Customer Reviews

Dear Future People

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This novel depicts the historical figure of Hypatia, a scientist of the city of Alexandria around the turn of the 4th century AD. She became the victim of outraged Christian mobs accusing her of Pagan practices and she was brutally murdered. The contents of the world famous library, of which she was the keeper, was destroyed and irreplaceable manuscrips of antiquity vanished forever. I regret that this nice little paperback is touted in the catalog by the pubisher (The Royal Fireworks Press) as a book for girls. I think that's a mistake and may limit its market. It definitely is a book for all ages and certainly equally for boys and girls. The author tries to make the historical contents pallatable for young readers by fictionalizing Hypatia's interaction with her younger brother and a score of historical characters. A difficult job. In spite of trying to personalize Hypatia and her time, the book reads quite academic and presents demanding language. I think that parents or teachers should co-read the book and discuss it with young readers, who for this book are categorized as junior and senior high school.

I Thought this book was really well written. At some Points it was a little boring, but at the end I couldn't put it down. It's about a young women Hypatia who lives in the time Cristianity starts to take over Rome. It takes place in Alexandria, Egypt and she tries to save the library of Alexander. During this she goes through a lot of adventures.