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Loading... Lily of the Nileby Stephanie Dray
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I didn't finish it after getting about halfway through. Though it's well-written, it is more YA than I like. Also, I had to keep reminding myself that Selene is only a child because she acts so mature until suddenly she does something so childish that it's jarring. Historically, it seems to be accurate, notwithstanding the arcane aspects that one doesn't usually find in straight historical fiction. I absolutely loved this book! I really liked the historical aspect of it and how it stuck very closely to real events. This book was a beautifully written, realistic novel about a fascinating historical character! I felt like I was being dragged along the streets of Rome right with Selene! I loved how realistic her thoughts and feelings were especially regarding her mother and father. I feel like I was able to share in her thoughts because they were so well laid out. I also liked the religious/spiritual undertone/theme and how in the story Isis says she is all goddesses which touches on pluralism. I feel like this should be on everyone's reading list and would recommend it to almost anyone! I can not wait to read the sequel! This book tells the story of what happened after Cleopatra took her life from her daughters view. It follows Selene, her twin Helios, and their younger brother as they are taken by Octavian to Rome. The story follows Selene as she struggles with the loss of everything she knew and how to keep true to herself in the face of so much change. This book was wonderful. I loved Selene. I loved watching her grow into herself throughout the course of this book and find her inner strength despite being torn and scared. I love a character who actually is forced to grow throughout a book and Stephanie Dray did an amazing job with this portrayal of Selene Cleopatra. I have also always had a love for all things ancient and a fascination with Cleopatra's story. Another strong point for this book is how beautifully the world of ancient times is brought to life. It was detailed without being overdone and I could picture clearly the world they were in. Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, is brought to Rome as a captive and brought up in Augustus's household by his sister, Antony's Roman wife. Can she live, love, and learn as Isis commands? The author knows her history and has written a convincing captive's viewpoint of Augustus's Rome, but I found her account of Isis worship and insistence on Selene's importance in history less convincing. Despite that, it's a great story and I shall certainly read the rest of the trilogy. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Series
The extraordinary daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony seeks to reclaim her birthright in the first novel of an epic historical fiction trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of America's First Daughter. With both of her parents dead, Princess Selene and her two surviving brothers are left at the mercy of their captors, taken from Egypt and put on display as war trophies in Rome. Trapped in an empire that reviles her heritage and suspects her faith, Selene struggles for survival in a court of intrigue. She can't hide the hieroglyphics that carve themselves into her hands, nor can she stop the emperor from using her powers for his own ends. Faced with a new and ruthless Caesar who is obsessed with having a Cleopatra of his very own, Selene is determined to resurrect her mother's dreams and succeed where she failed. But there's no telling what success will cost her in a treacherous political game where the only rule is win or die. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Ho-hum. Another book about Cleopatra ...
But this YA adult book really was good. It's a magical book with more than a touch of the supernatural. ( )