💫 “𝓘 𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓪 𝓵𝓮𝓰𝓮𝓷𝓭” 💫

Cleopatra has always been a mysterious figure and one of great interest to me, which is why I truly enjoyed this book. This story is told as a retelling, and while it shares many similarities with what is historically documented, it also follows its own path even including scenes that none of the (male) historians would have written or studied about her. I think we all know she was labeled as a 'whore,' a witch, a serpent, evil... but here we see a much more human side of Cleopatra than what we've read in textbooks or heard in documentaries.

The way Saara tells this story is so beautiful. The dialogue never felt shallow, and the use of old fashioned vocabulary made me feel like I was reading a romanticism-era novel, but with a touch of tension, war, love, and tragedy. Also, the way the blend of real events and fiction is written is so well done that it feels like everything you read actually happened that way, even though we know it's fiction because there are possibilities that it may have happened like that or something similar. But then again, the fact that we don't know much about Cleopatra is thanks to Octavius (and we do not thank him for that).

“nothing prepares you for the loss of all the unclaimed moments yet to pass.”

The Cleopatra we see in this retelling is a very complex woman, carrying a heavy burden, since from a very young age she had to take the throne and serve as regent while her brother came of age to rule. That, and because she had to prepare herself twice as hard in sciences, languages, and other areas, since pharaohs were expected to be 'blessed' by the Egyptian gods by default. But Cleopatra, even though she was born with the mark of her goddess, was not blessed with a particular gift, and had to live a life full of performances, aided by her handmaiden, in order to dispel negative rumors and earn the trust and loyalty of the nobility and her subjects. But her difficulties didn't stop there; Cleopatra was betrayed by her brothers, had to seek an alliance with Julius Caesar, and, as always, love emerged amidst the chaos of war, just as it did with Antonius, her last and true love. I didn't see the ending coming lol. It left me with a bit of nostalgia given how it all turned out, but I appreciated the intention to immortalize her.

I recommend this book. I think it's worth reading, at least give it a chance. There's a good posibility you'll like it as much as I did.

This is not a novel, guys, this is a history book, many vocabulary, imperialismo, colonialism, illness, slavery, even canibalism.

It's challenging, not for everyone, of course, I felt it dense, but it was easy to follow anyway.