Cleopatra's Daughter Review!

Title: Cleopatra's Daughter
Author: Michelle Moran
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: September 15, 2009 
Pages: 448
My Edition: Hardback
Reading Level: Young Adult/Adult
Where I got it: Michelle and Random House 

Summary from Michelle's website:

The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands as the triumphant armies of Antony’s vengeful rival, Octavian, sweep into Egypt.  Their three orphaned children are taken in chains to Rome, but only two—the ten-year-old twins Selene and Alexander—survive the journey. Delivered to the household of Octavian’s sister, the siblings cling to each other and to the hope that they will return one day to their rightful place on the throne of Egypt. As they come of age, they are buffeted by the personal ambitions of Octavian’s family and court, by the ever-present threat of slave rebellion, and by the longings and desires deep within their own hearts.
The fateful tale of Selene and Alexander is brought brilliantly to life in Cleopatra’s Daughter.  Recounted in Selene’s youthful and engaging voice, it introduces a compelling cast of historical characters:
Octavia: the emperor Octavian’s kind and compassionate sister, abandoned by Marc Antony for Cleopatra
Livia: Octavian’s bitter and jealous wife
Marcellus: Octavian’s handsome, flirtatious nephew and heir-apparent
Tiberius: Livia’s sardonic son and Marcellus’s great rival for power
Juba: Octavian’s ever-watchful aide, whose honored position at court has far-reaching effects on the lives of the young Egyptian royals
Selene’s narrative is animated by the concerns of a young girl in any time and place  —the possibility of finding love, the pull of friendship and family, and the pursuit of her unique interests and talents. While coping with the loss of both her family and her ancestral kingdom, Selene must find a path around the dangers of a foreign land. Her accounts of life in Rome are filled with historical details that vividly capture both the glories and horrors of the time. She dines with the empire’s most illustrious poets and politicians, witnesses the creation of the Pantheon, and navigates the colorful, crowded marketplaces of the city where Roman-style justice is meted out with merciless authority.
Based on meticulous research, Cleopatra’s Daughter is a fascinating portrait of Imperial Rome and of the people and events of this glorious and tumultuous period in human history. Emerging from the shadows of history, Selene, a young woman of irresistible charm and preternatural intelligence, will capture your heart. 

Review *minor spoiler alert*: 
Wow, I loved Cleopatra's Daughter so much! The characters make you just fall in love with the story, and I felt such a bind to Selene and Alexander when they become orphaned and taken from their beloved kingdom. You will feel for them as the their little brother dies and left as the only remaining Ptolemy heirs. Even though I knew little of the history the story wasn't very hard to understand. Michelle Moran explains everything (list of characters, glossary, and list of events) so perfectly you don't really have to know anything of the history. 

The ending was very sad, but then becomes very happy. I cried a little towards the end, but I won't say why...so I don't ruin the story for you. I loved and hated many characters throughout the book which says a lot about the greatness of the writing. Even though the main character Selene is only 12 in the beginning, she never acts that young, and it never seems like you are reading about a child. At the end, she turns 15 and has her perfect ending. I can't wait to read other books by Michelle Moran. She made this Historical Novel fun to read and I wish it had never ended!


Rating:

The Best and Worst of Covers (8)

Every Saturday, I post one book cover I love and one cover I dislike of books I've read. I include information for each book: the edition, summary, publisher, number of pages, reading level, and my thoughts of the cover. I've decided against using the word "hate" because it's a very strong negative word. Since I don't really hate the covers, I dislike some of them, so I'll be using "dislike" instead. This week the cover I love is Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran, and the cover I dislike is The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. The book summaries are from Amazon.

