character and a lot of common sense. The book seems to imply that Vulcan might be a Christian based on the things that he says to the protagonist. To be honest, he was one of my favorite characters! I was also captivated by his looks *small chuckle*
Another character that I like so much is Miriam; she has such a sweetness and an innocence to her that makes her so special!!
Eventhough this is often seen as fiction for tweens (and teens?), there are profound elements that make this book mature enough for someone who has surpassed their teenage years.
So far, the Roman mysteries have appealed to me a lot! I love reading about ancient roman history and I am happy that these books are written by someone who is an expert in this field; I feel like I can learn so much just by reading these books!
The only thing that I didn't care for about this book was the description of the pagan ritual that took place in Vulcanalia, but I also acknowledge that this too was a part of history that the author wanted to inform us about.
Overall, this book was a fantastic read!
July 14, 2020
The book starts off as a slow burn and becomes an action packed story towards the end as the group of friends and associated families escape the eruption of Vesuvius with an hour by hour account of the two days of eruptions. The mountain was not a known volcano at the time and there had been regular earthquakes which the locals learned to ignore, as they did initially when Vesuvius actually erupted. The clues leading up to eruption were there to see, dead birds, animals escaping, dry wells, sulphur smell in the air and water. Had people headed the earnings many lives would’ve been saved.
Against the backdrop of this famous volcanic eruption, Flavia and friends are set a riddle to solve and seek a treasure by Pliny. The treasure and riddle are not what one might expect. The storyline isn’t strong. This book is really about Vesuvius erupting. Flavia’s stubborn and somewhat arrogant characteristic comes through here. Lupus is heroic and Miriam surprises. I can see why some readers only gave one star reviews. They were looking for storyline, which is the weakest bit of the novel. I found it a satisfying read however as the book included real people of that time like Pliny and covered a historically significant moment in time.
Against the backdrop of this famous volcanic eruption, Flavia and friends are set a riddle to solve and seek a treasure by Pliny. The treasure and riddle are not what one might expect. The storyline isn’t strong. This book is really about Vesuvius erupting. Flavia’s stubborn and somewhat arrogant characteristic comes through here. Lupus is heroic and Miriam surprises. I can see why some readers only gave one star reviews. They were looking for storyline, which is the weakest bit of the novel. I found it a satisfying read however as the book included real people of that time like Pliny and covered a historically significant moment in time.
April 4, 2024
Segundo libro de la serie de Flavia Gémina y sus amigos. A diferencia del primero, este libro no se centra tanto en el misterio a resolver, sino en cómo fueron los momentos previos a la erupción del Vesubio. La autora tiene mucha habilidad para mezclar elementos históricos y de ficción y el resultado es una serie que, pese a estar dirigida a niños y adolescentes, puede ser leída y disfrutada perfectamente por adultos. Elementos de no ficción que se mencionan en este libro son los Plinios (el Viejo y el Joven, este último mencionado solo de pasada), las Vulcanales, las tradiciones de los primeros cristianos...
De pequeña se me pasó un detalle que es un tanto perturbador tratándose de un libro dirigido a un público más bien infantil , y en general me parece que la edad de los niños no es acertada: deberían tener todos como mínimo 15 años por la manera en que hablan y cómo actúan.
Al principio, el libro se me ha hecho aburrido, pero mejora a medida que nos acercamos más a la erupción del volcán. Le tengo mucho cariño a esta serie y estoy disfrutando mucho releyéndola poco a poco.
De pequeña se me pasó un detalle que es un tanto perturbador tratándose de un libro dirigido a un público más bien infantil , y en general me parece que la edad de los niños no es acertada: deberían tener todos como mínimo 15 años por la manera en que hablan y cómo actúan.
Al principio, el libro se me ha hecho aburrido, pero mejora a medida que nos acercamos más a la erupción del volcán. Le tengo mucho cariño a esta serie y estoy disfrutando mucho releyéndola poco a poco.
