A Captive in Rome

Tales of Rome #1

by Kathy Lee

“You can tell your grandchildren you saw the last great battle, when we got rid of the Romans for ever.”

Ten year old Bryn and his brother, Conan, young Britons from the Iceni tribe, are taken captive by the Romans after the defeat of Queen Boudicca’s forces. They find themselves in Rome, where Bryn is sold as a slave to a rich man and Conan is trained to be a gladiator.

Separated from his brother, the only friend Bryn has in Rome is fellow slave Tiro. But Bryn refuses to give in, and is determined to find a way to escape slavery, rescue his brother, and find their way back to their homeland..

Genres: Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Kathy Lee is one of Scripture Union's best-selling authors. Over the years, she has sold over 60,000 fiction books, helping children and young people learn about living God's way through fiction stories.

Kathy has an amazing writing talent and is able to integrate Christian teaching convincingly into exciting, captivating storylines. Once people have read one of Kathy's books, they won't be able to wait to read the next one!

Reviews

[Hex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives a great insight into roman history from the point of view of the slaves through a captivating and horrific take of fiction

[Thistle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sometimes there are signs I should give up on a book before I start it. Things like this book being originally published by Scripture Union, this edition of it by The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. If I had checked the Amazon page, I would have found even more reason not to even give it a try:

Kathy Lee is one of Scripture Union's best-selling authors. Over the years, she has sold over 60,000 fiction books, helping children and young people learn about living God's way through fiction stories. Kathy has an amazing writing talent and is able to integrate Christian teaching convincingly into exciting, captivating storylines. Once people have read one of Kathy's books, they won't be able to wait to read the next one!

Still, I gave it a fair shot. For a book following a boy as he loses his family to war and is taken as a slave by the enemy, it was mind bogglingly boring. Nothing bad really happened to him as a slave. He had to work, but never really had to work much and was never hit or anything.

At one point he escapes, and is bitten by a dog. Some people of a super secret underground religion (Christianity) find him, and tell him about God. Just hearing about God makes the pain of the bite go away! I really should have stopped reading at that point, but I was hoping this would become 'so bad it was good' so kept going. Alas it stayed only boring and annoying, never got to the point of amusing. As the 50% point of the book neared, the religious stuff got more and more heavy handed, and eventually I gave up on it.

[Emmeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me the book was fun and enthralling to read. However, I did find the writing style a little too simple for my taste.

I loved the story and plot of this book - I do like a good historical fiction paperback, and this was no exception. However, it really disappointed me that it was written in such a simple way. There were sentences which I did not understand, just because they were so drastically simple. There are complex sentences, there are simple sentences, and then there are simple simple sentences, which don't even have a full clause. I don't mind a few of these, but too many gets tiresome.

That said, the plot was exciting, and I loved the concept. Ancient Rome will never cease to be a favourite setting of mine.

[Miriam Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series! But I think I like the second book, Rome in Flames the best.