Pompeii: City on Fire

1 rating: 4.0

A novel by T.L. Higley

Pompeii, a city that's many things to many people. For Cato, it's the perfect escape from a failed political career in Rome. A place to start again, become a winemaker. But when a corrupt politician wrongfully jails Cato's sister, he must … see full wiki

Tags: Book, Cafe Libri, Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction

Author: T.L. Higley

Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction

Publisher: B&H Books

Date Published: June 1, 2011

ISBN: 9781433668579

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Well-written historical novel set in Pompeii in 79 AD

May 31, 2011

by GenreReviewer
posted in Christian Fiction

Rating:

Pompeii: City on Fire is a well-written, fast-paced Christian historical novel that contained some romance. It's set mainly in Pompeii in 76 AD. I suspect that both men and women would enjoy the story. The author expertly used historical details to completely immerse the reader in the culture, setting, and time period without slowing the fast pacing. I was left feeling like this was the true story of the dead people you see--as plaster casts--when visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum. (Yes, I've been to both and seen the houses, shops, and other places mentioned in this novel. That gave a haunting quality to the story for me.)

The characters were complex and realistic, and I cared about what happened to them. While Ariella had every reason to be skeptical of Cato's motives, I found her initial complete skepticism a little puzzling since she knew that he'd helped her in the past without expecting favors in return. I think it would have helped me if, in the first chapter set in Rome (instead of near the end of the book), the author had given a bit more information about what Ariella's former master had done to her. Then we'd know from the start that she had a really good reason to run away to a life of danger as a gladiator and to expect bad treatment from any male Roman.

The suspense was high throughout and was mainly created by the looming possibility of physical harm to Ariella and Cato. However, it was hard to feel high suspense about the goals they're striving so hard to achieve since we know Mt. Vesuvius is about to destroy everything they've so staked their future on. I liked how this was handled, but it did leave the suspense a little lower than it otherwise would have been.

The Christian content was woven into plot. Several Christian characters, who lived very differently from those around them, kept catching the eye of Cato--a pagan Roman--and Ariella--a "God let harm come to me, so I refuse to deal with Him" Jew. There were conversions to Christianity, but this element flowed as a natural part of the story. I received an Advanced Reader Copy, so perhaps this will be changed by the final product, but I found the characterization of Mt. Vesuvius as a sort of avenging nature goddess odd for a Christian novel. I would have liked it better if the mountain was not personified.

There were no sex scenes (though forced sex was vaguely referred to) or bad language. Overall, I'd highly recommend this novel as very well-written, exciting historical.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from the author for review purposes.

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