The Colossus of Rhodes

The Roman Mysteries #9

by Caroline Lawrence

Lupus longs to travel to the Greek islands, to find his mother and fulfill his uncle's dying wish. When he and Flavia, Nubia, and Jonathan hear that freeborn children are being kidnapped, they set sail. Their mission takes them from Corinth to Rhodes, site of one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, where they encounter a slave-dealer known as "the Colossus"--and a deadly trap. Caroline Lawrence paints a vivid picture of the times, with a surprise around every corner.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Historical, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Middle Grade

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Caroline 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

Reviews

[Katie Gibbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shout out to the magistrate of Ostia, who decides a third of the way into this book that his best allies in bringing down the mysterious head of an international child-trafficking slave-trading ring are four 8-10 year olds and then gamely sees that decision through to the quite frankly unhinged end of GAINING ACCESS TO THE MAN'S HOUSE BY PRETENDING HE WANTS TO SELL THEM, WITH THEM RIGHT THERE, TIED UP

In hindsight I'm not sure why this seems more bizarre to me than the literal Roman emperor bringing the same 8-10 year olds to to catch murderers and save Rome in two previous books, but it does

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is such a good book because you really get to know the characters and all of clues in the book all come together at the end. I would recommend this to all of my friends. :)

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

YASSSSS! This is the one where the BOIZ BOIZ BOIZ start coming into the story for real! (Context: I had quite a big operation on Friday, and when I'm ill or recuperating or whatever, I read Roman Mysteries.) This is one of the best in the series. The writing is actually beautiful; I'm so in love with the ancient world Lawrence creates. This one is set in Greece! A little bit of it happens on Patmos! What more could I ask for?!

I've recently been studying twentieth-century modernism and complaining about how there are so many classic novels (by men) detailing the sexual awakening of a teenage boy (The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce; The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger; Lanark by Alasdair Gray; Lost in the Funhouse by John Barth -- I could go on!). This novel is such a fun antidote to that as we see ten-year-olds Flavia and Nubia become properly aware of boys. (Side note, I love their friendship. Nubia puts up with a lot ... she's my hero.) Of course, this is the book where FLOPPY COMES INTO THINGS. BE STILL, MY BEATING HEART. It's hilarious how much Flavia hates him at the beginning. What larks!

Also, Lawrence is a Christian, and it's such a treat to see the pagan characters gradually come into contact with God about 80 years after Jesus' death. The Christianity becomes slowly more explicit as the series continues -- for now, they're still worshipping Jupiter & co. -- but this book is a bit of a turning point. This is Christian fiction that isn't in-your-face, preachy or agenda'd. It's so well done. I have such massive respect for Lawrence and this lovely, lovely series, and it's such a privilege to be rereading these books aged nineteen. (I couldn't resist moving straight onto The Fugitive from Corinth. It's a good'un!)

[Emma Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otherwise known as the book teeming with hot Greek and Roman men- this sudden awareness of the male gender by Flavia and Nubia really amused me as it reflected an inverted version of Harry and Ron in Goblet of Fire. The descriptions were so emotive and visceral and evoked so clearly Rhodes last year for me- plot wise I loved the continuity to earlier books while equally the setting up of future storylines.

[Len · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume nine in the Roman Mysteries series and there may be some discernible rumblings and turnings in the tomb of the Famous Five as Flavia, Jonathan, Nubia, Lupus and, in this story, Tigris the dog enjoy scrumptious meals of “figs, dates, yogurt, honey, cheese, cinnamon rolls” and lashings of watered-down wine while investigating the abduction into slavery of freeborn Roman children.

While the mystery element is derivative with four children and their dog successfully combating adult criminals, the evil mastermind Magnus and his gang, it is the Roman setting which gives the story its originality. The book is filled to overflowing with enough factoids about life in the Empire to keep any budding Romanist happy. It begins with Flavia's house-slave Alma giving the children apotropaic amulets in the form of the torsos of very well endowed young men and having their purpose explained and goes on through a sea voyage across the eastern Mediterranean to Rhodes, describing all manner of places, myths and legends, religion and poetry. The author even provides a poem by Constantine Cavafy and puts it into the mouth of the short-sighted and very brave Flaccus, a young man setting out on a mission to see the seven wonders of the world – that is where the Colossus comes in.

If there is a fault it is only that the author wants to fit so much information into a very short book that the adventure sometimes gets pushed into the background and becomes a little rushed. Also the kids are only ten or eleven yet seem to have the fearlessness and capabilities of heroes. However, when it comes to being a faux Famous Five, Flavia and her mates knock the socks of Julian, George, Dick, Anne and Timmy.

