Unfortunately, I have to DNF. This is not to say I didn’t like it. People have told me it gets exciting at the last quarter or so, but I’ve been reading this for three months and, at this point, I simply have no willpower to push through this book.

The premise does sound promising: a queer fantasy debut set just before Mt. Vesuvius’ eruption. However, I found it hard to differentiate between the two main characters. Their contrasting goals seemed to be the only clear distinction between their POVs, which deterred me from actually enjoying the book. The use of modern language threw me off as well. But I have faith in Cass Biehn’s writing and prose, so I might still recommend this to others. It just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Holiday House for the ARC! :>

Enjoyed this read, even though I was absolutely terrified to fall in love with the characters. "Knowing" what was coming really heightened the reading, and no matter what I tried I fell in love with the characters.

The prose was very well done, but the plot became convoluted quickly. I enjoyed the characters and the suspense building up, but for a story titled "Vesuvius," I wanted a little more to do with the eruption and the aftermath itself. The disaster felt more like an afterthought overall. I'd be interested in reading more from this author, however.

Somehow equal parts tragic and hopeful, this book sends you through the lens of time into ancient Rome. There's a lot going on during those final days before the eruption of Vesuvius. If you're familiar with the archaeological debates over ancient Rome, then this is a great book to explore some more what-ifs. I will revisit this title and gain more from it upon a second read. It is one of those books where I know I missed some beautiful details.

I absolutely loved this. The authors voice grabbed me from the first page and I was so invested. I’m a mythology nerd so anything with Roman mythology weaved in is gonna get me. Especially when it’s done as well as it is here.

I've had my eye on this since before the writer got agented. Reading snippets, even from previous versions of the book, I could tell of the incredible talent Cass Biehn has and that this would be a heart-wrenching story - my kryptonite.

I got the book in my hands and dove into it.

The writing was there, the story was there, but I could not help but feel that something fell short for me. It felt too long and was not fleshed out enough when it comes to world-building. Also I got a bit lost in all the mysteries.

All in all, it is a good debut.

As someone who's been into ancient history and grecoroman mythology for as long as I can remember, I knew i needed to read Vesuvius as soon as i could. Then I heard it was queer, and yeah. Sign me up!

Cass's writing is really easy to read and I liked it. The characters were, in my mind, quite interesting too, although I connected less to Loren. The build-up to the explosion was a liiiitle long but not in a bothering way. And, I have to admit, the climax got me: I loved how all the cast worked together and played a crucial part in this, and how they all rewrote history.

I do have to say, though, that the language used was a bit too modern at times.

Overall, a great debut!

thanks netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

2.5/5

the blurb of this was so intriguing that i couldn't pass it up for anything, though YA isn't usually my favorite. i don't know much about roman history or mythology, and i didn't read percy jackson growing up, so i went into this with a completely blank slate, no expectations, ready for a fun time.

i think the highlight of this for me was the cast, especially the secondary/side characters. everyone had a unique personality, interesting depth of character, and it didn't feel like a swath of blank faces which i appreciated. i also liked biehn's prose, and it was serviceable without being too juvenile which is a common complaint i have with YA books (and why i don't read too many personally). i do think though that there was a missed opportunity for using lesser known mythology here instead of repeating the achilles/patroclus, eurydice/orpheus references that are super common and, though they actually fit in with the time period, make it feel anachronistic somehow just by how popular they are in present day.

the setting was quite weak for me, because though there were some descriptions of pompeii as a city it felt more like the *idea* of pompeii, with descriptions that i didn't latch on to. so there was a vague sense of placelessness for me the entire time. similarly, there was a ton of stuff happening that, at first, was kind of interesting (weaving like three plots together - the politics, the romance, and the speculative/magic - all at once with a very short deadline) but it ended up feeling somehow quite bloated while also having a lot of repetition. felix in particular had a very repetitive inner monologue, and everything plot-wise that he did (at least for the first 75%) was very cyclical. and given that the entire story happens in the span of like, three days, makes the sheer amount of things that happen almost unbelievable.

i do feel that this was a very interesting story with a lot of potential that got a bit lost in the weeds, and it's disappointing to say given that it does have some great strengths that i think would have shined through better with a bit more polish.

