The Mirror and the Mage: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Master Mage of Rome)

Fourteen-year old Lucius Junius Brutus yearns to join the army of King Tarquin the Proud, Etruscan ruler of Rome. When he successfully swims the Tiber River before sundown on the longest day of the year, he counts on the King choosing him as a warrior. But Lucius' father has other plans: to make Lucius a priest and guardian of the dusty scrolls of Rome's legendary lawgiver, Numa Pompilius. Obeying his father, Lucius arrives at the shrine only to find it is a place of magic empowered by Numa's grammarly scrolls. If Lucius can master the scrolls' potential, he will not only defeat the human and ghostly forces that terrify and threaten Rome, he will become the master of the city and even the world. Can Lucius resist the temptation of becoming a king even prouder than Tarquin?

Lucius Junius Brutus is a young Roman yuppie-type who is destined for bigger things; while he wants to become trained as a warrior, but is obliged to enter the priesthood. He receives such training from two elders, Glyph and Logophilus, who teach him grammar and how to make it physically act in combatting monsters threatening Rome. He's taught to use a baculum, or a magical cane (think Moses' cane, the walking sticks in the Harry Potter series, and other such examples) which, accompanied by the proper use of Latin grammar, can be commanded to do spectacular things. Along with a girl, Demetria, Lucius is able to enter another reality through the device of a mirror. And this involves his ultimate quest, along with Glyph, Demetria, and the baculum.

Frauenfelder's story is ingeniously paced as the elders slowly push Lucius into grave danger--a danger that threatens his and the elders' well-being--as well as that of Rome. There's a preoccupation, as Frauenfelder unfurls his story, with Latin grammar that might well annoy casual readers, but I suspect that the author, who teaches Latin to gifted youth, has an academic agenda here--making Latin and its complex grammar seem less so by unfolding it within his story. And it's a story as charming as any in this genre.

My rating 18 of 20 stars. --Bob Mustin, award-winning author of "Gridley Fires" blog (bobmust.wordpress.com/).