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Deborah (162 KP) rated The Ides of April (Flavia Albia Mystery, #1) in Books

Dec 21, 2018  
TI
The Ides of April (Flavia Albia Mystery, #1)
Lindsey Davis | 2013
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
What's the next best thing to a new Falco novel? I suspect it must be this latest offering from Lindsey Davis who, with her tongue firmly in cheek, introduces us to the next generation in the form of Falco's adopted daughter, Flavia Albia, who is all grown up (and indeed widowed) and, guess what? Working as a private informer out of an apartment in Fountain Court!

If you liked the Falco novels, you'll like this, but if you haven't read any then you will be able to pick this up without any confusion about the back story. We've moved on from the somewhat benign Vespasian through the short lived Titus and on to mad, bad and dangerous to know Domitian. Falco and Helena are cautiously keeping their heads down!

Davis always has a knack from bringing ancient Rome to life so you get a bit of an history lesson without even realising it.

I was quite pleased with myself for picking out the culprit about halfway in. To start with, they seem to be random, senseless killings, but all is explained by the time you turn the final page - which seems to come all too soon. There were still some surprises in there that I didn't see coming too!

My favourite bit? A throwaway remark from Albia that her dad has seem some things so secret that he probably won't be able to publish his memoirs for a couple of thousand years.... Great stuff; bring on the next instalment!
  
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BookInspector (124 KP) rated Circus Maximus: Race to the Death in Books

Jul 1, 2021  
Circus Maximus: Race to the Death
Circus Maximus: Race to the Death
Annelise Gray | 2021 | Children, History & Politics
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The protagonist in this book is Dido, a twelve-year-old girl in ancient Rome, and this story is told from her perspective. Dido was raised with horses and chariot racers, and her dream was to become a racer herself. After her father gets murdered, she has to flee Rome to survive. But she left a lot behind, and she will need to return to claim what was hers. I really liked Dido, she is so stubborn and not scared of hard work. I also really admired her self confidence and bravery in a very male-dominated environment. I had a love-hate relationship with some of the characters, I loved the ones that supported Dido, and hated all of those who were cruel to the horses. I really liked the sheer amount of horses in this book, their different personalities and their ability to work so well as a team. They are truly impressive animals. 🙂

The narrative of this book was very fast-paced and very intriguing. There were plenty of turns and unexpected surprises, that I thoroughly enjoyed. This book talks about four factions/teams: Green (everyone’s favourite), Blue (biggest Green’s competitor), White and Red (these teams were the least mentioned in this book). I have to say, that I am a supporter of the Blue faction. 🙂 There are plenty of reasons but if I will tell, it will spoil the reading experience. The topics discussed in this book are chariot racing, cheating in sports, gender power playing, mental health issues, very slight romance, animal cruelty and many more.

I was a little scared to read this book because when I saw the character listing at the beginning of the book, I thought that there will be a very wide variety of characters and I will have difficulty knowing who is who. But I was very wrong indeed. This book is beautifully written and very easy to read. The chapters have medium length, but they just flew by for me, I was very absorbed with this story. I have to throw in a warning, that this book contains animal cruelty, so if anyone is like me, tears and anger will be happening while reading. The ending of this novel rounded this story very nicely, and I can not wait for the next book in this series.

So, to conclude, the protagonist of this story is very likeable, and I was cheering her all the way till the end. All the characters in this book are very well crafted and delivered, and the plot of this book is fast-paced and absorbing.