Cleopatra VII (Royal Diaries)

by Kristiana Gregory

[Veronica 🦦]

I really am trying to not be so harsh. These are children's books after all and targeted for children. But the Harry Potter series and Percy Jackson series are also targeted for children and those two are some of the best series out there. Books targeted for younger audiences are honest to god some of the best out there in general. These books are often the reason why a lot of us get into reading in the first place. But jeez, some of these books in the Royal Diaries series are just bleh.

This second installment in the Royal Diaries series is just a complete miss. 1.5/5 and this is me trying to be generous and taking intended audience into consideration.

I know I adored this book when I first read it when I was a kid and I'm sure that others who read this as kids would echo this opinion. I remember asking my mom to get this book for me after I started getting really into Ancient Egypt and then Cleopatra. I remember liking this book and I can't fault younger me for liking it. It hit the marks of what I was looking for at the time: a book set in Ancient Egyptian times AND it was about Cleopatra. Yes! On the surface? It's no wonder why this became one of the more popular books in this series.

But now? Well, all I see is horrendous writing, equally horrendous characterization, and bad history. Again, I know this was intended for younger audiences and was meant to push kids to get interested in history and this woman (and all the other women featured in these books), but the story itself was boring and everything felt FORCED. Gregory struggled to tell this story, to write in Cleopatra's voice, and to find the balance between telling the history and telling a story. It's rather depressing, but I was more interested in Cleopatra's older sisters than I was interested in Gregory's Cleopatra.