Term 3 Blog Post 4 - Book Review

Emperor: The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden

The Gates of Rome is the first volume of the series, Emperor, which has four volumes in total.

"In a city of grandeur and decadence, beauty and bloodshed, two boys, best friends, dream of glory in service of the mightiest empire the world has ever known. One is the son of a senator. The other is a bastard child. As young Gaius and Marcus grow to manhood, they are trained in the art of combat - under the tutelage of one of Rome's most fearsome gladiators. For Marcus, a bloody campaign in Greece will become a young soldier's proving ground. For Gaius, the equally deadly infighting of the Roman Senate will be the battlefield where he hones his courage and skill. And for both, the love of an extraodinary slave girl will be an honor each will covet but only one will win. But as Rome is thrust into the grip of bitter conflict, as every Roman prepares to take sides in the coming battle, Gaius and Marcus's friendship will be put to the ultimate test."

I have always been curious about my roman history and mythology. It all started with a game, which instantly captured my liking for the interesting battles and politics that surrounded Rome. Ironically, when I was in China for a vacation, I stumbled upon this book, which I have never regretted buying. In fact, I found this book so interesting, that I would looked forward to reading it everytime, even during school.

Emperor: The Gates of Rome is a stunning combination of bloody action, heroic bravery, and a brilliant story brought to life for a modern readership. Conn Iggulden goes about using his own imagination to describe the life of Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus when they were little children, as there were very little accounts on the childhood of Caesar. In almost every single moment that I spend with this book, I could really imagine myself in the scene, as if I have just travelled way back in time.

The story though, takes many twists along the real history. Iggulden explains this in every volume with a historical note at the back, which in my opinion, is very useful for people who do not know the actual story of Julius Caesar. Iggulden has also turned the story of Julius Caesar into a tale of high adventure, a blood-soaked, sword-swinging epic that brings a number of vivid characters to life, which just kept me flipping the pages one after another non-stop. One example is in the book, where Marcus watches in awe as a gladiator's arm is sawed off and the reader can almost taste the blood in the air.

There is something I would like to mention though, is that the entire series consists of volumes that were written for adults. In other words, there is a lot of mature content in it; from violence, to language, to some sexual references. Nevertheless, this is must read for all historical fiction lovers. Well at least for me, as I had to place an order overseas from a store just to get the last three volumes, which cost me quite a sum for the shipping!

Term 3 Blog Post 3 - Improvements

I would certainly say LA lessons have become more meaningful to me as compared to primary school. Well, there is a reason after all, why it is called Language Arts now, and English in primary schools. So the first thing that I would want to say that I learnt and found valuable, is that my appreciation for Literature has increased. This is actually something that has been increasing ever since term 1. In term 3 however, I am able to appreciate Poetry more, or should I say, the first time.

I have always been a person who loved mucic and songs. If I'm not wrong, most song lyrics could be considered as poetry too. Well I only realised that while learning poetry this year in class! Truth be told though, I was very bored in class when we continuously analysed poems in class. Even still, I knew I had to listen and picked up quite a number of infomation, such as metaphors, personification, similes, onomatopoeia, assonance etc. I am very glad that I did, as I can now easier analyse the meanings of some of my favourite songs. Also, using all the very, very useful notes that Mr Lundberg gave us, such as the one with the ten steps to analysing a poem, I know that I am well prepared for the coming test.

The second thing that I think is valuable that I have learnt is a great improvement in summary writing and comprehension, though mostly summary writing. If I could say, when I was primary 6, I met a teacher that greatly improved both my english writing and speaking skills. I still remembered that I spoke such bad english that my teacher could not even understand what I was saying (Yes it was that bad, I'm not exaggerating), so she decided to drill me on both skills. I would say I really appreciated her help. This year was as if another big step to improvement in this subject. For comprehension, I think the biggest thing I learn was the SEE writing style format. It has helped me ensure that I have covered every area that I needed to in a test. In summary writing, the steps on how to write a summary; from finding the points to rephrasing, was also a great improvement I learnt.

Lastly, of course, my overall English Language vocabulary improved! So to end of this blog post, I would like to give a suggestion: Maybe if we had some extra time in class, perhaps we could analyse the lyrics of some of the favourite songs, to allow us students to be able to be more interested in poetry, and overall learning more?