3.25 Stars

Loren is a temple attendant in Ancient Pompeii but has the ultimate goal of entering politics. He has dreams and visions of the future where he sees the world ending in fire, brought about by a person he has never met.

Felix is a thief who moves from town to town, and has just stolen a divine relic. He is being chased and runs into the temple where Loren serves, and is given sanctuary. Loren is shocked to see that Felix is the person he has been seeing in his visions, but he feels he is responsible for making sure that Felix is safe. And he hopes that he can change the outcome of his visions and keep the world from ending.

I was excited to read a story set in Pompeii before the eruption of Vesuvius, especially a YA novel that would be fast paced. While I did enjoy the discussion of customs and life in Ancient Rome, this was a very slow story that never seemed to reach a climax. Even so, if I would say it was a worthwhile read if you are interested in the time period.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I'm not target audience for YA books and I was bit scared I would not connect to the story, but it grew on me.

In the beginning I was a bit bored, there were many characters, many names, scenes changed quite a lot and the main story takes place in only 4 days. So the pace was fast, but action packed. Both Loren & Felix were great characters. Hardened or brought down by life the two meet and try to challenge the destiny.

I really liked the story, maybe not from the start, but it grew more interesting chapter by chapter. The writing style was nice, easy to read and some more "fancy" words was well chosen. I saw reviews stating that the language seemed too modern, keeping in mind that the action takes place in Pompeii, however, it didn't really bother me.

Overall, this book was actually pretty great!

This book had so much promise and started so well. The waste of that potential is deeply frustrating.

I immediately attached to Felix, finding him lovable, three-dimensional, and active. At the start, I also quite liked Loren, especially his affection for the secondary characters and determination to protect everyone. Unfortunately, both character arcs had major cracks in them.

In Felix’s case, the issues were more contained. There was some repetitiveness. “Time to cut and run… Nope, Loren’s in trouble, gotta stay.” Again and again. This is believable in real life, but tedious in a book. And then, there was the amnesia plot and revelations of Felix’s past. The thing is, Felix’s past is exactly what you think it is. And if you take out the amnesia, the portrayal feels authentic and empathetic. But that’s precisely the thing: the amnesia adds nothing. In fact, dragging it out and making it a Big Revelation adds an element of melodrama and even exploitation to the mix.

This is not helped by how poorly defined and described the magic in this book is, particularly as it relates to Felix's amnesia.

Loren’s problems, unfortunately, proved to run even deeper. To wit, he is that character archetype, where the narrative wants you to think of him as super altruistic, while what is <I>shown</I> is him being self-centered through and through. Everything is about his feelings. He angsts about the fates of Pompeii’s people, but he never once throws himself full-body into convincing ant of his friends to leave. And I’d almost give Biehn the credit of being more aware of their character’s dissonance than the average author. But then they have Felix say something to the tune of “you’re the kind of selfish that comes around the other end and is actually selfless.” Which, no. Nope. Just selfish. Shilling doesn’t help this situation.

This particular self-absorbedness most fully manifests in Loren making a major decision which deeply affects Felix unilaterally and right over Felix’s head. In the moment, it does not even occur to him that the only correct course of action would have been to let Felix make his own choices. He realizes it later, and the narrative does treat his action as rotten and punish him for it. But not enough. For my mileage, I was cheering for Felix to leave him at the end. But this is a romance, so we couldn’t have <I>that</I>.

My other big issue with this book was the sheer amount of anachronism and ahistoricity. There were a couple of nice details describing life in Pompeii which felt authentic, but everyone talked like they were from the twenty-first century, and even some details felt off. Historians estimate that Pompeii’s population was about 10 to 20 thousand. About a thousand bodies were discovered, preserved by the eruption. This is still a tragedy, don’t get me wrong, but far from the implication that everyone not accounted for is now dead. 90-95% of Pompeii’s residents managed to escape, taking the rumblings as warning and getting the hades out of dodge.

