My daughter (10) loves the Horrible Histories books and tv series so jumped at the chance to read this ARC with me. Unfortunately she found the murders of the mother and children at the beginning too upsetting and could not continue. If you have a sensitive child, the excellent storytelling may make it too real for them.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

Oh, how I loved the Horrible Histories books that were published from 1993. They started with The Terrible Tudors and The Awful Egyptians and became one of the greatest history book series, and later, television series. So it is with great excitement I look forward to the new series of 'true tales' and I started with this one, featuring four stories about the Romans.

The stories feature children (as the target audience of readers) experiencing something typical of the times, from a child's perspective. There are amusing and clever linear sketches to illustrate the tales. The first one is titled The Captive Celt and shows how animal and human sacrifices were carried out to please the gods and how folk were captured and turned into slaves. The second features the great fire of Rome, followed by a story about the foods of Pliny and finally myth of the goose guards at the temple of the goddess Juno.

Although the child central character is fictitious in each of the stories, they include historical figures such as Claudius, Caratacus, Boudica, Nero and Pliny. The point is to give a flavour of the Roman times with the unusual and and unpleasant aspects of Roman life. I like the idea of historical fiction for children, but they are nowhere near as good as the original Horrible Histories. Recommended reading for children from the age of 7, and there are activities after each tale which can be part of lessons at school or at home.

​A collection of readable, fun stories.

These aren't the horrible histories of my childhood! The book is 4 short stories, each centred around a child. The true version is the explained at the end.

The stories wouldn't take long to read for a confident reader but might be more complicated for less-able readers. These might be better for children who are starting to get into history, as they're stories rather than facts.

I asked my son to read the books for his opinion, he tried and wasn't interested as it's not one of the usual horrible histories.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.