April 13, 2019
I thought that this book is filled with action and is informative about the setting of the Bay of Naples. The book at the start was very laid back with the children enjoying their lives, feasting and playing on the beach. I found Pliny as an interesting character, as an admiral of the royal fleet and caring to children. I also found out that a large population of that time were slaves, and they were apparently everywhere. It was in-fact "normal" to have a slave lying around and doing most of the duties for you. When Vesuvius erupted, it seemed extremely scary. It was at very different intensities in various settings. I found it amazing that Vulcan rowed his boat all the way to the center of the waterbody separating the fleet and the foot of the mountain even though Vulcan was badly injured and a volcano was erupting. I found it amazing that the children survived the rain of rocks and the wave of fire coming from Mt.Vesuvius. It was almost as if the characters were protected by a divine force. The end was quite joyous when the skies cleared and Mt.Vesuvius stopped erupting. Good and action-packed book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2023
There were so many back and forths in this book, I honestly didn't know what to do. It felt almost like the miscommunication trope done right. I was genuinely in shock for so much of this, and I couldn't stop reading. My heart was racing, and I had to physically cover the ends of the pages so I wouldn't spoil the story for myself because I was getting so anxious about what was gonna happen next.
. I mean it makes sense I guess for the Ancient Roman time, but I was hoping this part of history wouldn't be in this book as in your face as it is. Yuck.
Reading a short perspective of what it would have been like (roughly) to be in Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius erupted is kind of horrifying. I can't imagine the fear and the pain and suffering that went on back then. I think this book paints a good picture of the desperation, the violence, and what it might've been like there, with horrifying aspects written in but censored enough for children to get through and understand.
This was amazing. I loved it.
. I mean it makes sense I guess for the Ancient Roman time, but I was hoping this part of history wouldn't be in this book as in your face as it is. Yuck.
Reading a short perspective of what it would have been like (roughly) to be in Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius erupted is kind of horrifying. I can't imagine the fear and the pain and suffering that went on back then. I think this book paints a good picture of the desperation, the violence, and what it might've been like there, with horrifying aspects written in but censored enough for children to get through and understand.
This was amazing. I loved it.
August 1, 2022
Terminé el segundo audiolibro de la serie Misterios Romanos, si bien los primeros capítulos me parecieron muy planos, al entrar a la trama de la erupción del Vesubio y el desastre de Pompeya, se puso mucho más interesante (de hecho fue inesperado).
La novela de misterios de repente pasó a ser una lucha por la supervivencia, con todo lo que eso implica (sufrimiento, separaciones, esfuerzo, enfrentar la cruda realidad, etc.). Me resultó mucho menos infantil que el primer libro de la serie.
Me gustó de esta historia, que pese a ser ficción incorporara tan bien datos reales, de lugares, hechos y personas. Saber al finalizar que algunos de los personajes de los que leí existieron en realidad le dio un valor agregado a la historia.
Me gustaría continuar escuchándolos, pero creo que solo estos dos primeros están disponibles en el formato audiolibro en español. Intentaré entonces, continuar la serie leyendo.
La novela de misterios de repente pasó a ser una lucha por la supervivencia, con todo lo que eso implica (sufrimiento, separaciones, esfuerzo, enfrentar la cruda realidad, etc.). Me resultó mucho menos infantil que el primer libro de la serie.
Me gustó de esta historia, que pese a ser ficción incorporara tan bien datos reales, de lugares, hechos y personas. Saber al finalizar que algunos de los personajes de los que leí existieron en realidad le dio un valor agregado a la historia.
Me gustaría continuar escuchándolos, pero creo que solo estos dos primeros están disponibles en el formato audiolibro en español. Intentaré entonces, continuar la serie leyendo.
October 16, 2022
The second book in the Roman Mysteries series and it was just as thrilling as I remembered it being. I think this might even have been the book that really started my obsession and love of Greek and Roman mythology and history, especially after learning that the eruption of Vesuvius really happened.
