Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina (The Roman Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Caroline Lawrence (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076131587X
• ISBN-13: 978-0761315872
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,118,399 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Family Matters in Ancient Ostia, August 26, 2008

By 

D. A Wend (Arlington Heights, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina (Roman Mysteries) (Paperback)

We pick up the story in the sixth book of The Roman Mysteries with Marcus Geminus in grave but not disastrous financial circumstances. However, something potentially disastrous seems about to happen where Flavia is concerned. He father appears to be interested in marrying again and his intended bride seems to disapprove of her future step-daughter. Worst of all Flavia has been betrothed!

In short, Flavia is grounded because of her general disobediece and eagerness to solve mysteries which her father no longer finds charming. She discovers that her father's intended, named Cartila, was married before and her husband died somewhat mysteriously. Flavia is convinced that the woman has bewitched her father and intends to make him her next victim, and sets out to discover who Cartila is and what her motives are. In the process, Flavia also learns a great deal about herself.

The book is set during Saturnalia so there is a festive atmosphere to the proceedings, and also allows Flavia to engineer her selection as the king of Saturnalia. From a dream she has Flavia adopts the famous twelve tasks of Hercules as her guide to finding clues. It also helps that a new fresco is being painted in her house dealing with all of the tasks. As the book proceeds and our heroes get closer to the truth there are ominous signs that an epidemic has begun in Ostia.

This in the Roman Mysteries series concentrates more on Flavia and her character and her relationship to her father. Like the preceding volumes, Caroline Lawrence writes beautifully and I especially appreciated her descriptions of the Saturnalia. A nice addition to the series that is not to be missed.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Starts out excellently, then fizzles, January 9, 2005

By 

C.Allison (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina: The Roman Mysteries, Book VI (Hardcover)

I just wrote a rather long review for this, then it disappeared so I'll make this rewrite short. My daughter and I love the Roman Mystery books, and were really enjoying this one until the whole mystery turned out to be a non issue and (SPOILER) they killed off a female character that Flavia had just bonded with so touchingly. My daughter was outraged. For myself, I'm so tired of children's books and Disney movies with their dead mothers, this seemed like a great opportunity to go against the tide, but apparently Lawrence chose not to take it.

For the first two thirds of the book we were reading eagerly, claiming that this was her best book yet. By the end my daughter was upset at the death (which looked completely tacked on in one paragraph, as if some outside source told her to do it) and the unsatisfying conclusion. In addition, it was never made clear whether the mystery woman's younger sister was normal, an overly jealous sibling, or actually something of a psycho. Oh, and one other thing. Not sure I want to read about a ten year old girl being romantically obsessed with a forty year old man. It may have been ancient Rome, but it's still creepy.

2.0 out of 5 stars Like the series, but not this book, August 19, 2011

By 

MBW "Homeschooling mom" (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina (The Roman Mysteries) (Paperback)

I've been enjoying this series, and have read seven of the books in the last week or so. On the whole, the series has been fun, educational, and largely harmless.

This book, however, is my least favorite of the ones I've read. I'm sure this is largely personal preference...I didn't like the feminist themes in this book, nor the reliance on pagan mysticism. Certainly, all the books in the series (of the ones I've read) contain information on Greco Roman "gods", but they are functionally portrayed as powerless. In this book, however, they seem to actually be "helping" the main character. As a Christian myself, I'm not so interested in that.

Additionally, two of the young girls in the book (10 and 11) fall "in love" with much older men (one of whom is married). Both crushes are unrequited, but conservative parents may want to be aware of this subject matter.

My purpose in reading these books is to preview them for my 10yo, who easily demolishes a book in an afternoon. I'm going to have her skip this particular title, though I'm sure she'll enjoy several other titles in the series.