[Dimitrios · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ωραίο, εφηβικό ανάγνωσμα, γεμάτο αρχαία Ελλάδα. Θα ήθελα να το είχα διαβάσει στην εφηβική ηλικία.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved that it was focused on Lupus! (He's my favorite character)

[Gili · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was a little slow and confusing at the start but it started to pick up and had some very interesting insights

[Seamus Fleming · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many dead pigeons.

[RamSwaminathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent beginning, excellent feeling of adventure and wonder when reading the beginning. They going outside of Italia for the first time, it was like a new awakening, the same feeling that I felt when reading the first book. I felt sympathetic for Lupus most of the time in the book, he was denied visiting his mother when he head that Rhodes was near Symi. I liked Lupus a lot during this book, he really grew as a character. From a person who wants to escape all and be with his mother to a person to realize that a family was around him all this time. I also felt more respect for Captain Geminus in this book, at first I had just thought that he was incapable of doing anything but he had escaped a trap from one of the most calculating and cunning people in Ancient Rome. The action was excellent, it felt that the Colossus itself was a labyrinth and Ursus was the Minotaur. Excellent description of the setting, just excellent. This is a book that I will remember.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 9 of 17 down! Not many more to go now! This is definitely one of the ones where my memory of any previous reads starts to fail me, because I didn’t remember loads of this book which actually didn’t detract from my enjoyment of it because I was able instead to approach it as a brand new story which was fun.

I really appreciated being able to learn more about Lupus and his background and it was interesting seeing the journey from Italy across to Greece and how that could potentially have looked at the time. It was also interesting to see how exactly that fell alongside the journey of the Argonauts which is mentioned quite heavily in the story as well.

I think I’ve said before that I can’t remember exactly where I was in this series when I stopped reading them so I’m not sure at what point it will go from a reread to a “reading for the first time” but I feel like it’s coming up soon.

[Eleni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor Lupus, this kid has been through so much and it's almost like it just never stops for him. I wish he could catch a break at some point.

There's so much representation in this series. We already have Lupus whose tongue was cut out and was rendered mute as a result, but now we also have someone who is . And Lawrence always does it in a respectful and informative way as well.

Just something fun for me personally as well, but there was a Greek character who has the same name as my brother which I thought was really cool to see. Also, I love that I know Greek while reading this, because the pronunciation of some words is so different in Greek than its written English counterpart and it made it feel so much more immersive and authentic to me.

The ending line is so beautiful. I can't get over it.

[Hattie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roman mysteries does Don’t Look Now.
Mostly set on a boat which as a setting I did prefer to the gladiator arena.

Despite foreshadowing in the form of phallic amulets, not to mention his name, Flaccus’ hidden disability disappointingly turned out to be near-sightedness.

Bookended by unexpectedly graphic pigeon violence:
‘how easy it had been to twist off the pigeon's head and tip out its blood, like dark wine from a twitching feathered jug.’
‘Lupus ignored Flavia’s scream and twisted the pigeon's head from its body. Then he tossed the twitching, bubbling bird at its owner's feet.’

More age related savagery: ‘Up close he could see that she was elderly, at least forty years old.’

‘Lupus finally saw the crescent beach and the tiny house - like a cube of white cheese - that had been his home.’

Chilling afterword about children still
being forced to make carpets

[Jessica DeWitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason, this is the first book in which I realized that Lawrence employs the "dead mom trope," made famous by Disney," heavily in this series. All of the main children have lost both or one parent, and all have lost their mothers (though Jonathan has been reunited with his). I don't have much to say about this theme other than to say it really stood out to me in this installment. I liked the plot twists in this one, even though I saw a few coming. Again, Lawrence tackles dark material, this time child enslavement, for children adeptly. I like that Lawrence takes trauma seriously and shares with the reader how the various traumas that these children have experience affect their behaviour.

[ChroniclesofTania · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Lupus’s backstory. The friends are on a mission to find the kidnapped children from the days of Venalicius. They sail on the refitted Vespa, now called the Delphina. Lupus makes a vow to find his mother. There’s wonderful detail of the journey, the islands and the area of treacherous sea Charybdis and a storm. They take two passengers, the former magistrate and a new character Gaius Flaccus, Flavia’s future husband? This is where they meet and they dislike each other on first sight! The characters end up in Rhodes where they discover the criminal mastermind Magnus. Lupus tracks down clues to his mother’s whereabouts but he can never see her again, but she can see him.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lupus and the gang sail on the Delphina to Rhodes to rescue kidnapped children destined to be sold as slaves. The pace of the book is good, zipping from one adventure to the next. The pantomime criminal is a bit of a letdown, but his evil doing is gripping.