The Cover I Love: 
Title: Cleopatra's Daughter
Author: Michelle Moran
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: September 15, 2009
Pages: 448
Edition: Hardback
Reading Level: Young Adult/Adult

Summary:
After the death of their parents, twins Alexander and Selene and younger brother Ptolemy are in a dangerous position, left to the mercy of their father's greatest rival, Octavian Caesar. However, Caesar does not kill them as expected, but takes the trio to Rome to be paraded as part of his triumphant return and to demonstrate his solidified power. As the twins adapt to life in Rome in the inner circle of Caesar's family, they grow into adulthood ensconced in a web of secrecy, intrigue and constant danger. Told from Selene's perspective, the tale draws readers into the fascinating world of ancient Rome and into the court of Rome's first and most famous emperor. Deftly encompassing enough political history to provide context, Moran never clutters her narrative with extraneous facts. Readers may be frustrated that Selene is more observer than actor, despite the action taking place around her, but historical fiction enthusiasts will delight in this solid installment from a talented name in the genre.

Thoughts of the Cover:

The cover of Cleopatra's Daughter is just so beautiful! I love the way the woman looks and how she's dressed. All the colors go so well together, and the bottom gold border is very nice and shiny when you see it physically in your hands.. The reds and golds make the cover look so perfect and very royal. It is the perfect cover to such an amazing book. I'm so close to finishing and can't wait to know the ending! My review should probably be up sometime tomorrow. The paperback doesn't come out for a while, actually it doesn't even have a release date yet, but it's cover is so gorgeous. All the gold is what makes these covers so great and beautiful. I highly recommend reading it!

The Cover I Dislike:
Title: Sisterhood of the Traveling of the Pants
Author: Ann Brashares
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 11, 2003
Pages: 336
Edition: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
 
Summary:
They were just a soft, ordinary pair of thrift-shop jeans until the four girls took turns trying them on--four girls, that is, who are close friends, about to be parted for the summer, with very different sizes and builds, not to mention backgrounds and personalities. Yet the pants settle on each girl's hips perfectly, making her look sexy and long-legged and feel confident as a teenager can feel. "These are magical Pants!" they realize, and so they make a pact to share them equally, to mail them back and forth over the summer from wherever they are. Beautiful, distant Lena is going to Greece to be with her grandparents; strong, athletic Bridget is off to soccer camp in Baja, California; hot-tempered Carmen plans to have her divorced father all to herself in South Carolina; and Tibby the rebel will be left at home to slave for minimum wage at Wallman's.

Over the summer the Pants come to represent the support of the sisterhood, but they also lead each girl into bruising and ultimately healing confrontations with love and courage, dying and forgiveness. Lena finds her identity in Greece and the courage not to reject love; Bridget gets in over her head with an older camp coach; Carmen finds her father ensconced with a new fiancée and family; and Tibby unwillingly takes on a filmmaking apprentice who is dying of leukemia. Each girl's story is distinct and engrossing, told in a brightly contemporary style. Like the Pants, the reader bounces back and forth among the four unfolding adventures, and the melange is spiced with letters and witty quotes.

Thoughts of the Cover:
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book cover could have been a lot more attractive. The pants used on the cover are actually pretty ugly and very plain. Also, the colors aren't really the greatest either; they are pretty dull. The book, however, is a great read and very funny. The only thing I really like the about the cover is that the background has all their names in this shiny color which looks pretty cool when you pick it up. The movie paperback cover is pretty cute, and a lot better than the original cover. The movie is really good, and the actresses who played the best friends were perfect. I wish the cover could've been almost as great as the book.

What are your thoughts on these covers?

IMMB (10)

The IMMB meme was started by The Story Siren. This week I received many awesome things. From swagbucks.com, I cashed in 45 swagbucks for a $5 Amazon card, so I picked out two bargain books, Cruel Summer and Secrets of My Hollywood Life, for 7 bucks! I won a hardback copy of A Map of the Known World which looks amazing and some Dust of Dogs bookmarks. Also, the amazingly generous Michelle Moran sent me a Romain bronze coin minted during the 2nd-4th century A.D.! The book summaries below are from Amazon.


