VeganCleopatra

3.5 stars

I enjoyed Daughters of Rome, but certainly not nearly as much as Mistress of Rome. Daughters of Rome, the prequel to Mistress of Rome, does fill you in on the background of Domitian's wife in Mistress. Some of the comments the Empress makes in Mistress are more clear now that we have her background story. The future Empress in Daughters of Rome, Marcella, is the least likeable of any of the Cornelii as she is rather conniving and meddles in ways she should not. The rest of the women are rather likeable, especially Cornelia and Lollia. Diana's character felt rather unnecessary, although she was entertaining due to her love of horses.

While the book was written in third person, all of the four Cornellii women's viewpoints are included. This was a tad confusing, especially in the beginning when you were trying to adjust to the new characters. One character flows into another, without any break to indicate change, as does change of time (such as a flashback). All of this could be rather tedious to read through. Each character having their own sections or one character telling the entire story would have flowed much more nicely in my opinion.

While the story does bring the Year of the Four Emperors to life, it simply did not have the same pull as Quinn's other work, Mistress of Rome. Too many perspectives was a major downside, plus there seemed to be no equal to Thea and Arius in Daughters of Rome. I think Quinn is a talented writer and look forward to her sequel to Mistress of Rome!