The Last Girls of Pompeii by Kathryn Lasky was a very interesting book. I really like historical fiction, because it helps the reader see what might have happened in historical events. It helps people realize that those things happened to real people and see what those people might have felt or been experiencing at the time.
The two main characters in the book are a girl and her slave. The girl was born with a crippled arm, and she always feels that she needs to hide her arm when around other people, especially ones that she doesn't know. Her slave is actually more like her best friend. They've been together since the girl was born, the slave being just four years older than the girl.
From the title, I knew that the volcano had to erupt somewhere in this story, and the anticipation for that built up the further through the book I got. It actually was the main reason I didn't want to put the book down. I knew what was coming, and I didn't know how it was going to affect the characters I had been reading about.
I think this book has a lot of good historical facts in it. The reader can really learn a lot about what life was like in ancient Roman times. They learn a lot about how marriage worked back then, since the main character's sister was planning her wedding, and also learn a lot about how people born with disabilities were viewed in that day as well. The book also includes some about the gladiators, since the girl slave's brother was a gladiator. Also, there is quite a bit about mythology in the book as well, since it was a part of people's daily lives in that it was their religion that they had at the time. I think the book was very educational as well as a good read.
However, I thought the ending was terrible. I guess I shouldn't have expected much better, since I knew the volcano was going to erupt sometime. Other than the very ending, the book was great.
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