VeganCleopatra

I hated the author's Lily of the Nile but as this is short and free, I'm going to give it a go.

After reading...

I simply do not like Dray's writing. The synopsis for the short story is better written and more interesting than the entirety of the story itself. Arsinoe's sister is not shown to be ruthless but instead at times petty like any teenager can be. Arsinoe is shown as weak and naive and the "love" shown in the story is weakly drawn. Dray was attempting to postulate as to why Arsinoe II grew up to do such damage, but I think she utterly failed. Also, Dray gave no context as to Arsinoe's time or who she was, she could have been nearly any player named Arsinoe in Ptolemaic period unless you read the author's note first or reviewed the history of her yourself. There are a lot of Berenices, Arsinoes, Cleopatras and so forth in this line, Dray could have been clearer. Although had she been more clear I do not think it would have made for a much better story overall--unless of course Dray chose to write a story with Arsinoe older than a teenager.