Book Review: Fabiola or The Church of The Catacombs

 Yup, I am so uncreative about ideas to write, I have resorted to book reviews. -_-
My Thoughts: 
For a book originally entitled "The Church of The Catacombs," you don't spend a lot of time in the catacombs...

This book, by Cardinal Wiseman was not exactly what I expected. I was really hyped up about reading this, and, don't get me wrong, it was a good book, but it wasn't... exciting. It comes across as a religion textbook, which isn't a bad thing, but for a book set during the persecution under Diocletian, you would think there would be a little more action. It does have some very intense sequences, but jeez, do we have to build up to them over five chapters of dialog and description? I think Chapter II was just devoted to describing Pancratius' house that we never see again. 

Summary:
Speaking of Pancratius, I will try to give a spoiler-free overview of the plot. Mainly, it's about Fabiola (the only fictional main or supporting character in the book), a Roman pagan, who is converted by the hordes of saints that his Eminence Cardinal Wiseman could fit into the story.

Where The Book Went Wrong:

This is where I think the story failed: there were way to many saint that we weren't enough given time, dialog, or description to make us care about them. Some of these saints are only seen for a one chapter, which is not enough time to become emotionally attached to a character. St. Emerentiana, for example, simply appears after the martyrdom of St. Agnes saying she is the foster sister of the saint. She literally has almost zero dialog in the book after that. Then suddenly she is martyred and we are suppose to feel really sad about it. I mean, humans should care about everyone's misfortune, but that isn't really how we work. We need to have some sort of attachment to become... well... attached. This is well explained by Data and Riker in the Star Trek episode "The Bonding."

Where The Book Went Right: 
Alright, now I suppose I have had my griping ! Even after all that, I still enjoyed the book. Fabiola's character was excellently written, as were the main saints such as St. Sebastian, St. Agnes, and St. Pancratius. But really, I think what saves this book for me is two things.

1). The villains. Oh my, the villains were so well written! I could do a character study on both of the main antagonists they were fleshed out so much!  And they were so much more interesting than the protagonists! I don't know why, but I feel more attracted to villains because I like to see what makes them tick and what makes them do what they do. In most books I have read, the good guys are simply good because it is the right thing to do. Antagonists always have a more interesting reason. Heck, sometimes that whole reason can be the biggest plot point in a story (*Cough* Star Wars *Cough*) and that is pretty cool.

2). A certain plot twist that I will not tell about. I will not spoil it for you! All I will say is that I love plot twists. A lot of people find them annoying, but me, no way! If a writer can fool me, then he is the better man. Plus, plot twists are usually really original, so that is fantastic!

Facts Surrounding the Book:
Okay, this is where I go on Wikipedia and see if I can find any awesome trivia around the book. The first thing I would like to point out is that Cardinal Wiseman wrote the book in answer to an anti-Catholic book by Charles Kingsley called Hypatia. Now that is awesome!That makes me appreciate the book a thousand times more! It also explains why it feels like a religion textbook.

Another fact is that they made an movie loosely based on the book, and I put loosely in italics. Here is a movie poster. You guess why...

Yeah... It actually says "Goddess of Love In A City Of Sin..." I thought this was based on a Christian book! Did I mention that there is not romance in the whole book? I mean, it is suggested that Fabiola has a mild crush on Sebastian, but it is never more than that. -_- Sometimes I hate movies.

Anyhow, I enjoyed doing this review! I think I will have to do this again!

Next Book: 
"Come Rack, Come Rope" by Robert Hugh Benson. Set during the Elizabethan period (my favorite period in history) it looks awesome! If you want to read it along with me, go right ahead!

Also, if you have any comments, please do comment! The support and criticism is helpful!