Lawrence develops her main characters well, and the book touches on life during the Roman empire. However, there does seem to be a repetitive dialogue re the prettiness of the kidnapped children, Flaccus' pretty slaveboy and the pretty fancies of Flavia from amongst the crew members. Hinting at less salubrious intentions.

An entertaining, if at times superficial, yarn.

[B. BALA CHANDER · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice piece ...readable font ..a different way of story telling ..😍👌
Out of 17 , could start from 9th in the series..Felt like reading thamizh novel Yavana Rani means queen of Greece authored by Saandilyan ..the Aristo’s scroll will give a fair amount of knowledge on Roman and Greek’s terminology. Will try to get the rest of Caroline Lawrence asap.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 9th book in the Roman Mysteries series; in this one Flavia Gemina and her friends are traveling on the ship Delphina. They head to Rhodes in search of an illegal slavery ring that is kidnapping and enslaving freeborn Roman children; meanwhile, Lupus (or Lukos) is on a quest to find his mother . . .

[Kitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! The journey from Italy to Greece was really cool, and learning more about Roman superstitions was interesting. The mystery was engaging, and I was so invested in Lupus' journey to meet his mother. It feels like there's more of an overarching plot now, which I like.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The adventure and love and story-craft of these books! What a thrill and a joy. How lovely that Cavafy is threaded through this book of new horizons by means of Flaccus's real-life proto-Argonautica and his fictional counterpart's poetry.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read all the preceding books in the series and like this the best so far. Successful blending of history and story.

[Dee Paisley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, this is a re-read, but worth it for the introduction of real life life quests and loves. This is also the continued story of slavery that exists from ancient times to today.

[Nishka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really sad but at least the person is safe and happy now

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really like the character development that I see in the series.

[Beth Maisie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent

[Nancy Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book.

[Jennifer Wilkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting. This time the kids got to sail to Rhodes. Super interesting. Lots of good drama and intrigue.

[Niamh Spiers · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25⭐️: Safe to say I'm loving revisiting this gorgeous series! I love how each one focuses on all four children in a different way and forgot how much I love Floppy as a character until he was introduced in this one! So excited to see him return later in the series.

[Lily Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of it is true.If you want to learn some horrific and unbelievable facts then make sure to read 'the last scroll.'

[D.K. Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here we are now at the ninth of seventeen books in this series of adventure tales set in the Roman world of AD 80. After the emotionally harrowing trauma of the last few books (especially the last one), Lawrence takes us back to the kind of adventures the four main child protagonists had at the beginning of the series.

There's more than one kind of return here. We're back to dealing with child kidnappers as the four detectives set off on the ship that used to be a slave ship that brought one of them, Nubia, to Ostia in the first place and now belongs to another, Lupus, who had his tongue cut out by the deceased owner of the slave ship. It also sees the father of Flavia, the leader of the gang of four, back to sailing ships as is his profession. They all set off to stop another slave ship and bring down a slave-trading industry.

As always, Lawrence tantalises us with a mixture of fact and fiction. The veracity of her little details, such as the places they visit and the running of the ship, I've stopped checking. They're always spot on. But she also throws in real people and you never know which character or characters will turn out to be rooted in history. It is strange to say that, despite reading many books on Roman history (to the extent that I found Mary Beard's book thoroughly disappointing) I have learned more about the period through reading these books than anything else.

This story is a cracking yarn but, as with all the others, it sets up for more stories to come. There is unfinished business for Lupus in this story and not everything will be resolved. Then there's the bad guys of the story. I will say no more about them and the size of their importance ...

Nothing has waned in these stories, nine books in as we are. I finished this one and immediately reached for the next. While I still have odd questions about the importance of religion and the supernatural (Lawrence continuing to brilliantly keep these running in the background without preaching or descending into Indiana Jones-esque finales) and I suspect the issue of love and marriage is going to become more real for at least one of these characters before long (despite none of them being older than ten currently), overall I'm just so impressed by the high standard Lawrence has maintained. It has been fifteen years or so since the last of these books was published. I do hope they are still much read and loved; they really are so, so good. On to book X!