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christianyaple 's review for:
Mother of Rome
by Lauren J.A. Bear
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really enjoyed Mother of Rome. Typically, I don’t read a lot of fiction. Being a lover of history, especially the bronze and iron ages, I usually live on a steady diet of non-fiction or texts contemporaneously written. But this is 2025 and Im intentionally taking time to read books I wouldn’t normally.
MOR was a great book for transitioning to fiction. I’ll admit, the first 40-50 pages were difficult for me. I really enjoyed the writing, but the difficulties lied in my own reading predisposition to non-fiction. The problem I have with reading about historical antiquity is how male dominated the field of authors is. I have read Mary Beard (who gets untold amounts of crap because she calls a spade a spade, which makes insecure men feel insecure), but there aren’t many other female authors in this space - at least not with the recognition of Beard. All of this is to say that style of fiction took me some time to get acclimated to. Especially written by a female author.
I am so glad I took this plunge. Lauren JA Bear did a truly wonderful job creating a story within what we know about the mythological founding of Rome. The story had a great pace, moments of fear and love that were equally beautiful if not haunting. As a parent, the parts on parenting (often on motherhood, but that’s in the title) were profound to me. I’m unaware if Bear is a parent herself. The way she writes about parenting and the relationships between parents and their children lead me to believe she is, or is a great listener if she is not a parent.
As admitted to earlier, this is essentially my first foray into female written fiction (does reading three Harry Potter books 25 years ago count?). I’m excited to find more books like this, and I also hope to expand my comfort zone outside of antiquity.
My last thought is that while I’m unsure if I’ll read it again, I will keep the book forever. The art on the jacket is absolutely stunning and will be a very proud display on my bookshelf.
MOR was a great book for transitioning to fiction. I’ll admit, the first 40-50 pages were difficult for me. I really enjoyed the writing, but the difficulties lied in my own reading predisposition to non-fiction. The problem I have with reading about historical antiquity is how male dominated the field of authors is. I have read Mary Beard (who gets untold amounts of crap because she calls a spade a spade, which makes insecure men feel insecure), but there aren’t many other female authors in this space - at least not with the recognition of Beard. All of this is to say that style of fiction took me some time to get acclimated to. Especially written by a female author.
I am so glad I took this plunge. Lauren JA Bear did a truly wonderful job creating a story within what we know about the mythological founding of Rome. The story had a great pace, moments of fear and love that were equally beautiful if not haunting. As a parent, the parts on parenting (often on motherhood, but that’s in the title) were profound to me. I’m unaware if Bear is a parent herself. The way she writes about parenting and the relationships between parents and their children lead me to believe she is, or is a great listener if she is not a parent.
As admitted to earlier, this is essentially my first foray into female written fiction (does reading three Harry Potter books 25 years ago count?). I’m excited to find more books like this, and I also hope to expand my comfort zone outside of antiquity.
My last thought is that while I’m unsure if I’ll read it again, I will keep the book forever. The art on the jacket is absolutely stunning and will be a very proud display on my bookshelf.