MY STORY: Romans and Britons and Vikings (oh, my)

This final trio of ancient world books does its job well. They read like a story, but also have a lot of historical detail included.

Claudia's book is set in Pompeii a short while before the inevitable eruption. She's what I'd call Roman middle class. She's not an aristocrat, but her family is wealthy. Her father is an ex-slave who made his fortune by baking. Her mother is from Egypt, which is pretty cool, but I wish Reid had done more with. The book gives an interesting look at the life of a middle class Roman teenager as well as what happens in the face of a natural disaster.

I have a different cover for Roman Invasion, but this is my preferred cover style, so I'll be posting these whenever I can.

Bran is taken captive along with his mother, younger sister and three cousins. The older male cousins are shipped off to Rome, likely to die in the arenas. Bran is sent with thousands of Roman soldiers to work on road construction. The threat hangs over his head that if he tries to escape or if his people attack, his mother and sister will be killed.

Bran is put in the charge of the Greek surveyor and his nephew, who's around Bran's age. The nephew was born unable to vocalize anything, so he's a different character than you'd expect to see. His disability is actually key to why the surveyor is there, which is explained in the book.

This book gives you a good idea of how the Roman army works and how the Roman empire has grown so much so successfully. It also has insights into the ways of the Briton peoples, although you learn more about the Romans than about them, which is a bit odd, considering Bran is Briton.

Viking Blood is another good one. A good story wrapped in information about the Viking society and especially loads of good Norse mythology. The text frequently stops to tell a myth, which is written in a different font.

I liked all of the characters in these three books. Definitely a step up from the Egyptian ones!

Next up is Agincourt and then we move into several books about the Tudors, which I'm excited to reread, and in one case, read for the first time.