Chris' Fish Place

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley. (It is a read now option).  I couldn't finish this because Cleo's voice kept grating on me.

                Coats gets credit for using Cleopatra’s relationship or belief in Isis as well as for looking at the question of her mother. There is enough reference in the book to give credence to the belief that Coats knows her history.

                However, writing Cleo using the voice of a modern teen really doesn’t work. Despite Cleo’s claims of not being a spoiled brat, this is exactly what she sounds like. Furthermore, there is no sense of place. It really could be the school across the street instead of Ancient Egypt. Furthermore, Cleo is far too modern in her language.  She forgets about her mother too quickly. She also is the one everyone hates and wants. True, most the above is a given in much YA (or New Adult) work today, but if you are writing about the great Cleopatra, you don’t really have to resort to it.