Category: Book Review
Rotten Romans by Terry Deary
(Cover picture courtesy of Pop Classics.)
Horrible Histories
It’s history with the nasty bits left in!
Want to know:
- What Roman soldiers war under their kilts?
- How Ancient Britons got their hair nice and spikey?
- Why rich Romans needed a vomitorium?
Discover all the foul facts about the Rotten Romans—all the gore and more!
Terry Deary is one of those authors that has a wicked sense of humour that can make history both hilarious and interesting. He has probably helped thousands, if not millions of kids actually enjoy history, myself included. The Horrible Histories series is a great starting point to get kids interested in history.
However, it is only a start. Rotten Romans is a book that perpetuates some of the oldest myths about ancient Rome, including the long-debunked vomitoriums. He calls the emperor Elagabalus, ‘Heliogabalus’ which is very confusing because I have never seen him called that anywhere. Ever. I don’t agree with how some of the emperors are portrayed, but that’s very subjective. And that’s also the beauty of history: different people will interpret historical figures differently.
The cartoons in Rotten Romans are even better than they are in Awful Egyptians. Martin Brown was in top form, especially in his cartoon of Caesar’s assassination in which the assassins (since there were so many in on the plot) are lined up and one shouts, “Oi! Wait your turn!” while Caesar is bleeding to death on the floor. The cartoons are probably my favourite part of the book.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Awful Egyptians by Terry Deary
(Cover picture courtesy of Norfolk County Council.)
Horrible Histories
It’s history with the nasty bits left in!
Want to know:
- Why people worshipped a dung beetle?
- Which phunny pharaoh married her grandfather?
- What the “Shepherd of the Royal Backside” had to do?
Discover all the foul facts about the Awful Egyptians—all the gore and more!
The Horrible Histories series really is an amazing series for children to learn about history in a way that makes things interesting. Terry Deary’s writing style makes me suspect his history teachers bored him to tears. He has more hatred for the way history is taught in school than I do, which is really, truly saying something. The illustrations by Martin Brown bring home his points very well and they can be laugh-out-loud funny at times.
As for how accurate Awful Egyptians is, well, it’s not entirely accurate. Terry Deary describes the mummification process very well, but it may not have been how Egyptians really did their mummification. Part of the process was to “Soak the body in natron for seventy days till it is well pickled.” The Egyptian mourning period was only seventy days long and according to the modern mummification tests that have been performed by Egyptologist Bob Brier, covering the body in natron should only take 35 days. That way, the body still has enough moisture to position the limbs, but not so much that it will decay. The nitty-gritty of the process is still a contentious subject, but I tend to side with the man that actually assembled a team and made a modern mummy rather than sticking to old theories based mainly on Herodotus’ writings.
Still, Awful Egyptians is a great starting point for kids to learn about history in a fun way. Egyptian history is especially gory, so I definitely wouldn’t recommend this book for sensitive kids. But for those kids who were like me and loved to be grossed out, I would recommend it for ages 8-11. Terry Deary helped me love history and I, as well as my little sister, will be eternally grateful to him for making an impact on both of our lives.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
*Barnes and Noble has Terry Deary’s other Egyptian books, but not Awful Egyptians. Why this is, I have no idea.
Goddess Interrupted by Aimée Carter
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Becoming immortal wasn’t supposed to be the easy part. Though Kate is about to be crowned Queen of the Underworld, she’s as isolated as ever. And despite her growing love for Henry, ruler of the Underworld, he’s becoming ever more distant and secretive. Then, in the midst of Kate’s coronation, Henry is abducted by the only being powerful enough to kill him: the King of the Titans.
As the other gods prepare for a war that could end them all, it is up to Kate to save Henry from the depths of Tartarus. But in order to navigate the endless caverns of the Underworld, Kate must enlist the help of the one person who is the greatest threat to her future.
Henry’s first wife, Persephone.
As you may or may not remember, I was sort of disappointed in The Goddess Test. It just didn’t live up to its full potential, but I saw that the sequel did have potential, so I went ahead and bought Goddess Interrupted anyway. This time I went into the novel with a completely open mind (with no expectations about how the tests would go) and I think that was what made the difference.
I found Kate a much more sympathetic character in this second book and Henry is actually trying to move on from Persephone. They actually start to *gasp* fall in love for real, not the fake teenage love that happened in the first book. The secondary characters like Ava, Kate’s mother and even Persephone herself get a lot more page time and their backgrounds are fascinating. Persephone is probably my favourite character in the novel, not because she’s especially sympathetic, but because she’s very complex.
