First, Margaret's original comment from the book drop post:
Margaret M. Fisk 2:28 PM
Ooh, interesting concept :). I'm in it for the story, so it's hard to limit. I generally prefer non-modern except where urban fantasy and all shades of romance are concerned. I prefer stories with strong characters, though whether complex narratives or candy reads depends on my mood. It's easier to say what I don't like than what I do, because it's the smaller category. I'm pissed off by self-righteous or arrogant main characters who use the people around them without either noticing or caring. And I love being transported to different places or times, to see a bit of our world, or one that only exists in fiction, that I might not have experienced in real life. That's why in non-fiction I tend to prefer anthropology or historical biography over straight information.
Not so with Cleopatra's Daughter. Michelle Moran pairs superb research and artfully re-imagined history with a smooth storyteller's voice, and I thought Margaret would appreciate the excellent story and the chance to visit an important historic era and culture which (unfortunately) doesn't often appear on the fiction shelves.
Judging by Margaret's wonderful review of the novel, which you can read on her blog here, I'd say I made the right choice.
That's two down and one to go, and once I have the final results in from our third book drop winner I'll post them and wrap up this experiment.
I must add that I was stunned at how little she had introduced into the story to make it more story than biography. Moran does an excellent job of pulling the actual facts into a thriving narrative.
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