Cass Biehn's Vesuvius is a young adult historical fiction that combines Roman history with themes of love, trauma and mythological elements.
Set in the days leading up to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the story follows two protagonists, Felix and Loren, as they navigate personal secrets, political intrigue, and a looming disaster.

The novel's strength lies in its vivid portrayal of Pompeii, transporting readers to locations such as temples, vineyards, brothels and Roman villas. The relationship between Felix and Loren is central, marked by moments of vulnerability and conflict as the grapple with their emotional scars and aspirations. Social expectations, power dynamics, resilience, romance and faith are the themes the author is exploring.

I honestly really liked the book, it's a great debut novel, although some aspects of the story felt a little undeveloped. I would have loved to read about what exactly happened to Loren's friends and the remaining people of Pompeii at the end and I didn't really understand the goal of the visions and Felix's power. Even their relationship felt flat at times, I often couldn't relate much to why they behaved the way they did and what changed their motives and feelings. The numerous typos and formatting errors didn't help much either, but that will hopefully be fixed once the book is officially released. It would be fun to get some kind of sequel that answers all the questions still left open.

Overall, it's a compelling read with great characters and a fresh take on queer narratives within a historical setting.

Thank you NetGallery for access to the eARC! 3.75 ⭐️

“Felix couldn’t help the city. But he’d burn himself up to save Loren.” 329

This was a pleasant and quick read! Ever since I visited the remains of Pompeii myself, I can’t help but think of all of the ghosts that linger and the lives they lived. That’s what drew me to this book, and I enjoyed the journey.

My favorite, and the best chapter in this entire novel happens toward the end. Felix is gripping Loren’s hand, dragging him, seeking safety as Vesuvius rains down. They both realize they cannot make it out alive, unless Felix utilizes the helmet. In a turn of events, he places the helmet on Loren and hones in on his powers. He loves Loren, and he was ready to die for him. This entire chapter was what I had been longing for throughout this novel. For a while I thought they would truly stop Vesuvius from erupting, which was starting to disappoint me. But this CHAPTER. Honestly some of the strongest writing from the entire book.

There were some things that annoyed me, however, that hinder a higher rating. My biggest ick came from the amount of cursing Felix says. It feels immature, but really it annoys me as it doesn’t fit the time period. You can say the same about a lot of the dialogue, but I didn’t have an expectation of that level of immersion from a fun YA read. I would have liked to have seen some silly cuss words that are from the period, the kind that I would have had to google to understand the reference. Other things that I won’t go too deep into lay within the world building and plot. For example, as I have seen the ruins I was able to picture the street and surrounding homes, but if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have been able to imagine the world well. I would have liked little moments of intense detail to grasp the world in the first half of the novel. For the plot, some things were either thrown out of no-where or simple. The one that threw me off the most was Felix revealing he didn’t believe in the gods because of a priest that assaulted him. There were signs leading to this from his dislike of touch and priests, but it felt incomplete, a background story. Perhaps this is a good thing, however, is it didn’t make Felix’s whole personality about his assault (which many authors have faulted before). Some of these things bogged down my immersion, causing me to remember I was reading and not just enjoying.

Overall, I liked this book! Felix and Loren’s romance was sweet and I am very glad they left together in the end. I wish there was more about their grief journey in leaving behind Pompeii, but really they got a happy ending with one another. I would like to see more of Aurelia….perhaps a future story to be told?

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were loveable and well developed, and I liked how the book explored their trauma slowly, with Felix not actually remembering much of his past but still clearly struggling with post traumatic stress symptoms, and I really wanted to root for these characters. Loren was my personal favorite, I really liked how hard he tries to help even when he doesn't always know what he's doing.

The setting felt quite vivid to me, with lots of details that are as far as I know historically accurate, it really felt like a story set in the ancient roman empire.

As for the story, Felix is a thief who stole the helmet of Mercury from a temple, but finds out this helmet is a lot more valuable than he believed and powerful players are after it, and him, too. Whle he planned to flee the city, heightened security is making it difficult to take the helmet with him. Meanwhile, Loren stumbles upon Felix, a boy he's had prophetic dreams about for years, and figures Felix is the key to save the city from doom, if only he can figure out how to do that. There's political manipulation, uncovering mysteries and prophecies, cute children, and also children who are politicians, and I enjoyed the wider cast of characters. Aurelia especially was cute, and Julia was interesting.

The romance is slower paced, but I enjoyed how it played out. It's not the main focus of the story, I'd say, but it's pretty important just the same.

Would recommend this to people who are interested in the Roman empire, and enjoy YA queer love stories.

The formatting was a bit messy and there were quite a few typos, but I really liked the story. I love Felix, and I was okay with Loren. I didn't fully connect with Loren, but I loved Felix and his story. 3.5 stars

I enjoyed this! I loved the setting and world the story operated in but was a little disappointed by the writing—dialogue and prose specifically.

