A review by depizan
The Secrets of Vesuvius by Caroline Lawrence

2.0

I didn't like it as well as the first, even though, technically, it was probably better. And a little more consistent in tone/grimness level/whatever you'd want to call it. As the title suggests, it happens during a rather famous eruption of Vesuvius and anyone with some history knowledge is going to know that all will not go well with the character's vacation to Pompeii.

Two things made me not continue reading the series, though.

One was that the ending had a rushed, or at least incomplete, feel. Somehow the urgency around trying to save the people trapped in the eruption wasn't quite there and when the rescue attempt failed, the story just sort of petered out. That they were doomed can be inferred, yes, but it felt weird that in-universe, people didn't more clearly react to that fact. It gave it a "oh noes, we must save them. ... Oh well" feel. The other was that the story seemed rather too much like Christian fiction at times. The mystery, such as it was, was basically in-universe Christian evangelism. And the way Christianity and a Roman ritual were treated by the text just felt biased. If these books aren't Christian fiction, the author let too much of her personal religious bias slip in.