Readers will enjoy what is still a romantic and exciting story, but with the tease of such rich material they’ll miss the...
Following in a parent’s footsteps is never easy…especially when your parents are Cleopatra and Mark Antony.
From the little known about the lives of Cleopatra Selene and her two brothers, taken to Rome after the deaths of their parents to live in the emperor’s compound, Shecter has written an entertaining but ultimately thin first novel. The first-person narration follows Cleopatra Selene from age 7 to 16 as she grows politically savvy, falls in love and sets her own course. The author has written nonfiction books for children about this era (Cleopatra Rules!, 2010, etc.), and here the historical context and characters are well drawn. The sadistic family plotting in Octavianus’ compound makes for intriguing storytelling, and Cleopatra Selene’s loneliness, terror and ultimate bravery are well developed. Yet she’s just not believable as a brainy 25th-century-BCE princess, exhibiting a 21st-century naïveté (especially regarding espionage) and the subtlety of a school bus. Conversations with her beloved introduce the audience to philosophical concepts of Stoicism, free will and women’s rights, but there’s almost an avoidance of issues of slavery and sovereignty, for all their essential part in the plot.
Readers will enjoy what is still a romantic and exciting story, but with the tease of such rich material they’ll miss the meatiness of such storytellers as Katherine Sturtevant, Megan Whalen Turner or Robin McKinley. (character list, author’s note) (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-545-22130-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
The sequel to Sphinx's Princess (2009) is an ancient Egyptian soap opera starring Nefertiti as a mouthy, gutsy teen. Accompanied by her trusty slave Nava and her gentle swain Prince Amenophis, she must prove her valor and cunning in a series of adventures outwitting her beloved’s brother, the malicious Prince Thutmose. In florid prose, Friesner draws Thutmose as a duplicitous villain whose evil deeds are both violent and cruel, aided and abetted by his formidable mother, the Queen. Nefertiti’s nemesis is somehow redeemed when, despondent over the failure of his nefarious plots, he takes to his bed to starve himself and Nefertiti is inspired to forgive him. Her whiplash-inducing reversal tests the bounds of credulity but provides a feel-good tool for wrapping up loose plot threads. The dialogue is stiff and self-conscious, and the characters have distinctly anachronistic attitudes toward issues like slavery and feminism, but readers with a predilection for ancient mythology viewed through the lens of modern mores may enjoy this fantastical read, once they've tied an extra knot or two in the rope that suspends their disbelief. (map, afterword) (Historical fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-375-85657-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
Nineteenth-century tomboy Louisa Cosgrove wants to study medicine, but after her indulgent father's death, that dream seems impossibly distant. Her mother dispatches her to family friends, but Louisa never arrives. Instead, she is taken to Wildthorn Hall, an insane asylum. The staff insist her name is Lucy Childs, and her treatment ranges from the relatively benign (tranquilizers) to the horrific (sensory deprivation). The mystery of Louisa's incarceration is revealed through alternating chapters of her present and childhood: Like many of her fellow "patients," Louisa's been committed for being a troublesome woman. Luckily, her family doesn't know of those tendencies that would make her utterly irredeemable—her overly fond feelings for her beautiful cousin Grace. Unlike many of the other inmates, who seem to develop mental illness from the cruelty of their surroundings, Louisa is determined to escape, perhaps with the help of a lovely asylum employee, Eliza. Despite a too-pat ending, Louisa and Eliza provide a window into a shameful history of mental health care and women's incarceration that only ended in living memory. (Historical fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-547-37017-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2010
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