Book Review: Mother of Rome by Lauren J A Bear

I don't know exactly when or why this trend of revisiting Greek and Roman myths from the perspective of female characters started. But my - this book is a perfect example of how powerful it could be.

Lauren J A Bear's Mother of Rome follows Rhea Silvia, a princess of the Latin city-state of Alba Longa and future mother of Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome. But the story starts mid-stream, with Rhea being poked, prodded, and humiliated while being forced to join the Vestal Virgins, the priestesses of the goddess Cybele. From there, the story winds back to the beginning, when Rhea's father Numitor is king and Rhea is holding on to her youth while dreading being forced into a foreign marriage. But after her brother's death (soon after her mother and other brother already perished), her father falls into alcohol abuse and willingly gives up the throne to his brother Amulius. Amulius never liked Rhea (and doesn't want her to have a son who could one day challenge for the throne) so he sends her off to be a Vestal Virgin, and decades-long religious sentence.

But shortly before that, Rhea has a tryst with the god Mars that leaves her pregnant. Discovering her pregnancy, the Vestal Virgins sentence her to a slow death, and even after escaping that and having her babies, she is captured by Amulius' troops and sentenced to die. Only a last-second intervention by Cybele and subsequent deal (think werewolves!) saves her and her future important babies.

Using a female character as the lead, as is often true for many of these types of books, offers an amazing perspective on mythical times. While with male characters this often seems like a time of opportunity and adventure, having a female lead underlines how harsh and cruel these times were, with royalty killing and torturing at will, and the pious committing sometimes atrocious acts in the name of religion. If also highlights how much of human nature remains the same, especially the lengths Rhea goes through and the mental, emotional, and very physical punishment she takes to make sure they survive. And, of course, it shows how insufferable some men could be - like when Mars, after telling Rhea she's pregnant, tells her the ancient equivalent of "I'll try to call you sometime if I'm not busy" - but also how caring others are.

My favorite character in this book is Antho, the daughter of Amulius (and from what I can tell a fabricated character not included in the actual mythology). When Amulius takes the throne it would have been so easy to write Antho as an enemy - "Now I'm the princess!". But Bear started Antho out as Rhea's cousin and best friend, and that never changes throughout the book. Antho never takes pleasure from her new royal status (quite the opposite, in fact), collects as much documentation as possible about why her father's reign is wrong, and always thinks of her cousin, even when it's believed that Rhea is dead.

Romulus and Remus obviously play significant roles in the second half of the book, and the story ends with a nod to how that myth will play out (maybe you shouldn't have asked them to count birds, Numitor!), but this is truly Rhea's story and is very much worth telling. Great read - nine out of ten hot dogs.