Cruel Summer 
By: Alyson Noel
Seventeen-year-old Colby Cavendish's plans are tossed overboard when her parents decide she should spend the summer with her aunt on a remote Greek island. They are jeopardizing her hard-won spot as ultracool Amanda's "new best friend," and now that she's hooked up with hottie Levi Bonham, how is she supposed to hang on to him? Crazy Aunt Tally, who talks to her plants and sells handmade jewelry, doesn't have a cell phone, TV, or Internet access. Colby's feelings and experiences are relayed through clever, but sometimes typographically confusing, emails, journal entries, letters, postcards, and a "Cruel Summer" blog. (The island has an Internet café.) The story is one of understandable teen frustration and resentment: adults don't make sense to her, and she's insecure about her new social status. She's far away from the usual connections, electronic and otherwise, that she and many comfortably middle-class, modern American teens rely on. An islander, Yannis, complicates her feelings for Levi, and Colby finds herself becoming involved, against her will, in the rhythms and lifestyle of this charming, remote place. 


A Map of the Known World 
By: Lisa Ann Sandell
Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt suffocated by her small town and high school. She seeks solace in drawing beautiful maps, envisioning herself in exotic locales. When Cora begins to fall for Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died, she uncovers her brother's secret artistic life and realizes she had more in common with him than she ever imagined. With stunning lyricism, Sandell weaves a tale of one girl's journey through the redemptive powers of art, friendship, and love. They say no land remains to be discovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for me. I want to do things-I want to walk the rain-soaked streets of London, and drink mint tea in Casablanca. I want to wander the wastelands of the Gobi desert and see a yak. I think my life's ambition is to see a yak. I want to bargain for trinkets in an Arab market in some distant, dusty land. There's so much. But, most of all, I want to do things that will mean something.

Secrets of My Hollywood Life
By: Jen Calonita
Kaitlin Burke is an overworked teen celebrity who thinks it would be cool to be ordinary for a couple of months. She also wants to get away from her competitive costar, Sky Mackenzie, who has been making her life difficult. After a bit of brainstorming, she decides to enroll, incognito, in her friend Liz's high school. During the next few weeks, she discovers how nice it is to have friends who like her for who she is–or appears to be–rather than because she's famous. She even starts a relationship with Austin, a nice boy who, ironically, has a crush on Kaitlin Burke, but hasn't a clue that he's dating her. Things go awry when Sky is asked to host the school's spring fling, which has a Hollywood theme. Everyone dresses as a celebrity, and Kaitlin ends up going as herself. While at the dance, Sky nastily unveils Kaitlin's secret. It's not surprising that her friends, especially Austin, feel betrayed, but she manages to redeem herself in the end. 

ENTER MY CONTEST FOR TWO BOOKS!

Tomorrow is the last day to enter my contest for two of Michelle Moran's books! Go HERE to enter : D I will pick the 2 winners by random.org on the 11th, so hop to it and enter NOW!

Q & A with Michell Moran!

Author of the upcoming novel Cleopatra's Daughter Michelle Moran below answered a few questions. I'm already hosting a contest for two of her books HERE. Michelle Moran was born in the San Fernando Valley, CA. She took an interest in writing from an early age, purchasing Writer's Market and submitting her stories and novellas to publishers from the time she was twelve. When she was accepted into Pomona College she took as many classes as possible in British Literature, particularly Milton, Chaucer, and the Bard. Not surprisingly, she majored in English while she was there. Following a summer in Israel where she worked as a volunteer archaeologist, she earned an MA from the Claremont Graduate University. Without further ado below are Questions and Answers with Michelle Moran!