In fact, one of the supposed deaths feels more like a continuity error than a historical one. Didn’t Servius say that Julia had left Loren to twist and dipped, after the contract was signed? Except the narrative treats her as dead from that point forward, when realistically, as a wealthy, well-connected woman, she would have had an easy time getting out, as suggested.

Adding to the ahistoricity, we have Felix’s relationship with religion. It makes psychological sense, at first glance, for Felix to lose faith in a god who let him suffer and didn't intervene. But here’s the thing. The Greek gods, whom the Romans ‘borrowed’ and renamed for their own use, were never portrayed as benevolent. They were amoral, capricious, and worshipped for being powerful and in charge of their domains, not for any idea of their kindness and justice toward mortals. Felix’s reaction feels much more like a modern person’s reaction to, say, the Catholic church’s sex abuse crisis than an ancient Roman’s relationship with his own gods.

Like I said, I was really excited when I started reading. By the end, I was skimming, just to finish already and move on. And I am so, so sad about it. Ugh. This could—and should—have been so much better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within are my own.

3.5/5

Coming into this book I was intrigued by the premise of a meet cute with an explosive ending.
This book does meet that description, but with a couple additions I thought were interesting or peculiar.

The political side story was kind of boring and was used as a plot device for Loren to have a side goal and for Felix to hate Loren more.

The whole hot-cold-hot thing was just making me more frustrated with the characters more than anything. Like it was fun for like half the book but after Felix getting angry at Loren for the same thing for the third time it got tedious.

Loren's Hero complex that gets pointed out multiple times, and yet doesn't believe it. Makes it seem very comparative to how his father tried to shove on to him what he thought was right.

I liked the premise and the main story. Most of my snags are probably just nitpicks more than anything.

I actually have so much I want to say about this book I personally loved everything about it. The 4 days leading up to the infamous eruption of Mount Vesuvius the most tension filled, jam packed 4 days I’ve ever read in a book and I was absolutely HOOKED. Loren and Felix are both complex, flawed characters who I loved and wanted the best for even when I didn’t agree with what they were doing. And the way they fought to create their own identities really tugged at me in a way I can’t describe. Every single character you meet has an important role to play in the story and it all comes full circle at the end and it ties up so many loose ends although there’s some things I think we can still get More from (sequel 👀). Servius was such a hate-able villain I actually had to put the book down multiple times and go for a walk because I was SEETHING at the way he treated Felix. And Loren’s father as well, I wanted him dead the second I heard him talk do not talk to my boy that way. I can see some aspects of this book being a bit polarizing for people who are craving more historical accuracy particularly with the modern language but this was not something that personally affected my reading experience. I really do think this is a book that’s really going to find its audience. I loved my entire experience reading this story and I’m positive there will be more people out there who fall in love with Cass Biehn’s precise and clever writing and Loren and Felixes suspense filled story of love, fate, and everything in-between.

5/5 Stars

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a chance to read this book prior to publication.

Vesuvius by Cass Biehn instantly appealed to me as a LGBTQ+ reader and a fan of anything to do with Pompeii and the tragedy that befell it. I thought it was an interesting premise to mix queer romance with Pompeii but I can honestly say that it worked.

What DIDN'T work for me was the rest of the plotline; everything that didn't revolve around the romance fell short as it was soo confusing at times. I spent more of my time re-reading (something I believe one should never have to do on their first read of a novel) to try and figure everything out rather than just enjoying the book.

For me, this book was good but not great, especially because of the confusion but I did like the ending.

Vesuvius is a queer YA fantasy that two boys as they navigate the last few weeks before Pompeii is destroyed.

While I enjoyed my time with this book, I didn't find it quite as impactful as I'd hoped. It felt as though this story was supposed to hold a sort of weight that I just didn't quite feel. I think the fast-paced nature of the writing made it harder to have the slow-building dread that I expected. We learn quite early who our main characters and what their coping mechanisms are, and that stays pretty constant until the end, when we finally get to see more character development. I still found them engaging and I mostly liked their relationship. This book is fairly fast-paced, but it definitely prioritized some elements of the story more than others, and the fantasy elements felt surprisingly insignificant most of the time.

