Review: May I Give it More Stars, Please?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 15, 2012
"Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur.""All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgians inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in our Gauls, the third."I've forgotten most of the Latin I took in high school and college and confess I had to look up this quote--the opening line of Caesar's Gallic Wars, the text that consumes every Latin student's second year.  However, I've included it here because Ms. Newman has really done her homework (something I didn't do very well my second year or I might not have had to look this up).  Her descriptions of life in a Roman villa, battle tactics, and conditions aboard Roman slave ships are incredibly authentic.  Alcinia could well be Britania but without a description of the building of Hadrian's Wall, and Tia could be a Celtic Princess in that she worships The Goddess, had a scrying bowl back home, and honed her religious/spiritual powers among an order of wise women she refers to as The Sisters.This book is also told in first person, a very difficult thing to do well.  Even Dostoyevsky couldn't manage it when he started Crime and Punishment.  Five hundred pages into the book he had to go back and re-write it in third person.  In longhand, since the typewriter had not yet been invented.  Ms. Newman has carried off her first-person narration flawlessly.This book has incredible attention to historic detail, flawless first-person narration, but most importantly, it has multi-faceted characters who will engage you.  While Tia starts out as a spoiled brat, you can tell from her narration that there is a redeemable person in there and you will get to watch her grow.  Sergius is fierce, but you feel his gentility from the moment you meet him, and you fall in love with him alongside Tia.I wanted to give this book five-and-a-half stars.  You'll need Kleenex as well.