Rating: 4.5 /5
Goodreads Summary:
"The Luxe" meets the ancient world in the extraordinary story of Cleopatra's daughter.
Selene has grown up in a palace on the Nile with her parents, Cleopatra & Mark Antony--the most brilliant, powerful rulers on earth. But the jealous Roman Emperor Octavianus wants Egypt for himself, & when war finally comes, Selene faces the loss of all she's ever loved. Forced to build a new life in Octavianus's household in Rome, she finds herself torn between two young men and two possible destinies--until she reaches out to claim her own.
This stunning novel brings to life the personalities & passions of one of the greatest dramas in history, & offers a wonderful new heroine in Selene.
My Review:
I got this book a couple of years ago from my sister, she knew how much I love the story of Cleopatra and her alliance with Caesar and then Marcus Antonius so I was meaning to read it for so long and then it just got lost in the shuffle but when a quarterly challenge called for a book that has been sitting on my TBR shelf for longer than 6 months I went to this one straight away and I am very glad I did. I have heard and seen many different versions of the Cleopatra story both fiction and non-fiction and this was the first time I have seen it told from this point of view. It was a very different way of telling the rise of Rome and the fall of Egypt, telling this kind of political struggle form the thoughts of a young girl was something I had never thought of but I am glad Shecter did cause I really enjoyed it.
Young Cleopatra Selene the daughter of one of the worlds most powerful Rulers and a powerful solider and political figure of Rome is left to face the consequences of her parents and is shipped of to Rome were more death and tragedy are waiting but through it all she holds strong to her devotion to her parents but especially her mother, she is determined to make it home to Egypt and rule like her mother. I admired her strength and after everything she had to go through I was glad that the ending was one I had longed for and she may not have gotten the ending she thought she deserved she did get a small victory that I hope kept her at least content the rest of her life.
My favorite part of the whole book was the authors notes at the end about Juba and Cleopatra Selene and other characters of the story and how she wove the fact with the fiction. Overall I really liked this book but I gave it 4.5 just because one or two parts dragged for me but otherwise fantastic book that fulfilled the history buff in me while also satisfying the hopeless romantic in there too.
Nice review!
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