The plot, as in the first book, was very good and the cliffhanger Aimée Carter puts at the end of the novel is brilliant. No doubt even fans who have a ‘meh’ attitude toward the book will be anxious for the last book in the trilogy, The Goddess Inheritance. Which, by the way, releases on February 19, 2013 according to Amazon.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
My Status Update Journey by Marcus Matherne
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
The author of this book also wrote the next paragraph. I wonder if you be able to pick up on that. If not, you might not be qualified and/or prepared to read the inside of this book. Seriously, if you read the next paragraph and you fail to consider that I’m purposely trying to over-hype the book for the potential sale, don’t buy the book. Oops, let me rephrase that. Don’t buy the book for yourself – buy the book for someone else. This book is so captivating! You’ll be on the edge of your seat from the first word all the way through to the last. You’ll be guessing with each turn of a page. What topic will Marcus cover next? Every page is incredible! You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll be touched, moved, and inspired. This book will bring back memories that have long been buried. You’ll want to read this one again and again. Or not. How am I supposed to tell? I don’t even know you. Maybe you’ve recently been in an accident. Maybe the act of laughing causes horrible pains and spasms and causes stitches to burst. In which case, you should consider healing fully before embarking on my journey through three years of social networking status updates. Follow my journey as told by my status updates and the intriguing commentary from the voices in my head. On this trip you find stories of a family man, growing children, delicious cereals, malfunctioning toilets, park benches, awesome soldiers, birthday parties, adorable puppies, on-line games, winter storms, roller coasters, slugs, and a high profile celebrity party. This book contains a topic for everyone! If you can’t find a situation or something to relate to in this book, you are either dead or you’re that person that no one wants to be around. You owe it to yourself to read this book in order to confirm that you’re alive and that you are not “that guy.” Seriously, what if you are a loser and you don’t know it? Let me help you. Read my book. Help me, help you. Really. About the Author: Marcus gets a sharp agonizing sensation in his leg muscles when he attempts to place his foot behind his head. Oh, wait a minute. I guess that’s not the kind of thing we’re looking for here. Let me try again. Marcus lives with his wonderful wife of over fifteen years and his two awesome boys in Mason, Ohio. Better? Good, now start reading the book.
(Summary courtesy of Amazon.)
[Full disclosure: Marcus Matherne sent me a free PDF of his book in exchange for an honest review.]
Okay, I admit I was a bit skeptical when I started reading My Status Update Journey. I mean, how funny could a bunch of Facebook statuses and the accompanying commentary be? I braced myself for disaster, especially since Marcus said his book would make me laugh. That’s usually a warning sign.
But, thankfully, I was wrong. I did laugh, frequently. I didn’t quite reach “laughing until I cried”, but I did chuckle aloud at some parts and the book did lift my mood. The combination of self-deprecating humour and insightful commentary on social media and human behavior worked well together. Even though I don’t have Facebook enough of what Marcus Matherne wrote about was common knowledge that I wasn’t completely out of my depth.
My favourite quote in the whole book was an observation about the common cold:
“I would think that if a person wants to make a profound and permanent change for the better in this world, that person should first be able to breathe through their nose comfortably.” (Page 123)
Seeing as I have been suffering from a stuffed nose and barking cough for the past two weeks, this observation definitely hit home. My Status Update Journey is one of those books that is funny without being crude or resorting to excessive obscenities and has great observations about human behavior, especially on social media. Those cryptic status updates everyone supposedly hates? Yeah, I think in that case, everyone is a hypocrite.
If you’re looking for an intelligent but hilarious novel, My Status Journey Update is a great book for you.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Kane Chronicles: The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
In this exciting second installment of the three-book series, Carter and Sadie, offspring of the brilliant Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane, embark on a worldwide search for the Book of Ra, but the House of Life and the gods of chaos are determined to stop them.
The second installment of The Kane Chronicles continues the story of Carter and Sadie Kane a few months after the events of the first book, The Red Pyramid. They have been spending their days training other young, fledgling magicians in the Brooklyn House and trying to figure out what the next step will be in saving the world from the inevitable return of Apophis.
I’ll admit that I liked this book a lot more than the first one but I think that had to do with being able to jump right into the action this time instead of needing all of the character buildup and introduction that took place in the first installment. The action as a lot more interesting and the plot seemed to be a lot more solid than before. New characters were introduced such as the dwarf god, Bes who has an entire back-story that had me very intrigued. Especially when it comes to his powers of scaring people as a means of attack/defense.
One of the best parts of The Throne of Fire was the various cameos by characters from the first book. Bast shows up here and there to help the kids out. Set, who is basically the god of evil shows up and turns out to not be quite as evil as you might think in the end, even if he is scheming behind the backs of the heroes. I also really liked some of the small touches. The things like the small glowing balls that crew the boat Ra used to ride through the Duat each night between sunset and sunrise. Rick Riordan does a really good job of sneaking in small surprises within the text that are all fairly unimportant as far as the story is concerned, but when you notice them it gives the text a little more vibrance.
I’ll be reading the third book in the series sometime soon, but there is one thing I hope the author can get away from. Sadie and Carter have done enough of the “little sister/big brother” bickering. I hope he lets them grow up and mature a little at some point because otherwise it might be a little tiring as a reader.
Grade: B
Length: 465 pages