This was an exciting and epic story. Bringing in ties of ancient life with the dangers of relics and nature, it's a race to find a solution before everything they know is gone.

Overall, I liked this one. This is probably sitting at a 3.5-3.75 for me.

The highlights for me:

- Felix! I *adored* him.
- I felt and believed in the main relationship.
- The setting was unique. It had relatively modern prose, which really differentiated itself from the more dramatic myth retellings set in antiquity.
- The prose was really clean and I enjoyed the writing style.

The things that didn't work for me:
- Too many mysteries that took a bit too long to find out the answers to (I actually think I'd enjoy this more on a reread knowing what I know about the characters)
- I didn't really love Loren as much as the book needed me to. I loved his intro and thought he was very promising, but I couldn't quite get a read on his character and I didn't love him the way I loved Felix.
- I think this is more of a 'me' issue, but I was expecting more suspense around Vesuvius and there was more politics/plot happening

I cannot wait to see what the author brings out next because I will definitely be reading it!

Vesuvius is a book about Felix, a thief who has just stolen the helmet of Mercury, and Loren, a temple attendant who has has dreams (well, more like nightmares) of said thief for most of his life. One fateful night, Felix staggers into Loren's temple, helmet in hand, and from then on, their lives become inexplicably intertwined. They must work together to navigate Loren's dreams and save the town from its impending destruction.

PROS:

- i really enjoyed felix's character and really wish there were more hints as to his past throughout the novel. his past was easily one of my favorite parts of the book!! i wish we had been able to learn more about his dad.

- some of the descriptions were really beautiful/eye-catching!

- while their relationship was unstable (understandable considering the circumstances), i did believe that the main pair actually cared about one another, which was a plus.

CONS:

- i never really bonded with loren, and as a result the chapters from his pov didn't really hit for me. i know we were meant to sympathize with his plight, especially when we find out his backstory, but i just felt neutral/bored.

- same with the loren situation, i just didn't like the majority of the side characters. they were a little too antagonistic for my liking. the only one i actually liked was livia.

- it felt very modern, with pompeii just as a backdrop. some of the phrasing/dialogue used really took me out of the story. i understand that this is a ya book and is meant for younger audiences so i'm not judging it too harshly but it did make me stop and question what was going on at times.

This was absolutely one of my most anticipated YA releases of 2025 and I am beyond thankful I was able to get my hands on this as soon as I did. Vesuvius follows two boys, a thief and a temple worker, as they live out the last days of historic Pompeii, below the simmering Mount Vesuvius. I do love a doomed lovers story, and I went into this I was fully expecting both or one of the main characters to die, and to be completely honest, I was hoping for that outcome. This book was sweet and briefly tackled a few important heavy topics, which I always appreciate in teen books. There were a few spots with some lovely writing and the characters felt very well loved by the author, maybe even a little too much. I feel as if Cass Biehn had originally planned for the MCs to die off in the catastrophe and then decided she liked them so much she was afraid to kill them off and switched the entire last third of the novel to fit that new plan. It made the ending a little anti-climactic considering the thing the audience was waiting for the netire book (the eruption) last maybe ten pages and had seemingly no effect on the characters besides a few nonserious physical injuries. But other than that, the book was good and overall well-rounded. I will definitely pick up that author again, especially if they release a adult novel.

I wanted to love this book, but ugh, it was so hard to read with all the typo errors! The messy formatting made it even worse!

I’m quite surprised that this book had an editor, because the typos were so numerous and they appeared as early as Chapter 1. And there wasn’t even a proper cover. Is it because this is an ARC? Because I got two other ARCs and their formatting were ok and they weren’t littered with mistakes. There were also random phrases which were in bold type. What for?

On to the story- Biehn is a talented writer. All things considered, this is a pretty good debut. However, some words used were too modern, and I think there wasn’t enough fact checking done. One character was described as having a “bob cut.” Short hairstyles were not described as bob cuts until the late 19th century, and the word “bob” to describe the hairstyle started at around 1910. The characters were also described as young, or “boys,” but spoke like they were around 25-26 years old.

It’s still an interesting novel, but not really compelling. 2.75 out of 5.

This review has been posted on my StoryGraph account.

An explosive debut perfect for teens, fantasy lovers, and history buffs, Vesuvius was a thrilling ride from start to finish! Biehn’s intricate storytelling and lush world-building made for an excellent backdrop as our main character, Felix, must work alongside temple attendant, Loren, to save the city from ultimate ruin. I especially loved the dynamic between Felix and Loren, as both are two vastly different people—with Felix dealing with the heavy burden of grief and a forgotten past and Loren desperate to reach for his dreams—and yet they’re thrown together in this high-stakes do-or-die situation where they have to figure their issues out…and struggle to do so. It’s MESSY. It’s REAL. And I love that!

