A historically and fictionally engaging novel that brings little-known era to vivid life.
In this historical drama, set in the early 7th century, a young man is burdened with a weighty responsibility: to save an embattled Roman Empire from a tyrannical emperor.
Heraclius the Younger grows up under the disciplined but loving tutelage of his father, Heraclius the Elder—an accomplished general who rises to the rank of Magister Militum per Armeniam, the top-ranking officer in Armenia, and then the Exarch of Carthage. By the time Heraclius turns 18, his future is decided: He will follow his father’s lead and become a military man. However, he’s soon compelled to shoulder extraordinary responsibility long before he’s fully prepared to do so, when his family is recruited to join an effort to overthrow the disastrous rule of the “bitter centurion” Phocas, who kills Emperor Mauricius in order to claim the throne for himself. As a result, the Roman Empire’s enemies are emboldened; the Persians who made peace with Mauricius turn bellicose, and the Avars storm the empire’s increasingly vulnerable borders. Heraclius is sent by his father on a “life-or-death mission to rescue Rome,” a dangerous task that the family sees not as a rebellion, but rather as a “restoration” of Rome’s former glory. Storm (From Africanus, 2015, etc.), with magisterial historical command, depicts a bedraggled Rome long after its proudest years, when it was stymied by military failure and the ravages of the Black Plague, and he beautifully captures its loss of confidence, as in this passage: “What is the Empire now that it is no longer young, now that it no longer expands, now that the Legions are no longer endless, now that She is no longer Impervious?” The author says in a prefatory note that he’s “no historian,” but the meticulous research that must have been necessary to produce such an accurate portrait of the era belies such modesty. However, this is a novel and not a historical treatise, and the paucity of known information about Heraclius—the record is riddled with “hyperbole, invention, gaps, and opinion,” according to the author—provides plenty of space for an impressive feat of literary invention. But although Storm’s prose can be dramatically elegant, it can also indulge in melodramatic verbosity, particularly when the subject matter turns romantic: “Now she felt the courage of a tigress when she looked into Heraclius’ eyes because she no longer cared. And she saw the same lightning bolt strike Heraclius as surely as if it had been Neptune’s triton that pierced his heart.” However, the novel as a whole remains gripping, as it’s an intelligent and uncommon blend of masterful history and artistic creation. What makes the book even more tantalizing, however, is that it focuses on a largely neglected period of the Roman Empire—one that’s long after its capital moved to Constantinople, when it suffered a considerable loss in power and influence. Storm acts as a sure-footed guide over this terrain, and an entertaining one, too.
A historically and fictionally engaging novel that brings little-known era to vivid life.Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-615-55716-8
Page Count: 416
Publisher: The Last Roman LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
