OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Our eternal curse I" by Simon Rumney.]

Our Eternal Curse I by Simon Rumney narrates the story of an innocent girl named Julia. Mistreated by parents in her early childhood, physically abused by the man whom she trusted with her love and life, and tormented by low self-esteem, Julia becomes an expert in plotting a conspiracy to take revenge against one of the greatest general of Rome.

The story begins when Julia is a child. Her parents treat her like a burden to them. Although she is stunning, her parents plant the seed of low self-esteem in her mind by constantly telling her that she is worthless and ugly. Therefore, when she gets a chance to leave her parents by accompanying Sulla, one of Rome's greatest general, she grabs the opportunity with both her hands. Little did she know that he will rape her and shatter her hope of building a beautiful life with him. After being physically abused by Sulla, she makes revenge a sole purpose of her existence. In her obsession to destroy him for causing her immense pain, she becomes an alcoholic. One of the housemaids of Sulla named Cecilia, tries to help Julia by telling her every day that she is beautiful. This kind act of Cecilia builds a little confidence in Julia, and —much to my surprise — she becomes the second richest person in Rome. My gaze remained fixed on pages of the book because I wanted Julia to get her revenge and destroy Sulla for what he had done to an innocent girl. To avoid any spoilers, I cannot reveal whether she got the satisfaction of vengeance or not; however, I can say that this book had a magnetic charm to me throughout the read.

The mention of several historical figures of Rome and an insight into their lives kept me motivated to read more to gain knowledge about Roman history. For instance, I was excited when I saw the name of Julius Caesar as "an unknown young aristocratic boy." The description of characters is to the point and not written with too much detail.

Julia's trust issues, the effects of bad parenting on an innocent mind, the inhumane treatment of slaves by their owners, and extreme physical abuse of women are portrayed to perfection by Simon. While reading the book, I found myself feeling the pain of Julia, slaves, and those tormented women. Additionally, the author's approach towards writing the struggle of Julia's innocent mind with her revengeful actions is believable. Being a woman, I found myself justifying her actions, every step of the way. I particularly love the parts, where Simon writes how Julia puts on a brave and confident face, even though inside she is terrified to the bones, to execute her plan flawlessly.

I thought that I would lose interest in the last few chapters of the book, where she writes the rebirth of Julia as another human being; however, with the events that followed, I regained my interest. The hold of this book was incredible on me. I was eager to find the end of the story, and whenever I had to put down the book to do my chores, I found myself irritated.

I believe that the author could improve the quality of the book by one more round of proofreading. However, the plot, delivery of dialogues, and the description of events are all perfect.

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I would recommend this book to the readers, who like reading about war, conspiracy, and rebirth. Also, the readers, who appreciate the creative twist to historical facts, will enjoy Simon's take on Julia's story.

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Our eternal curse I
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Sounds very interesting! Thanks for the review!

Paliden wrote:Sounds very interesting! Thanks for the review!

It is truly an amazing historic fiction. The pain that Julia must have gone through is very tastefully written by the author. Thanks for reading the review.

Sounds like a profound reading material with interesting character. It seems like the author successfully described the effects of abuse on an individual. Good job on review. Congratulations to Simon Rumney for such a well-written book.

kimmyschemy06 wrote:Sounds like a profound reading material with interesting character. It seems like the author successfully described the effects of abuse on an individual. Good job on review. Congratulations to Simon Rumney for such a well-written book.

Oh, it most definitely is everything that you just said! I found myself fascinated by the plot and the main character, Julia.

This book sounds heart-wrenching and terrific at the same time. Abuse is nothing to toy with in stories, but by the way you mention it, the author appears to be well aware of this enough to craft the book in a way that holds your attention. Nice review.

Sounds like Julia got jipped! I would probably root for her as well

Sounds like an interesting historical tale with a strong heroine. Not many books can boast of a perfect plot and all the rest. Thank you for the nice review. Congratulations to the author for the positive review!

Great review! This sounds like a very interesting read weaving in the Roman times. I've been interested in that time period for a while now. Julia does sound like a strong character. Congratulations to the author for receiving such a positive review!

This sounds really interesting. I love the revenge theme. I'm curious now as to whether or not she got her revenge. Great review!

Great review! The main character seems intriguing. I am going to pass on this one, since my interest in historical fiction tends to be relatively more recent history.

Great review. Congratulations to the author for being chosen as BOTD! This sounds like such an interesting book, Roman history, vengeance and rebirth make it even more interesting.

Sounds like a well written book, although you mentioned that it needs another round of proofreading. Good to know that you enjoyed reading it. Thank You for the great review.

The first impression of this book was that it would be too much going on, with conspiracies, wars, parental abuse, reincarnation, and sexual abuse all rolled into one story. However, this review showed me that all of these components can work quite well together. I appreciated the review, and felt attached to Julia just by reading the review alone.

Seems like a super interesting character and a book worth checking out. Thanks for the review!