This book is deeply emotional. Selene loses her mother, her home, her entire culture. She is taken in by her father's former wife and faces a culture which leaves women with very few rights. The way women were used for marriages and suddenly divorced or forced to leave their children was a horrifying piece of Roman culture I never knew. There is also the plight of slavery in the story. Selene's eyes are like the reader's eyes as we are surrounded by injustice and abuse. Readers can see this ancient society come to life in Moran's writing skill. Moran is great at making strong women in history come to life. The book starts with children who are quickly forced to grow up and work for their future by becoming important to the current Ceaser. I thought it was a page turner. The characters are diverse, and the backdrop for the characters is rich. There are many different points of view to connect with and see society through. I think the book has many positive characters instead of people against the protagonist (like Moran's other books). The last chapters has tons of plot and emotional lines develop. It builds up great and ends wonderfully. Reading the afterward also holds many surprises, many not so happy.

"...once we die, what we leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven ino the lives of others." - Pericles quoted by Augustus.

Moran seems to get better and better with each book. I look foward to what she next brings to the literature table!