I could go on and on about how lived-in the setting was—I truly felt like I was right there in Pompeii—but I want to touch on the pacing. While this story spans over several days, it never felt rushed. The pacing had a perfect tempo: fast to carry readers through intense, nail-biting scenes, while simultaneously slowing down and lingering in moments with Felix and Loren in ways that made their character arcs feel natural and satisfying.

The ending was also so well done! Hopeful and poignant yet honest and realistic.

I can’t wait to read more from Biehn in the future!

Thank you for the eARC!
The cover hooked me from the start, so I know I had to read it. I love how raw and realistic the main relationship was portrayed in this story. I like how the ending turned out. Sometimes, things aren't perfect or happen the way you wish.
I love the mythology aspect of the book as well.
My only downside was the modern-ish language said mosty by Felix. But maybe because of the audience rating, it suits the story?

(4.5 Stars!) Listen, some books are just written for certain readers that the author doesn't even know exist yet. That was this book (Vesuvius!) for me (a gay woman who had a childhood Pompeii obsession).

The premise of Vesuvius is relatively straightforward—a thief, Felix, who has foggy memories of his past, winds up stealing an artefact in Pompeii. When running away from a rich man who wants the artefact from him, he runs into a temple boy—Loren—who has visions of the future and has been seeing Felix in them for the last few years. And those visions involve the destruction of Rome. A boy who cherishes his city has to convince a boy who can't stop running to stick around long enough to figure out how everything is connected, and how they can stop it.

Here's the thing about this book. I loved it. Are there qualms I could have with it? Sure—I'll get them out of the way so you know I don't have blinders on. There's a handful too many background plots and characters, and because of that not all of them get resolved. Some key character points are held onto until a little too late in the game and left me confused. The resolution was extremely last minute, and I think that made it a wee bit messy.

But you know what? I don't care. It's worth repeating that I think the way the book wraps up adds a little too much, which means some things feel unresolved—emotions like grief, issues and mistakes the characters made. But boy did I have a grand time with these characters. I think my main issues with the book—like the superfluous background plots—really just hammered home because I would have much rather spent more time on the core relationship and their growth with each other. They were such an impeccable pair.

I had a blast (pun wholeheartedly intended) with this book, and how joyfully nerdy it took its history, and how it tied this incredible duo of characters into one of my favorite historical events to learn about when I was young. Loren and Felix are the heart of the story, trying to figure each other out despite both of them being deeply emotionally stunted in aggressively different ways. Loren has personal ambitions, Felix has a shady past, and both of them are trying to get away from something whether they know it or not. The way their arcs contrasted with each other, with Loren pulling away from something he knew and Felix trying to grasp something he's forgotten, all in the backdrop of this terrible historical event that we the readers know is coming was such a joy.

And THEY'RE messy! The relationship between these two wasn't perfect. Honestly, they were messing shit up until the last like, two percent of this book. But it made them feel real, which was refreshing, particularly in a book that had stakes. There was something so wonderful and aching about a book focusing on two characters who don't realize their mission is just to survive—they spend the whole book trying to stop the destruction, and you the reader know, historically, that they can't.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book—thank you to Peachtree and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

An explosive debut!

I have been waiting for this book for a long time - a story of boys in love in the last days of Pompeii with a mythological element is an amazing premise.

It didn't disappoint, and it also wasn't what I expected. Vesuvius tried to tell a lot of stories at the same time: the story of Pompeii before the eruption, of the different worlds of Roman society depending on your family name, of dealing with trauma, of standing on your two feet, of faith, of sacrifice, of augury and godly power, of power and greed, and of course of love.

Cass Biehn manages to fully transport us to Pompeii: to the temple of Isis, the vineyard, the brothel where Loren stays, the luxurious villas, the cobbled streets. Roman politics dominate the story more than Roman mythology: the past and the present troubles of Felix and Loren are shaped by backstabbing, cunning actors in the Empire's favourite reality show: politics.

The 4-day journey from their first meetng until the eruption feels like a month: for Loren who dreams big and is afraid of his visions and for Felix who taught himself to bury the past and shield himself behind mental walls. The secondary characters are nudging them in the right direction, seeing with more clarity because the aren't afraid to see.

What was missing? The balance of elements the book tried to combine was slightly off. The relationship was more angst and trauma-recovery and anger than optimal: where you think that they reconciled and are opening up and softening...the same thing happens (one of them shutting down and lashing out)...and again...and then again...even after the climax. Ancient Rome and the mythology offer enough material and paths for a story that a more adventure/magic/survival-centered storyline would work much better as the heart of the story. The mythological aspect also fell into the margins of the story: it was never fleshed enough versus the political machinations and emotional trauma, and was consistently a bit too confusing and too allegoric. It's a pity because I love Greco-Roman mythology, the book could have leaned there more, or not included it at all.

Vesuvius is a great debut overall, despite its flaws. Cass Biehn debuted with a bang and I'm fully confident the next books will be equally explosive!