‘Remember Pompeii’ by Kika Emers: review

★★★

A fascinating fantasy novel centred around a teenage girl, and her fierce dedication to mend her broken family at any cost. Kali is not like any other girl in that she is part of the powerful ‘Wanshiqi’- a race of immortal beings who can take any form they wish. Due to past events in her reincarnations, Kali believes her resisting coming of age will reverse the issues between her mother and father, and between her parents and herself.

The characters in the novel weren’t too strongly written, apart from Hunter (Kali’s life partner), Kali’s parents and her grandfather (her father’s father). These characters were incredibly compelling. Written within a powerful world with Mandarin Chinese terms peppered through, this book made for a great and slightly unique read. The writing style was clear and very straight-forward. The main character references places and things she’s seen in her thousands of lifetimes, and discusses time in an odd, but somewhat natural way:

• And there’s Dad. I haven’t gotten an email from him in days. […] I haven’t seen him in months. Because I haven’t done anything bad enough to warrant his attention.

For 200 lifetimes, I’ve craved my father’s attention.

• Nothing has changed.

But everything has changed.

The title of the novel itself was intriguing and hinted at the main plot of the book. As you get more into the book, you will realise that there is a so much more at stake in the Wanshiqi world; and as the story progresses, it is revealed and this makes you want to keep reading to see how it all plays out.

Another quote from the book:

• “Hurt me?” she dismissed my warning and a victorious smile slithered across her face. She opened the door and made her death a necessity.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy of this novel.