Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran

Finally!  A book I’ve enjoyed.  I haven’t been posting many reviews because I haven’t been finishing any books due to disinterest.  And the ones I have been able to finish, I haven’t really liked either so I haven’t posted that many reviews this summer.

This one is about Cleopatra’s daughter (duh!).  After Egypt is conquered by the Romans, Selene and Alexander, Cleopatra’s twins are taken to Rome and become part of Caesar’s family.  It tells the story from Selene’s point of view, from entering Rome for the first time and adjusting to the different culture and way of life to yearning to return to Egypt and losing people she loves.

This is the first of Moran’s books that I’ve read and I can’t wait to read more.  I’ve read a lot of Colleen McCullough’s books and there is a significant amount of overlap in the time line but McCullough’s books are more epic than Cleopatra’s Daughter is, which I liked. Instead of trying to tell a story that takes place over several decades she stuck to a relatively small time period and it worked.  I love reading books that take place in ancient Rome and Egypt.  It’s so fun to imagine what it must have been like to live back then.

I liked the writing style as well.  Moran didn’t try to explain every little thing about how society and politics worked.  Instead she showed the reader through the plot.  And the characters seemed very real to me (maybe because I know that they were real at some point) but Moran did a good job of bringing these ancient rulers to life.

If you like historical fiction, I would definitely recommend this one.