Biehn, Cass - Vesuvius

Vesuvius

Author: Cass Biehn

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Publisher: Little, Brown

Release Date: June 5, 2025

Format: Paperback

Synopsis:

The clock is ticking. The gods are watching. This thrilling historical fantasy set in the days before Mount Vesuvius destroys Pompeii is a meet cute with an explosive fallout.

Clever thief Felix slips from city to city to survive the present and escape a past he can’t remember. When Felix steals a mythical artifact—Mercury's helmet—from a temple in Pompeii, pieces of his forgotten past begin to surface.

Loren, an ambitious temple attendant, has seen Felix in his apocalyptic nightmares for years. The last thing Loren expects is for his dream to stumble headfirst through his temple doors, moments after an earthquake rocks the city.

When Felix shows Loren the helmet, Loren sees the world coming to an end. He knows they have mere days to uncover Felix’s ties to the relic and to Loren’s visions if they have any hope of saving the city. But Ancient Rome is ruled by bloody politics and unstoppable destinies, and now that Loren and Felix are intertwined, their lives aren’t all they risk losing. When all has turned to ash and rubble, the boys will have to piece together their fates to make it out of a burning city alive.

An exploration of ambition and class, autonomy and religion, survival and love.

LGBT Themes:

• Achillean

Relevant Tags:

Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Historical, Romance, Queer, Achillean, LGBT, Mythology, Historical Fantasy, Gay