What do You think about Outcast (1999)?
Read this one with my 10-yr-old son. Sutcliff is an excellent author who is a talented wordsmith and does an amazing job with imagery. Even though her books are classified as for children or "young adult" I know of very few well-educated adults who would not find at least a few challenging vocabulary words in her writing. That is not to say at that her writing is at all inaccessible to younger readers, but the literary quality of her work is of a very high standard - one not often seen in most of today's "young adult" or even adult fiction options.My son (and I) were completely engulfed in this storyline and we never put this down without him first begging for at least a few more pages. The story of young Beric, rescued from a Roman shipwreck on the coast of Britain, raised by a foster family from a primitive British tribe and then sent out on his own at a young age was a wonderful complement to our ancient history studies. Sutcliff's research is excellent and her ability to envelope the reader in the time frame made for quite an enjoyable escape. Highly recommended.
—Lori
This one definitely isn't going to be my favorite Sutcliff book, but it's an interesting read nonetheless. (And, hey, the ebook even has illustrations!)It's the story of Beric, a shipwrecked Roman infant raised in a British tribe, later cast out, sold into slavery, sentenced into even worse slavery, and the list goes on from there. Approximately three-quarters of the book is an unending stream of Beric's miserable life, occasionally broken by the usual Sutcliff nature descriptions and brief glimmerings of hope that are promptly dashed. Hope you like suffering!Beric eventually finds peace, living in Britain with Justinus, whom I rather like as a character -- but he goes through an awful lot before then, and it's really depressing to read. You just start wishing that the world would be even a little bit nicer to him, and mostly it isn't, until the very end, which to me wasn't really enough to make up for it.It's a well-written novel, of course, because it's Sutcliff, but she's definitely written things I liked better than this. Worth picking up if you're on a completist Sutcliff mission or you just really really want all the Roman Britain YA, but if you're looking for historical YA generally there are other books by her that you should try first.
—Sineala
After a fantastic start this was strangely anticlimactic, verging on quite boring by the end. I couldn't understand it. I think the fact that there was a total of 2 female characters in the entire book might've had something to do with it - so boring. I was a bit confused that Beric didn't seem to care much when he found out he was Titus's son, even though he spent most of the book obsessing about feeling like an 'outcast' in every society because he knew nothing about his real parents. And why didn't he go back to Rome after finding out he was in fact Roman, to find Glaccus and Lucilla's husband conveniently dead so that he could marry her? Would've made a FAR better story. I did like the fact that it was so well-researched, especially the way most Romans were portrayed as viewing slaves as animals - they referred to things like "meat-fed galley slaves" and "a well-matched team" of blonde-haired litter-bearers. In a lot of historical fiction I think this idea is seen as too repugnant for the modern audience or something because whilst Romans are often shown being cruel to their slaves, they usually understand that they're human and treat them accordingly. Or maybe the current social distate for slavery is so strong that modern authors find it hard to get into the ancient Roman mindset? Who knows. Anyway in conclusion I would definitely still like to read more by this author.
—Sarah
