Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran is a historical fiction novel centered around Cleopatra Selene after Octavian has ended Ptolemy rule in Egypt. Her mother and father have both committed suicide and she is taken to Rome. While in Rome, Selene and her twin brother Alexander are taken to live with Octavian's sister, Octavia. Although both twins attempt to build a life in Rome, their goal is to eventually make it back home and take their rightful place on the throne of Egypt. This was a re-read for me and I definitely think I enjoyed it more the first time. Since I was already familiar with the story, I was able to see a handful of flaws I had completely ignored the first time. For one, the dialogue in this book is pretty choppy and honestly, I can't tell if it's supposed to fit with the late BC time period or the author just doesn't know what a ten-year-old sounds like . More often than not, the dialogue seemed to be there to share trivia with the reader rather than to reveal something about a particular character or relationship. For this reason, I felt a lot of the characters spoke exactly the same, regardless of age, rank, or gender (all three should have a significant impact on speech patterns).Another issue I had with this book was that I didn't particularly like any of the characters. I am well aware how subjective this is but it definitely impeded my ability to connect with the characters and the story. I found the narrator and her group of friends to be spoiled, ungrateful, and slightly annoying. Despite all of the tragic things that happen to her, every time she complains, instead of being sympathetic, I perceived her as being whiny. Julia also rubbed me the wrong way. She is a pampered princess but still spends most of her time being jealous of Selene. She comes across as very selfish and says whatever pleases her without any regard for how it will effect others, which is probably why I couldn't find it in myself to feel sorry for her. One thing I can say about the characters in general is that they are all relatively flat. There isn't any depth to anyone in this novel. Julia is the spoiled princess, Marcellus the spoiled prince, Livia the jealous bitch, and so on. But almost nothing bothers me more than the ending. Without spoiling anything, I just want to say it felt like it comes out of nowhere. At first I ignored it, thinking that if I were to go back and reread it, I would catch all the clever clues I missed but I was disappointed to see that there are none. It felt like it should have added a sense of closure but it's too rushed and doesn't accomplish what it was supposed to.Despite these shortcomings, one thing I really did enjoy about this book (both times around) was, ironically it's slice-of-life atmosphere. I expected this book to be more adventurous the first time I read it but instead found it to be much more calm, in spite of the rebel "Red Eagle" plot scattered about the novel. It made the book a lighter read (something I could pick up when I didn't want to deal with exams or papers). If I were to recommend this book to anyone it would be to younger readers and people who are newer to the historical fiction genre. I really enjoyed the book being set in Rome, but I found the plot lines not as gripping as in Nefertiti or The Heretic Queen. It was drawn-out, and I actually found the quick summary at the end of the book about what happened to the characters after the story ended was far more interesting than the story itself. The main characters showed little sign of having been affected by the traumatic events they endured and were not fully-fledged. Selene was quite annoying, actually.
What do You think about Cleopatra's Daughter (2009)?
I really connected with the characters. Loved how the story took place where everyone else left off.
—divide
Having traveled to Rome this summer, I enjoyed reading Cleopatra's Daughter with its Roman setting.
—kimberley
I love everything Michelle Moran writes. I wish my library had more of her work!
—Graaf1709
I really like Michelle Moran and her way of writing historical fiction.
—jrparis237
