Historical Fiction-Cleopatra's Daughter

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

Egyptian Royals Series #3

Summary:

When Marc Antony and Cleopatra die, their surviving children are left at the mercy of their enemy, Octavian. Their children are taken to Rome in chains and only two survive the journey, the ten-year-old twins, Selene and Alexander. Told from Selene's perspective this story details their time in Rome as "honored guests" of Octavian. As they grow up in Rome they are faced with many challenges from the personal ambitions of Octavian's family who view the twins as threats to political uprisings in which they become personally involved. Selene is charming and intelligent like her mother and works to secure a future for herself with Juba II, son of the defeated king of Numidia.

Characteristics of Historical Fiction:

• This story was very well researched and includes a lot of accurate historical detail, including the setting, (both briefly in Egypt at the beginning as well as in Rome) Historical events were also used in the story, such as two slave trials which were based on two such trials that happened in Ancient Rome. 
• The tone of this novel is at times light such as when Selene gets to work on her drawings and sketching or in their school but at most the tone is more serious as the fate of the children comes into question. 
• The story line of this story focuses mainly on Selene's journey with brief instances of the other characters who interact with her. This novel also raises the moral issues of slavery in Ancient Rome and how Selene especially wants to change that, along with Juba. 
• Almost all of the characters, especially the main ones, were real and they do fit the time in which the story takes place. Whereas some might find Selene's education too advanced for a woman, we are reminded that she is the daughter of the woman who was considered one of the most learned women of her time. They were not allowed to be children and had to live in an adult world from a very young age, which is shown in the novel so it makes those parts fit within the story and time period. The characters' actions fit with the historical times and the details of that time period. The actions that Selene takes through the novel makes sense within not only the historical setting but also that of her character. She is portrayed as intelligent and bold and her actions fit those descriptions. 
• This novel is longer but it is a fast-paced and very intriguing story that pulls the reader in. Years pass within this novel but it never gets dull or boring. There is a great balance of historical detail and the plot of the story. One never over powers the other.
• While much of the novel is accurate and "authentic" the author took creative liberties with a few aspects to make it a better reading experience, such as changing wording to better fit what a modern reader is familiar with, such as using books instead of codices or changing the Roman practice of kicking doors as opposed to knocking on them. 

Read-a-likes:

Adult:

Fiction:

• Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran (The first two books in this series which detail the life of the famous queens Nefertiti (step-mother of King Tut) and Nefertari (niece of Nefertiti and wife of Ramesses the Great)
• Lily of the Nile (Cleopatra's Daughter #1) by Stephanie Dray (Details Selene in Rome but with a fantasy aspect as she has powers which the ruler wants to use for his own gains as she fights to see her mother's dreams for Egypt come true.)

Non-Fiction:

• Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day by Philip Matyszak (Ancient Rome)
• Plutarch's Lives, Volume 2 (Modern Library Classics) by Plutarch (Historical figures of Ancient Rome)

Online resource:

• http://www.michellemoran.com/books/cleopatra/background.html This is a great resource, not only about how Moran went about writing the book but also about the research she did. There is ton of awesome information. She has this type of information for her other books too. I found it fascinating.

My opinion of Cleopatra's Daughter:

I absolutely loved this novel! Normally I lean more toward romance because historical fiction can sometimes get really bogged down with all the detail but Michelle Moran does a great job of finding that balance between the detail and the plot. I really loved the first two in this trilogy too so these are three I would recommend to anyone interested in historical fiction or Ancient Egypt and Rome. I've always been interested in Ancient Egypt but this was the first I had heard of Selene and I thought it was great!