Sol Invictus
Book Two in the Eye of Ra Series
by Ben Gartner
Hi! Do you like fantasy and mystery books? I sure do! That’s why I loved Sol Invictus. It’s a fantasy AND a mystery. In it, John and Sarah must unite Crocus (an Alumini boy) and Constantius (the emperor of Rome) before the world as they know it is destroyed!
John and Sarah are visited by a messenger of the gods who tells them that they must go back in time to unite two enemies. They are not looking for an adventure, but when an attacker comes at them, John and Sarah are forced to leave for ancient Rome. This time travel is done by tracing a symbol of the Eye of Ra on a necklace. Sarah and John are transported to a gladiator arena and are almost captured by the emperor! Crocus, one of the people they are trying to unite, helped them escape just in the nick of time! They travel with Crocus, who is trying to get revenge on a scar-faced soldier who killed his unarmed father. However, along the way, Sarah, John, and Aurora (Crocus’ companion) are kidnapped and taken for slaves. Aurora and Sarah return to Aurora’s old master, while John is sent to the gladiator arena to fight for his freedom. While John is fighting, a fire erupts and chaos ensues in the arena. John is hit on the back of his head with a shield from an adversary. Sarah was at the arena and saw it all happen, and is forced to leave her brother behind. Who knows if they will ever see each other again?
There is nothing that I would change about this book. It was absolute perfection!!
I loved John and Sarah’s loyalty to each other. John had an opportunity in the book to leave and go home without Sarah, but he stays behind and faces difficult challenges so that he can leave with his sister.
If you haven’t read Ben Gartner’s first book, The Eye of Ra, you’ll want to read that one first. There are several references to The Eye of Ra. There are also parts of the story that you may not understand if you haven’t read the first book. This book reminded me a little bit of the Percy Jackson series. This book involves other worlds and mythical gods and so does the Percy Jackson series.
Will Sarah and John make it home and unite the two enemies? Or will they stay in ancient Rome forever? As I always say, read the book to find out!
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor – zero being not scary at all and five being majorly scary): 3
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor – zero having no yucky-lovey parts in it and five having major yucky-lovey parts): 2
I give this book 5 wands.
I absolutely LOVED this book! How two kids are able to be brave enough to attempt extraordinary feats is amazing! I hope that I’ll be as brave as they are someday. As Nelson Mandela said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
Source: Review Copy
