A madcap Roman Empire story densely packed with bumpy humor.
In this farcical work set in first-century Rome, the Emperor Caligula goes mad and his chef tries to save him from ruin.
The Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus—commonly referred to as Caligula—suffers from at least two grave problems: He is widely despised by his people and is descending into insanity. He suddenly proclaims himself a god, challenges the 100 best gladiators in Rome to a death match, and chats about politics with a horse, Incitatus. In an attempt to force the fictional King Neptune—or “old Neppy”—into submission, he even declares war on the sea. The emperor’s chef, Logos, a wily and resourceful Greek, continually attempts to rescue Caligula from his own self-destructiveness, a role that keeps “testing his wits to the limit.” Logos fears the competitive anarchy that will ensue should Caligula be dethroned and a republic established. Terminiello comically chronicles Logos’ ingenious efforts to protect Caligula from himself, an increasingly worrisome problem since—as he learns from Tatiana the vestal who is not a virgin—the senators no longer fear the leader. The author hits some memorable comedic highs; his depiction of 900 soldiers charging the sea—“Aqua warfare”—is hilarious. But most of the humor is more silly than funny—one might say zany at best and childishly lowbrow at worst. For example, Lady Labia—Caligula’s “wife, girlfriend, or sister or all three”—joins the cult of “Chrissies” until she balks at one of its demands: “Do you know what they wanted me to do?...They wanted me to wash some smelly beggar’s feet!” Terminiello sometimes seems to be phoning in the humor—characters have names like Devious Maximus and Effetus the Choreographer.
A madcap Roman Empire story densely packed with bumpy humor.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-359-95432-2
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Lulu.com
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.
Three women deal very differently with vampirism in Schwab’s era-spanning follow-up to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020).
In 16th-century Spain, Maria seduces a wealthy viscount in an attempt to seize whatever control she can over her own life. It turns out that being a wife—even a wealthy one—is just another cage, but then a mysterious widow offers Maria a surprising escape route. In the 19th century, Charlotte is sent from her home in the English countryside to live with an aunt in London when she’s found trying to kiss her best friend. She’s despondent at the idea of marrying a man, but another mysterious widow—who has a secret connection to Maria’s widow from centuries earlier—appears and teaches Charlotte that she can be free to love whomever she chooses, if she’s brave enough. In 2019, Alice’s memories of growing up in Scotland with her mercurial older sister, Catty, pull her mind away from her first days at Harvard University. And though she doesn’t meet any mysterious widows, Alice wakes up alone after a one-night stand unable to tolerate sunlight, sporting two new fangs, and desperate to drink blood. Horrified at her transformation, she searches Boston for her hookup, who was the last person she remembers seeing before she woke up as a vampire. Schwab delicately intertwines the three storylines, which are compelling individually even before the reader knows how they will connect. Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are queer women searching for love, recognition, and wholeness, growing fangs and defying mortality in a world that would deny them their very existence. Alice’s flashbacks to Catty are particularly moving, and subtly play off themes of grief and loneliness laid out in the historical timelines.
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781250320520
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.
An artwork’s value grows if you understand the stories of the people who inspired it.
Never in her wildest dreams would foster kid Louisa dream of meeting C. Jat, the famous painter of The One of the Sea, which depicts a group of young teens on a pier on a hot summer’s day. But in Backman’s latest, that’s just what happens—an unexpected (but not unbelievable) set of circumstances causes their paths to collide right before the dying 39-year-old artist’s departure from the world. One of his final acts is to bequeath that painting to Louisa, who has endured a string of violent foster homes since her mother abandoned her as a child. Selling the painting will change her life—but can she do it? Before deciding, she accompanies Ted, one of the artist’s close friends and one of the young teens captured in that celebrated painting, on a train journey to take the artist’s ashes to his hometown. She wants to know all about the painting, which launched Jat’s career at age 14, and the circle of beloved friends who inspired it. The bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (2014) and other novels, Backman gives us a heartwarming story about how these friends, set adrift by the violence and unhappiness of their homes, found each other and created a new definition of family. “You think you’re alone,” one character explains, “but there are others like you, people who stand in front of white walls and blank paper and only see magical things. One day one of them will recognize you and call out: ‘You’re one of us!’” As Ted tells stories about his friends—how Jat doubted his talents but found a champion in fiery Joar, who took on every bully to defend him; how Ali brought an excitement to their circle that was “like a blinding light, like a heart attack”—Louisa recognizes herself as a kindred soul and feels a calling to realize her own artistic gifts. What she decides to do with the painting is part of a caper worthy of the stories that Ted tells her. The novel is humorous, poignant, and always life-affirming, even when describing the bleakness of the teens’ early lives. “Art is a fragile magic, just like love,” as someone tells Louisa, “and that’s humanity’s only defense against death.”
A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781982112820
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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