This book wasn't quite what I expected, and I think much of that is just that it fits firmly in YA and reads a bit more as an adventure novel than a historical queer tragedy. I still had a good time with this and will keep an eye out for the author's future works.

This book was one of my most anticipated this year! I read the story “dog of pompei” as a child; something about the tragedy of Vesuvius always enthralled me.

So, when i saw that there is a YA about it, i was instantly hooked.
However, unfortunately i didn’t enjoy the book as much as i thought i will.

I will start with the positives- loren and felix. Such interesting, interesting characters. And their love even more interesting. The build up for them was well, and their complexities was the most enjoyable part.


The plot itself was good too-albeit a but confusing. In fact, i spent more than half of the book confused on what’s happening. It was also a bit repetitive at parts. Loren has visions; felix doesn’t remember. Somehow the helmet plays a big part. But you were told that over and over again without giving you hints to maintain your focus that made it feel a bit dragged.

The writing was good;however, it felt *too* modern for the theme. I feel like i would enjoy cass’ writing more if it was in a different setting.

Also, there was a lot of missing points that i felt like werent developed well.
Overal, a fun read (especially the last 20%). However, not one i would recommend.
(Thank you netgalley for providing me with the arc)

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an Honest Review

3.5 Stars

This is Cass Biehn's debut and I think they have a promising career if this was their first book.

I loved the intrigue with the Mercury Helmet & all the characters felt pretty real. The relationship between Felix and Loren was very sweet and I ended up loving Felix so much. I love the concept of changing your destiny and having choices for yourself instead of having others made those choices for you.

I think the book tried to shove too many side plots into it, the political intrigue would have been good if that would have been what the whole book was about, instead I found myself annoyed everytime we veered from the helmet onto Julia's plot. I feel like once the last quarter of the book started is when it got amazing and I was fully immersed then but to get there took so long and a lot of it just felt like it wasn't really needed.

Nonetheless you found me crying at the end, I saw that Cass Biehn says they write messy queer characters and that is a perfect way to describe this story.

First couple of pages, I found it hard to get into the book. But then suddenly, I was completely hooked and could not put it down. I don't even know why, it just suddenly happened. I fell in love with Felix almost immediately. An energetic mischievious boy - what's there to not love? Loren was very sweet too. I really enjoyed seeing the story unfold through both of their eyes and learning about each more. It was not just a description of the demise of Pompeii but a story of love and friendship between two boys, mysterious elements at play and slightly unexpected plot twists. The story is well written. Hints to what is to come are peppered throughout the book and if you pay attention, you can guess. But there were still some surprises for me. Plus it made me cry - a good sign with me. Means I love the characters enough to feel deep emotions. To me, that's a sign of amazing character building and story presentation. The ending left me desiring more. I would love to continue following the story of Loren and Felix.

📚Felix is a clever thief who can’t remember his past. He start to pieces his past, after he steal a mercury’s helmet. Loren is an ambitious temple attendant and dream about apocalypse and Felix is in too. They both join together after Loren found Felix hiding in his temple. They both work together to stop apocalypse also dealing with Ancient Roman politics. Along the way the start catch feelings for each other.

💭: to be honest, I don’t wanna talk about badly but I don’t enjoy this book. It to be could because it wasn’t the final copy or I wasn’t the audience for it. I will definitely be reread this again it comes out. Just read to the final copy and my feelings might changed. ⭐️ 3.25
Release date, June 3 2025
And thanks to for NetGalley for e-ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Vesuvius by Cass Biehn seemed right up my alley. A historical, slightly fantastical queer story! Love! But unfortunately, by 100 pages in, I could tell this one wasn't going to work out. The writing is choppy, the characters aren't developed enough for me to grab on to, and side plots were still just being introduced. I wanted to love this one, but it just didn't work.