The Drowning King

Book Title: The Drowning King

Author: Emily Holleman

Series: Fall of Egypt #2

Date Started: June 28th 2023

Date Completed: October 12th 2023

Genres: Historical

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

*Thanks to NetGalley for this ebook for review*

I really enjoyed the first novel in Holleman's revisioning of Cleopatra's Egypt, and the events befalling the family on its throne. This sequel was less enjoyable, but still interesting enough to get to the end of this fictionalised history. Longer than it needed to be and inevitably less imaginative as it's based on history we have far more records of, we get to see into the lives of two of Cleopatra's siblings, Arisone and Ptolemy.

I felt Ptolemy's perspective slowed things down and didn't really add anything. The first novel had been surprisingly engaging through Arisone's perspective witnessing the historical events, and while the same concept was used for her brother, he was written with such judgement, referred to as weak and cowardly throughout, that he wasn't an engaging character. Why root for someone we're told is automatically a horrible person with no redeemable qualities? Even Ptolemy's inferiority complex was so abject that as a reader he felt like a lost cause immediately and no drama was generated.

Ultimately, I finished the novel due to my interest in the real historical events, rather than this particular revision of them. As a fictionalised version of history, it's fascinating to look at through this less popularised lens, though the conflict between narrative storytelling and historical events can more to the forefront the longer you read - resulting in an incredibly abrupt ending, and disappointingly little progress for the heroine we fell in love with in the first book. This novel's arc ends up about Ptolemy, who is ultimately pretty dull to read about, with Arisone yet again an overlooked footnote in the record.