Q: What prompted you to write a novel about Cleopatra’s daughter?
A:  I do a great deal of traveling both for research and for fun, and most of my destinations are archaeological sites. On a trip to Alexandria in Egypt, I was afforded the amazing opportunity of participating in a dive to see the submerged remains of Cleopatra’s ancient city. More than ten thousand artifacts remain completely preserved underwater: sphinxes, amphorae, even the stones of the ancient palace. Although I'm not a fan of diving, it was an incredible experience, and it changed the way I looked at Cleopatra. I immediately wanted to know more about her life, and it was mere coincidence that my next trip took me to Italy, where her ten year-old children were brought to live after her suicide. While in Rome, I was able to retrace her daughter's steps, and upon seeing where her daughter had lived on the Palatine, I knew I had my next novel.

Q: What was it like to walk where Selene walked? In particular, what was it like to visit Octavian’s villa?
A: Unbelievable. For two thousand years, Octavian’s villa has sprawled across the top of the Palatine Hill, slowly deteriorating. At one time, its vibrantly painted dining room had hosted magnificent feasts, one of which would have been the celebration of the emperor’s triumph over Marc Antony and Cleopatra in Egypt. As the heir to Caesar, Octavian was determined to rule the western world without interference. He changed his name to Augustus, and with the help of his general Agrippa and his architect Vitruvius, he turned a city of clay into a city of marble.

I had known all of this on that day in March when the villa was opened for the first time in more than a century. What I hadn’t known, however, was just how unbelievable that trip back into the world of ancient Rome would be. After three million dollars in restoration, Italian archaeologists have been able to recreate not just the intimate library and studies Augustus used, but the mosaic floors he once walked on and the vividly painted ceilings he once walked beneath with Ovid, Seneca, Cicero, Horace, and even Julius Caesar himself. As we were quickly escorted through the frescoed rooms, we stopped in the triclinium – the dining room which had once seen so many famous faces smiling, laughing, even crying for mercy. With a little imagination, it was easy to see the tables and couches that had once adorned the chamber, and there was the undeniable feeling of standing in the presence of the ancients. It was the kind of feeling you only get in Grecian temples or Egyptian tombs.

Q: In all three of your novels, your narrators have been teenage girls. Is there are reason for this?
A:  Actually, yes. I like to begin my novels during the time of greatest transition in a person’s life. And in the ancient world, the greatest transition in a woman’s life was often the time when she was married. Because women married at much younger ages two thousand years ago (twelve years old was not uncommon), my narrators have all been very young girls. In fact, Random House will be making a concerted effort to market Cleopatra's Daughter to young adults as well as adults. However, as my novels progress through time (my next book, for example, will be about Madame Tussaud), my narrators will be older.

Q: Is the Red Eagle based on an historical person?
A:  Yes. The Red Eagle is actually based on several men who led slave rebellions (unsuccessfully, I might add) against Rome. Spartacus led the most famous revolt, but there were other men too, such as Salvius, who waged war with his army of slaves in ancient Sicily.

Q: You write in your acknowledgements page that the character of the Red Eagle is an homage to the works of several authors. What made you decide to do this?
A: Creative as well as personal reasons. First, I wanted to create a character that fans of swashbuckling adventures might love, and it wasn’t at all difficult to find historical personalities on which to base such a hero. Men like Spartacus and Salvius were heroes in the truest sense of the word. But I didn’t want there to be too much action, and certainly not so much that it would detract from the real story – that of Selene and her twin brother Alexander growing up in a foreign court. I could certainly have chosen not to include anything as obviously fictitious as the Red Eagle. But I wanted to illustrate just how threatening slave rebellions were at that time, and how ever-present the danger of becoming a slave would have been, even to captured royalty. And the creation of the Red Eagle wasn’t a huge stretch. Many rebels who came before – and after – the Red Eagle employed similar tactics: rousing the plebs, arming the slaves, and encouraging those in servitude to passive resistance.

On a more personal note, however, I wanted to include the Red Eagle because I knew it would be a character my father would have loved. He devoured anything having to do with ancient Rome, and I deeply regret not having written this while he was still alive.

