Cleopatra's shadows
Ratings2
Average rating2.5
15
Ratings2
Average rating2.5
Reimagines the beginnings of Cleopatra's epic saga through the eyes of her younger sister. Reading-group guide available.
Abandoned by her beloved sister Cleopatra and an indifferent father, young Arsinoe must fight for her survival in the bloodthirsty royal court when her half-sister Berenice seizes Egypt's throne. To survive, she escapes the palace for the war-torn streets of Alexandria. When their deposed father Ptolemy marches on the city with a Roman army, both daughters must decide where their allegiances truly lie, and Arsinoe grapples with the truth: that the only way to survive her dynasty is to rule it.
Reviews with the most likes.
This is an unusual take on a Cleopatra-era historical fiction about Ancient Egypt, in that Cleopatra herself barely features as a player in the drama. Instead, it concerns itself with the story of her older sister, Berenice, and younger sister, Arsinoe, during the brief reign of the former prior to the death of Cleopatra's father. I appreciated that it was a side of the story we rarely see considered, and it was written well enough to keep my attention and interest though wasn't more than solid-to-good
I'm clearly I the minority here but I just found this very dull. Clearly it was well researched but the endless references to ancient literature really didn't add anything. The idea of writing from 2 different perspectives was interesting but ultimately I felt that it just interfered with the pace of the story telling, not that there was much of a story to tell.
