Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just a kid book, August 9, 2001
This book is suitable for any ages. It's so funny and deftly written I was laughing on the bus and everyone though I was nuts. Read it and see why... It starts around dawn, when two boys at a prestigious school have a fight, and one of them gets kicked out. Later, he's accused of a horrible crime and arrested, and his friends all rush to save him. The author skillfully puts in all the boys, and you get to know them along the way. Rufus (the one who's kind of poor; his father's a general, who cause the trouble; Caius (the oaf, who fought with Rufus), Mucius (the leader, hard-working and a little pompous at times), Julius (the bright one, with sound logic and perception), Antonius (the daredevil with an active imagination), Publius (the wit, sarcastic and sceptical), and Flavius (timid and meek but has nice writing). Blending historical fact with hilarious blunders, rich with snappy dialogue and runaway clues, it's highyl enjoyable from the start all the way to the surprise ending. I love it!
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why I never minded learning Latin later..., August 12, 1997
By A Customer
I read this book when I was a child, being book-eating, book-loving from the age of six onwards. This book is real fun for kids , telling a charming story of little Roman boys who have kindness, a sense of adventure, and the right spirit to help their friend. They solve a dark mystery, hiking throughout the City of Ancient Rome (not very ancient for them, but their home) in order to do that. The novel has sinister characters as well, with sinister names (but I should not tell what this is about...), but it is not cruel or violent. I liked the book very much, and the fact that I remembered it after such a long time when I came across it in the amazon catalogue, is telling. I want to be its champion here, because it gives - like a good historic fiction book should - you a familiarity for the characters their life and life style. After reading I wanted to have the second book in the series (which exists, by the way), because I could not wait for the next adventure. I ended up never minding to learn Latin at school, after all it was the language of Caius, Rufus and the rest of the gang.
(Charlotte Esser, Germany)
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20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review of Detectives in Togas -by Sean Cook, August 8, 2000
A Kid's Review
This book is a comical mystery about seven rich boys who live in ancient Rome and go to the Xanthos school for boys. Cauis isn't very bright, Rufus is the class clown, Aucius is a hard worker, Flavius is the slow boy, Antonius is the fast boy, Publius is the poorest one, and Julius is the boy with the best ideas. In the beginning of the book, Cauis and Rufus pick a fight with each other. Rufus, the class clown wrote, "Cauis is a dumbbell" on a writing tablet. The teacher cruelly punishes Rufus and kicks him out of school. The next day, when the teacher didn't show up for school, they went to his house and found him manacled. Everything in his house was demolished. The same day, another crime was committed. Graffiti was found on the temple wall that was dedicated to Cauis' father, Senator Vinivius...I think this was a great book with an unbelievable ending. The ending was so awesome because I never saw it coming.
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