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clwhitakerwrites 's review for:
Vesuvius
by Cass Biehn
I have anticipated Vesuvius since I learned of its existence a little over ten months ago. Cass has been a great friend to me and I was so incredibly excited to read the story they’d cooked up. Safe to say I was not disappointed!
Vesuvius focuses almost entirely on Loren and Felix with a few side characters sprinkled in, keeping the city breathing without taking attention away from our mains. Knowing how this story inevitably will end didn’t detract from the weight behind these characters’ decisions, which I find is often the case when we know destruction is on its way (retellings, like Song of Achilles, for example.)
I had questions to unravel about Felix until the last few pages; his story kept me turning and turning. Loren is a beautifully flawed character that is still easy to root for. Both of them feel lush and human in a way I don’t normally see in YA.
Many seemed to have issues with the modernity of the language, but it didn’t bother me. Obviously, in universe, the characters are not actually speaking English. Where there were phrases or words that didn’t yet exist, I simply assumed there was a translatable equivalent. I.E., if Felix dropped an F-bomb, I figured I was meant to imagine he was cursing in his own local language.
The middle of the story tends to drag just a bit; I agree with others that this book could probably be 50-100 pages shorter without much being lost. That being said, it never dragged enough to have me putting it down.
I was not expecting references to CSA trauma; I do think this is important to mention and I almost wish the resource numbers provided at the end of the book were moved to the forward as a subtle trigger warning.
This was a lovely queer story with plenty of things to chew on. You can clearly see influences from Captive Prince and Song of Achilles, which was a fun treat! I cannot wait for their next book in 2027!
Vesuvius focuses almost entirely on Loren and Felix with a few side characters sprinkled in, keeping the city breathing without taking attention away from our mains. Knowing how this story inevitably will end didn’t detract from the weight behind these characters’ decisions, which I find is often the case when we know destruction is on its way (retellings, like Song of Achilles, for example.)
I had questions to unravel about Felix until the last few pages; his story kept me turning and turning. Loren is a beautifully flawed character that is still easy to root for. Both of them feel lush and human in a way I don’t normally see in YA.
Many seemed to have issues with the modernity of the language, but it didn’t bother me. Obviously, in universe, the characters are not actually speaking English. Where there were phrases or words that didn’t yet exist, I simply assumed there was a translatable equivalent. I.E., if Felix dropped an F-bomb, I figured I was meant to imagine he was cursing in his own local language.
The middle of the story tends to drag just a bit; I agree with others that this book could probably be 50-100 pages shorter without much being lost. That being said, it never dragged enough to have me putting it down.
I was not expecting references to CSA trauma; I do think this is important to mention and I almost wish the resource numbers provided at the end of the book were moved to the forward as a subtle trigger warning.
This was a lovely queer story with plenty of things to chew on. You can clearly see influences from Captive Prince and Song of Achilles, which was a fun treat! I cannot wait for their next book in 2027!