Mishel Reviews: The Princess of Egypt must die – Stephanie Dray

Mishel reviews

Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone

Release Date:  November 2012

Publisher: Originally appeared in the ETERNAL SPRING anthology of Young Adult Fiction

Pages:  55

Author Site:   

My Rating: 4/5 

Source: Kindle Freebie

Cover: She’s wearing the royal purple, I like it =)

Princess Arsinoe came of age in the glittering court of Ptolemaic Egypt. Abused by her ruthless sister, a pawn in the dynastic ambitions of her father, and dismissed by the king who claimed her for a bride, young Arsinoe finds herself falling in love with a young man forbidden to her. She dreams of a destiny as Egypt’s queen, but first she must survive the nest of vipers otherwise known as her family.

Review:

Ugh, this is why I dislike short stories/novellas/novellettes. Call them what you want and I’ll pretty much ALWAYS want more! The Princess of Egypt Must Die is absolutely no exception, especially when I became so attached to characters within a mere 55 pages! I mean, COME ON!?! And while I’m moaning and complaining let me underline the fact that this short story was fantastic! 

Doing some vague and mild research I’ve come to see that the heroine of this story is Queen Arsinoe II. While there is a lot of crazy rivalry – sibling, family, political, etc involved in her history (and pretty much everyone in history it seems), this particular story is about young Princess Arsinoe. Here she is portrayed as the sweet, fragile, younger daughter of the pharaoh who wants desperately to be loved. After being reluctantly married off to the King of Thrace she hopes to find some form of happiness in her new life. But Princess Arsinoe soon learns that rivals will always be around and the love and happiness she’s always wanted may continue to be out of her reach. 

I’ve only dabbled here and there in historical fiction so it’s always a treat to find a book that makes me want to go do research on the time period or featured character. Now if I follow through on said research is an entirely different subject matter that we may or may not discuss (probably not) at a later date. Ancient Egypt has continued to fascinate me with the few works I’ve read about the time period by different authors. I’m excited to continue on in the time period and hopefully continue to be just as thrilled.  

Having already read Stephanie’s work, it’s hard for me not to compare this short story to her Cleopatra’s Daughter trilogy. There are many similarities and differences but the bottom line is I truly love Stephanie Dray’s writing.  Her attention to historical detail is amazing and her ability to engage readers on an emotional level is staggering. I’m looking forward to her future work that will encompass the life of Martha “Patsy” Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson’s daughter (the third president of the United States, just putting it out there…) For those who are new to Stephanie Dray I’d highly recommend this short gem of a read as an introduction to her and her writing. P.S. It’s still a Kindle Freebie