Mother of Rome, Lauren J. A. Bear (Review by Victoria Todd)

Rating: 4/5

I quite enjoyed this thrilling, feminist reimagining of the origin of Rome. Centering women and their stories where they are often cast aside or mistreated is a noble way of reshaping how history is told. We follow Rhea an ancient Latin princess as well as a whole host of other characters. We switch points of view often which gave us insight from many angles. I enjoyed how human all the characters came across. They all had flaws, passions, crutches and soft spots. My favorite character Antho, Rhea’s cousin, showed the strength of the quiet, over looked girl which was refreshing with Rhea being the typical headstrong heroine. There is romance involved but that is not the central theme. Family, grief and patience were explored through the generations involved in this story. I am often not a fan of stories of injustice told from the perspective of the privileged so having a princess as our main character did have some of the “has anyone ever hurt as much as I” rhetoric feel rather ludicrous but there were multiple points in which the text was self-aware of this point. That and there were certainly some non-Royal characters that were given time and POVs. There is magic and gods as to be expected in mythology. Those parts were fun especially as I have only read Greek mythology before this so that the book points out differences in these two cultures a bit was fascinating. It is quite sad for most of the book and so not a fluff read by no means. With all the death, heart ache and betrayal it does still turn out to be a very endearing and hopeful book. I think many will enjoy this book while cozying up by the fire this winter and beyond.