“Sienkiewicz seems to be quite knowledgeable in this area of history. He is able to introduce you to characters you've learned about in a completely different way, while at the same time showing you new characters which make the story easier to be in touch with. I find that, as in other books, there are two topics which are highlighted quite a bit in the story: romance (which is not unusual in any book) and the bloodthirstiness of mankind. The problem with Sienkiewicz's romance is that, should you read more than one book of his, the relationships are all the same. Boy meets girl, they automatically fall in love, there is tons of stuff that seems like it is working against their getting married, and then in the end they get married. All the girls are the same in the different stories; the guys change a bit, but not that much.
Sienkiewicz is right about how mankind is naturally somewhat bloodthirsty, though one cringes at the chapter-long, detailed descriptions of a massacre or how the crowd goes crazy in want of blood or some living thing to tear apart. My cousin read a section out of the middle of Ogniem i Mieczem (With Fire and Sword) by Sienkiewicz, and she got a horrible impression of him!
Wow, this turned out long. As for Quo Vadis, not all of Sienkiewicz's works together, the book is, surprisingly, a page-turner. There are lots of unique and touching relationships, such as that between the protagonist's love and her servant. I think that Sienkiewicz should have spoken a bit more about the apostle Peter before telling of his crucifixion, though I understand how it would have been hard to talk about the personality of a far, far-back historical character, at a time when personalities weren't recorded as much as they were in George Washington's time, or someone like that. ”