Author: Stephanie Dray
Source: Library after reading about it on The Ecclectic Reader blog
Goodreads Summary:
To Isis worshippers, Princess Selene and her twin brother Helios embody the divine celestial pair who will bring about a Golden Age. But when Selene's parents are vanquished by Rome, her auspicious birth becomes a curse. Trapped in an empire that reviles her heritage and suspects her faith, the young messianic princess struggles for survival in a Roman 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. But 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. Can she succeed where her mother failed? And what will it cost her in a political game where the only rule is win-or die?
My thoughts:
I am a huge fan of historical fiction, and I completely loved this book. I read it, and wanted to know more about Cleopatra Selene and her brothers, and to me that is testimony that a book has captured your interest, if you read it and want to read whatever you can about the same subject, fiction or non. It doesn't suprise me that I liked it, I loved Margaret George's Memoirs of Cleopatra, and I read that Dray was inspired to write Lily of the Nile after she read The Memoirs of Cleopatra.
I loved how the Dray balanced the historical with the magical elements- I think the magic bits were perfectly handled and not out of place or too over the top. I also thought the characters were written very well, and right from the start I cared about them. Their emotions were so real, and their situation so awful! To be the hope of the people yet in essence, prisoners to Octavian. And the end was amazing- Cleopatra Selene proved beyond a doubt that she was Cleopatra's daughter.
I can't wait to read the second one in this series, Song of the Nile, which I won in a giveaway from The Eclectic Reader!
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