I finished this book yesterday, and I have to admit that I was quite disappointed with it. Pompeii starts out slow and plods along, and even though it covers only 2-3 days it feels much, much longer. The audio book I listened to was abridged, and if it was this tedious I hate to think what reading the full book would be like.

Marcus Attilius Primus, the engineer/aquarius in charge of keeping water flowing regularly to the cities of Pompeii, Misenum and the surrounding towns, is a bit of a snore as a character. I never felt like I got inside his head, and the emotions that he feels - rage, love, etc. - feel forced and unauthentic. Much of the book revolves around Attilius' attempts to solve a blocked pipe, and it is so. freaking. boring. Reading about an engineer doing his job is right up there with watching paint dry. Other characters, like Corelia and her father Ampliatus were just completely predictable. The drama between the characters never really developed because you knew exactly what they were going to say and do.

The eruption of Vesuvius couldn't come fast enough, and when it FINALLY showed up the thrill and terror of the eruption was never fully conjured for me. I got more of a feel for the drama and panic of Pompeii's final days from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii. ( )

Excellent descriptions of the Bay of Naples in AD79, he really brings the period alive. The story is a boy's own adventure that isn't really my sort of novel, but enjoyed the historical and geographical aspect of it. ( )

This is a good read, a well written historical novel of one of histories monumental events. I can say that I highly enjoyed it but cant say I think it was fabulous. The slow build up of events that eventually lead up to the big bang, were paced nicely and I felt the length of the novel perfect. Not too short, not too long. I learned a lot about Pompeii and the explosion of Vesuvius, things I had not known, but even so learned quite a lot about the construction of the aquaducts. On that note, I have to say I learned more than I care to have learned. The story is told through the eyes of the Aquarius, an engineer in charge of the maintaining of the aquaducts. It was an interesting way to tell the story through his eyes and I myself enjoyed the creativeness of that aspect but I cant see where many common readers would care to get that much information about these aquaducts and their functions and constructions. I felt there was way too much focus on this and not enough character development to keep the story full of suspense or compassion within the characters we meet. The author attempted to bring the protagonist a love interest and we have an inkling of a budding romance but not enough again, happens with that for a reader to get enthused about it, or to want to cheer him on in this love endeavor. I also felt that there was so much of this aquaduct story that when the actual volcanic eruption does happen at the end, not enough story goes into how the many people in different areas are affected, or what they are going through as it happens, no compassionate, heart wrenching drama to be had even though thousands of people and homes were killed and demolished. I felt the book needed a more blend of human compassion story to accompany the aquaduct aspect and the volcanic scientific input. I wont say the story was too dry, but I think it needed a little something else for it to be more enjoyable to more readers. There simply wasnt enough character development for me to like or dislike the characters involved. ( )

Gutes Buch: Mir hat dieses Buch recht gut gefallen, da die Lebensumstände der damaligen Bevölkerung gut wiedergegeben werden, außerdem ist die Story interessant und wird aus dem Blickwinkel eines Wasserbauers geschrieben. Auch das hat für mich den Reiz ausgemacht.
Zumdem wird natürlich in allen Einzelheiten der Ausbruch des Vesuvs beschrieben. Und irgendwie kitschig oder verschnulzt wird es zum Glück nicht.

Everyone in western civilization knows how the book is going to end but anyway it's a great story. The novel is too contrived to be called brilliant, the occasional sudden change of point of view is a little jarring and one scene is quite shocking. But overall this is very professional, well-researched and enjoyable historical fiction. Using the idea of water supply and the matrix of aqueducts as the framework for the story worked really well too. ( )