I’ve even seen the ruins of Pompeii and it’s truly breathtaking and heartbreaking all at the same time to know that life just stopped for people because of a natural disaster that nobody could have predicted at the time. It must have been terrifying to watch it play out in real time.
What I like about this story is that it gives you the events of the eruption but with the characters that you know, and it allows you to imagine them in this situation without needing to necessarily worry about whether or not they really existed. That doesn’t meant the books aren’t well researched but it does give a little freedom as far as the people are concerned.
I’ve even seen the ruins of Pompeii and it’s truly breathtaking and heartbreaking all at the same time to know that life just stopped for people because of a natural disaster that nobody could have predicted at the time. It must have been terrifying to watch it play out in real time.
What I like about this story is that it gives you the events of the eruption but with the characters that you know, and it allows you to imagine them in this situation without needing to necessarily worry about whether or not they really existed. That doesn’t meant the books aren’t well researched but it does give a little freedom as far as the people are concerned.
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February 2, 2022Dark At Times but Not Inappropriate.
There's a seemingly atheistic father, the mom who sacrifices to Roman gods, and their son who is a devout Christian. The main friends of the series are also diverse characters. The author has took a likely environment of the era and given us a story around it, which also showcases Christians interacting with different believers.
Though it may seem dark and mature at times, I found that the story reads like classical literature that young readers can learn from and to find inspiration in being strong Christians in a world of different beliefs. There seems to be a mystery per installment that the group will focus on. In addition, there is the overall life that the group lives that will play out among all the books together. One would need to be strong in order to justify reading 17 different installments. I am seeing that the mysteries are not so strong as to drive the separate installment and the overall environment of the group's history and life are not divulged in enough per installment, so the two main components are lacking for a desire to want to spend time and money on the whole series.
There's a seemingly atheistic father, the mom who sacrifices to Roman gods, and their son who is a devout Christian. The main friends of the series are also diverse characters. The author has took a likely environment of the era and given us a story around it, which also showcases Christians interacting with different believers.
Though it may seem dark and mature at times, I found that the story reads like classical literature that young readers can learn from and to find inspiration in being strong Christians in a world of different beliefs. There seems to be a mystery per installment that the group will focus on. In addition, there is the overall life that the group lives that will play out among all the books together. One would need to be strong in order to justify reading 17 different installments. I am seeing that the mysteries are not so strong as to drive the separate installment and the overall environment of the group's history and life are not divulged in enough per installment, so the two main components are lacking for a desire to want to spend time and money on the whole series.
March 10, 2023
This book didn't really have a mystery, which is weird for the second book in a series called Roman Mysteries. Instead, it was focused on the eruption of Vesuvius. There were parts of this that I didn't feel worked that well; it seemed more based on side-characters than the main four, and the Christianity aspect I don't really remember from reading this as a child felt a bit shoehorned in . However, I did feel that the action after the eruption was done well, it definitely showed the tragedy of such a massive natural disaster.
November 23, 2024
2.5 stars
This is the second in a series of children’s mysteries, this one set in ancient Italy. Flavia is our main character; she and friends are given some kind of riddle (I’m not sure why). Later on, they try to help a boy find his biological parents. Then, the volcano at Vesuvius erupts.
All of that in a very short book. I listened to the audio and, like with the first book, there was too much I missed because it didn’t hold my attention. After the first one, I had decided to give the series another try (this one), but I think I’ll stop here. Maybe I could try a non-audio, but I don’t think I will. The boy and the volcano were the most interesting, though.
This is the second in a series of children’s mysteries, this one set in ancient Italy. Flavia is our main character; she and friends are given some kind of riddle (I’m not sure why). Later on, they try to help a boy find his biological parents. Then, the volcano at Vesuvius erupts.
All of that in a very short book. I listened to the audio and, like with the first book, there was too much I missed because it didn’t hold my attention. After the first one, I had decided to give the series another try (this one), but I think I’ll stop here. Maybe I could try a non-audio, but I don’t think I will. The boy and the volcano were the most interesting, though.
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