Cleopatra

I loved Saara El-Arifi‘s debut novel, The Final Strife, and have been eager to read more from her. Her newest release is Cleopatra, a retelling of the famous last Pharaoh of Egypt. From her difficult political leadership and motherhood to her medical work and her undying love for her country, this work of historical fiction gives voice to a woman whose reputation always preceded her, however inaccurate it may have been.

What I Liked:

• Giving voice to Cleopatra herself. The little we know about Cleopatra comes from men who barely knew her or were born centuries later, men with their own agenda in painting her a certain way. While there isn’t much to go on, I like how the author portrays Cleopatra in a full and nuanced way. The novel is told in the first person, allowing Cleopatra to share her own story in her own way and contradicting the long-standing quotes from men like Cicero and Shakespeare.
• Humanizing Cleopatra. This novel doesn’t lean into her apparent seductress side at all (though it doesn’t shy away from it either: she has three on-page lovers and mentions others that we don’t see). Instead, we see Cleopatra as a daughter, sister, mother, and Pharaoh. She has deep feelings for others; she loves freely even when it’s someone who would destroy her. Cleopatra seeks to heal people, too, secretly going out into the night to give medical aid to those in need. She has her good attributes and bad; she’s kind and she’s ruthless; she’s charming and she’s dismissive. What we get is a well-rounded look at a complicated woman whose life is privileged yet undeniably difficult.
• Love of Egypt and their gods. All of the Ptolemy family are blessed by the gods, and each has some sort of magical ability (allegedly!). Cleopatra, though blessed by Isis, has no such magical ability. She must develop her own skills and pass them off as god-given. Despite this, she never loses faith in Isis, and she always loves Egypt above everything. She’s devoted to her land and her people. Note that this novel is not exactly fantasy, in contrast to the author’s previous books. There are allusions to magic, specifically among the Ptolemy siblings, but only the ending gets overtly fantastical.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

• Cleopatra’s constant foreshadowing. She’s writing from the afterlife, and though she tells the story chronologically, she constantly makes oblique references to the future. It was overdone and took me out of the story a bit.

Final Thoughts

Cleopatra is a fascinating and engaging story about one of history’s most iconic women. I knew very little about Cleopatra before reading this, and while this is a work of fiction, it is well researched and gives voice to someone whose reputation likely never matched their true character. I’ve enjoyed both of the Saara El-Arifi books I’ve read so far, and I’m excited to read more—starting with the remaining two installments in the Ending Fire trilogy!

Special thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy Cleopatra here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Fiction
Setting	Egypt
Number of Pages	352
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	February 24, 2026
Publisher	Ballantine Books

Official Summary

Cleopatra tells her own story in this evocative and sensuous historical epic from the bestselling and award-winning author of Faebound and The Final Strife.

“Enchanting, smart, and subversive—this is El-Arifi’s masterpiece.”—R.F. Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Katabasis

This stunning edition includes designed endpapers and a custom case stamp.

YOU KNOW MY NAME, BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW ME.

Your historians call me seductress, but I was ever in love’s thrall.

Your playwrights speak of witchcraft, but my talents came from the gods themselves.

Your poets sing of my bloodlust, but I was always protecting my children.

How wilfully they refuse to concede that a woman could be powerful, strategic, and divinely blessed to rule.

Death will silence me no longer.

This is not the story of how I died. But how I lived.