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onyxspider's review against another edition
4.0
Firstly this is a very small historical fiction novelette. I'm not accustomed to reading such short stories but I was drawn into this story despite the fast paced storyline. I would absolutely LOVE to read this story in novel form, but even as a novelette I enjoyed it. The author did a fantastic job of making readers crave more of her stories and finishes this book with the beginning of her full novel Lilly of the Nile. For being a free kindle book, its a fantastic hook and I will certainly read more of her works
ryokua1's review against another edition
3.0
The Princess of Egypt Must Die by Stephanie Dray This is a really REALLY short story. In E book form it's very misleading, it has an exerp of Lily of the Nile at the end.
The story isn't particularly happy but it is filled with romance and forbidden love. It also has a very abrupt ending and it left me wanting more. I think I would have liked it a little more if it was a full novel but overall rather enjoyable.
The story isn't particularly happy but it is filled with romance and forbidden love. It also has a very abrupt ending and it left me wanting more. I think I would have liked it a little more if it was a full novel but overall rather enjoyable.
amyetherington's review against another edition
3.0
This was a nice short little read I downloaded to my Kindle ages ago, and I stumbled upon it again whilst browsing for something to read. At 55 pages, it sure wasn’t one of the longest reads of my life seeing as I finished it within a half hour, but it was entertaining, if a little tragic.
As a child I loved Ancient Egyptian history, since it was one of the few historical periods they actually teach you in primary school. (Seriously, the national curriculum in English schools for teaching history is limited to the Tudors and the Ancient Egyptians. That’s pretty much your lot.) With the exception of my numerous re-watching’s of The Mummy, my interest in those groovy Egyptian’s wavered a little after my teen years. But it’s never too late for a comeback, and considering this is a novelette, it did pretty well at rekindling my curiosity.
The short story follows Arisone, the Egyptian Princess of the title, and the somewhat neglected daughter of Ptolemy I. Arisone seems to be your standard ancient world Royal princess – pushed to the back of the family circle by competitive siblings, married off to some old dude whilst still in her teens, and so really it seems her life is all set to be a miserable cycle of producing babies for the next 20 years. I mean, being a novelette you don’t get to see how things pan out for her in the long run, but in Dray’s story she gets it kinda rough from the get go.
She’s shipped off, back-stabbed, betrayed, and all round shit upon before she even turns eighteen. I mean, seriously, aside from the fancy clothes and generally life of luxury, royal women had a fucking hard time back then. All this watching your enemies-behind-your-back thing must have been exhausting and a complete overall mind-fuck. But hey, Arisone takes it as a life lesson and manages to go from downtrodden child-bride to fiery badass within the novelette’s short pages.
I only wish it were longer, since Arisone’s badassery doesn’t come in to full swing until the final pages and I need to read about powerful women lusting for revenge, dammit. I know this can’t be helped because I think Stephanie Dray wrote this as part of an anthology or something, but apparently she's planning to write a full novel about Arisone’s life sometime in the future so hey, swings and roundabouts.
Despite it leaving me lusting for more, this was a good little read, and at less than 100 pages it’s a handy way to spend a half an hour on a rainy afternoon.
This reviews was originally posted on my blog: Chapters by Amy
As a child I loved Ancient Egyptian history, since it was one of the few historical periods they actually teach you in primary school. (Seriously, the national curriculum in English schools for teaching history is limited to the Tudors and the Ancient Egyptians. That’s pretty much your lot.) With the exception of my numerous re-watching’s of The Mummy, my interest in those groovy Egyptian’s wavered a little after my teen years. But it’s never too late for a comeback, and considering this is a novelette, it did pretty well at rekindling my curiosity.
The short story follows Arisone, the Egyptian Princess of the title, and the somewhat neglected daughter of Ptolemy I. Arisone seems to be your standard ancient world Royal princess – pushed to the back of the family circle by competitive siblings, married off to some old dude whilst still in her teens, and so really it seems her life is all set to be a miserable cycle of producing babies for the next 20 years. I mean, being a novelette you don’t get to see how things pan out for her in the long run, but in Dray’s story she gets it kinda rough from the get go.
She’s shipped off, back-stabbed, betrayed, and all round shit upon before she even turns eighteen. I mean, seriously, aside from the fancy clothes and generally life of luxury, royal women had a fucking hard time back then. All this watching your enemies-behind-your-back thing must have been exhausting and a complete overall mind-fuck. But hey, Arisone takes it as a life lesson and manages to go from downtrodden child-bride to fiery badass within the novelette’s short pages.