Q: Was a third of Rome’s population really enslaved?
A:  Sadly, yes. And you didn’t have to be born a slave to become one. You could be kidnapped and sold into slavery, your city could be overrun and you could be turned into a slave, or you might be sold into servitude by your own parents. Slavery meant an absolute loss of every human right we now take for granted, and as a slave, your body was no longer your own. Many slaves were physically and sexually abused, regardless of age or gender.

Q: Where did these slaves come from?
A:  Many were Gallics and Greeks. The Gallics were from Gaul, a region which now encompasses France, Belgium, parts of Switzerland, and Germany.

Q: When did slavery end?
A: It hasn't. In the Western World, it was slowly - very slowly - phased out with the coming of Christianity (which was one of the reasons Christianity flourished… it appealed to the disenfranchised and enslaved, making everyone equal if not on earth than in the next life). But slavery certainly hasn't ended for everyone. There are women and children who are ensalved today, even in America and Europe. Of course, this isn't legal. Many of these victims of modern-day human trafficking have been brought over from places like Albania or Algeria and have no resources to escape. That's why organizations such as STOP International exist. You can visit them here.

Q: Is it still possible to visit the places Selene visited when she was in Rome?
A: Yes. In 2008, I went on a photographic safari in search of the places Selene would have gone during the brief years she was in Rome. Many of the photos are included here!

Q: What are you working on next? Will it also be marketed to both adults and YA?

A: Actually, my next book will be firmly adult fiction. MASKS OF THE REVOLUTION is about Madame Tussaud, who joined the gilded but troubled court of Marie Antoinette, and survived the French Revolution only by creating death masks of the beheaded aristocracy. I’m very excited about this novel, since Marie (the first name of Madame Tussaud) met absolutely everyone, from Jefferson to the Empress Josephine. 

My First Contest!!

Hey everyone, I'm holding my first contest! Author Michelle Moran and Random House have two books to give to two winners. The two books are a paperback copy of The Heretic Queen as well as a hardcover of Cleopatra's Daughter which comes out September 19, 2009. Here are the summaries from Michelle's website:

The Heretic Queen summary:

In ancient Egypt, a forgotten princess must overcome her family’s past, and remake history.
The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the 18th dynasty’s royal family—all with the exception of Nefertari, niece of the reviled former queen Nefertiti. The girl’s deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. A relic of a previous reign, Nefertari is pushed aside, an unimportant princess left to run wild in the palace. But all of this changes when she is taken under the wing of pharaoh’s aunt, and brought to the Temple of Hathor where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen.
Soon Nefertari catches the eye of the crown prince, and despite her family’s history, they fall in love and wish to marry. Yet all of Egypt opposes this union between the rising star of a new dynasty and the fading star of an old, heretical one. While political adversity sets the country on edge, Nefertari becomes the wife of Ramesses the Great. Destined to be the most powerful pharaoh in Egypt, he is also the man who must confront the most famous exodus in history.
Cleopatra's Daughter summary:

The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands as the triumphant armies of Antony’s vengeful rival, Octavian, sweep into Egypt. Their three orphaned children are taken in chains to Rome, but only two—the ten-year-old twins Selene and Alexander—survive the journey. Delivered to the household of Octavian’s sister, the siblings cling to each other and to the hope that they will return one day to their rightful place on the throne of Egypt. As they come of age, they are buffeted by the personal ambitions of Octavian’s family and court, by the ever-present threat of slave rebellion, and by the longings and desires deep within their own hearts.

To enter you have to answer the question: What was the most exciting thing you did this summer? Please leave your name and email address so I can contact you if you won. Also, please say which book you want to win. For extra entries:
+1 For becoming a follower
+3 For following me
+2 For linking this contest anywhere, leave link.
+1 For adding me to your blogroll
+1 Commenting on any posts, leave link.
This contest ends September 10th and open to anyone in the world!
EDIT:
If you comment on my Q & A with Michelle Moran I will give you another extra entry! : )