The Life and Times Series

The Life and Times series consisted of only three books. Three short little books. Sadly.

I'm always a sucker for an ancient history theme, so I was excited to see books about young people in Egypt, Greece and Rome.

Maia's book is my favorite of the three, not necessarily because of the Egyptian setting, but because it's also the best written.

Maia's book is the only one that's a really complete tale. All elements of the story are fleshed out. You know all the characters well. You understand their motivations. Mostly. You never really understand why the uncle stole grain from the temple, but he's not given a chance to explain because of how events play out.

On Google, I found this alternate cover for the book. The first picture is how I have it. I think Maia's got one of the most beautiful book covers in my entire collection. It's just a gorgeous piece of art.

Ann Turner does an excellent job of blending teaching about life in ancient Egypt and creating a story with a cast of characters you enjoy. My only nitpick is that she doesn't give Seth a fail deal, but that's typical of Westerners writing about him. They have to insert that good vs. evil concept when it was actually order vs. chaos, which has a lot more gray area.

Barry Denenberg...SIGH...wrote the other two books in the series.

He really phoned in Pandora's. You get to learn a bit about ancient Greek life for women, but the story is rushed and the characters aren't very developed, even the lead girl, Pandora. Her whole point is that she's not satisfied with life for women in ancient Greece, then she gets caught up with Socrates but only very briefly, the consequences of what she does aren't even developed, and then she runs off with a guy she's met, like, four times.

It's too short, it doesn't teach enough, and it really feels like Denenberg just does not care. It's sad because there aren't many ancient Greece books in other historical series.

Atticus got a better deal. His book is loaded with facts about daily life in ancient Rome. It's so bogged down though that it's more textbook than tale. I never really got to care about Atticus, not until the end when he sees his father, and by that point, we're rip-roaring through the plot again and it's back to feeling like Denenberg doesn't care. It does have some nice history in there, but also a fantastic glaring error when the astrologer character asks Atticus when he's born and he says 82 BC. Well, the book cover says 30 BC and you are not 52. I think it was supposed to be 42. Not sure how 82 got in there.

I recommend Maia's book, but only Maia's. Skip the other two unless you're really hard-pressed for some ancient historical fic. The only reason I'm keeping them is because sometimes I really am that hard-pressed!

Since I'm in an ancient mood, I'm foregoing my previous plan to tackle two more American series, and I'm delving into My Story, the UK's version of Dear America, which starts with books on Egypt, Pompeii, Rome and the Vikings.