I only wish it were longer, since Arisone’s badassery doesn’t come in to full swing until the final pages and I need to read about powerful women lusting for revenge, dammit. I know this can’t be helped because I think Stephanie Dray wrote this as part of an anthology or something, but apparently she's planning to write a full novel about Arisone’s life sometime in the future so hey, swings and roundabouts.
Despite it leaving me lusting for more, this was a good little read, and at less than 100 pages it’s a handy way to spend a half an hour on a rainy afternoon.
This reviews was originally posted on my blog: Chapters by Amy
unabridgedchick's review against another edition
5.0
This is another juicy slice of historical awesomeness from Stephanie Dray. I've fallen hard for Dray's Cleopatra's Daughter series, a kind of magical historical trilogy that is dark, unapologetic, epic, and fun. So when I saw this short story, I did grabby hands and got started.
I know nothing of the historical Arsinoe II, but being aware of Dray's dedication to historical accuracy, I sat back and let the story unfold.
Arsinoe is one of the pharaoh's daughters, sweet and eager to be loved, teased mercilessly by her older, ambitious half-sister. When contracted into marriage to the King of Thrace, she finds some measure of happiness in her new home among her friendly in-laws. But good things rarely happen to royalty, and Arsinoe has some pretty awful things happen.
This is a short story -- which was too bad because I seriously wanted more! This story is more straight-up historical (rather than magical historical or historical fantasy), for those who care, and is a great intro to Stephanie Dray if you're new to her.
I know nothing of the historical Arsinoe II, but being aware of Dray's dedication to historical accuracy, I sat back and let the story unfold.
Arsinoe is one of the pharaoh's daughters, sweet and eager to be loved, teased mercilessly by her older, ambitious half-sister. When contracted into marriage to the King of Thrace, she finds some measure of happiness in her new home among her friendly in-laws. But good things rarely happen to royalty, and Arsinoe has some pretty awful things happen.
This is a short story -- which was too bad because I seriously wanted more! This story is more straight-up historical (rather than magical historical or historical fantasy), for those who care, and is a great intro to Stephanie Dray if you're new to her.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
1.0
I didn't like this book. Sadly, under the new TOS, I can't tell you that Stephanie Dray seems to be an intelligent woman with great taste in reading which is why you should try this book.
tammidesta's review against another edition
4.0
By rights, I shouldn't have enjoyed this as much as I did. One, it's the most cliched story of forbidden love, where you know every beat of the story before you read it. Two, it's so short, there isn't much time available for character development. Three, the author explains in the afterword that she wanted to develop a backstory for what made the real, historical Arsinoe such a cruel and bloodthirsty ruler and I couldn't help but think - the reason you came up with was a boy? Really?
And yet, despite all these things...I was totally into this. The only thing I can put it down to is the writing. Somehow, the author made me care about the characters, root for them, and even though I knew what was coming, be gripped by the story until the end. By the last page, I was practically yelling, "Kill them all, Arsinoe! Get your revenge, girl!" There are books that are 300+ pages that never work for me, yet in just a handful of pages, this clicked. It did its job as a free and easy introduction to Stephanie Dray's work and it sold me - I have already ordered the first 2 books in her Cleopatra Selene series. Nicely played, Ms. Dray; you have won yourself a reader.
And yet, despite all these things...I was totally into this. The only thing I can put it down to is the writing. Somehow, the author made me care about the characters, root for them, and even though I knew what was coming, be gripped by the story until the end. By the last page, I was practically yelling, "Kill them all, Arsinoe! Get your revenge, girl!" There are books that are 300+ pages that never work for me, yet in just a handful of pages, this clicked. It did its job as a free and easy introduction to Stephanie Dray's work and it sold me - I have already ordered the first 2 books in her Cleopatra Selene series. Nicely played, Ms. Dray; you have won yourself a reader.
bookfever's review
4.0
It's been a few weeks since I read this book but I really wanted to leave a small review. I thought this was a really good story. I've read a few short stories involving Ancient Egypt and I've noticed how they never are really what I consider good. The Prince of Egypt Must Die was definitely an exception on that. It was a tragic story and some people might not like those very much but I enjoyed it a lot. I've only read one other short story by Stephanie Dray, in [b:A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii|23241868|A Day of Fire A Novel of Pompeii|Stephanie Dray|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410955762s/23241868.jpg|42785364] which I loved so I definitely want to read more by her since I'm really into history. The writing was excellent and I loved the way Arsinoe's character changed (although it was sad) from a rather meek girl to a powerful woman. I need more stories like this.
alexvb's review
3.0
2.5 stars. I really like the setting, in a huge Egyptian and Greek mythology lover and it definitely kept my interested but, I really didn't like the main character (she was far too naive) and it ended when it was just about to start getting real good! But I enjoyed it.
vegancleopatra's review
1.0
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.
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.