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Title: 400 pages too long
Review: When I started reading this book I was rather optimistic. However, after the first 100 pages I feel I learned nothing new about the characters. The description of Cleopatra maturing from an adolescent that had just become the sovern of Egypt to a becoming a confident ruler was interesting. However, the remaining 400 pages of the novel just had her going back and forth like a ping-pong ball, between trusting Caesar to being betrayed by Caesar, to trusting Caesar to being betrayed by Caesar. (Actually, for the last 200 pages it was Mark Antony that she was trusting and being betrayed by, but he seems to be interchangable with Caesar for the purposes of this novel.) It became exasperating that Cleo couldn't seem to remember anything from more than 5 pages back. In the end, I feel the time spent reading this book was mostly wasted.
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