As usual with Margaret George’s novels, it was very detailed and gave a lot of depth to her characters (particularly the main character). But with such a long story, it did drag in parts and I was a bit disappointed with the ending. The novel was written in first person on the idea that Cleopatra wrote the memoirs of her life. Since it’s difficult to write about ones own death, there is always someone close to the main character in George’s novels, writing about the death as an add-on in the end. George followed this pattern again but also had Cleopatra still writing her tale up till the very end, after having been struck by the snake and awaiting her death.

Sorry but I just find it hard to believe that someone would be sitting there writing about the sensations of what they are experiencing after a snake bite unless they are doing so for the purpose of medical knowledge. I would have expected something more profound from Egypt’s last Pharaoh as she’s committing suicide. Instead, we get a description about the sensations in her arm from the snake bite and flimsy prayer to the goddess Isis.

But otherwise, it was good and inspired me to look into the actual facts and history of Cleopatra’s life. Compared to George’s other novels, I would rank it as better than “Mary, Called Magdalene” and “Helen of Troy” but not quite as good as “Autobiography of Henry VII” (haven’t read “Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles”).